Clare Kenward Flowers
17 Signet Court, Swanns Road, Cambridge, CB5 8LA
hello@clarekenwardflowers.co.uk
Being sent flowers is quite a rare thing these days, Clare Kenward says, but one of the favourite parts of her job is turning up on someone’s doorstep with a bunch of beautiful blooms and seeing the pleasure spread across their face. “Are those for me? How wonderful!”
If Clare turns up on your doorstep you can be assured that the flowers you’re about to receive are carefully chosen and perfectly personal. It all starts with a conversation about the recipient: what sort of colours do they like? Are they flamboyant and dramatic or quietly elegant and understated? Do they have a favourite scent? Are you celebrating something or wanting to cheer someone up?
Clare began to learn her craft at a Jane Packer evening class and her designs are modern and filled with colour and texture. She’s mindful of her ecological footprint. Flowers are sourced with seasonality in mind and she uses local and British-grown flowers when she can. She doesn’t use floral foam, plastic or cellophane, preferring biodegradable stem wrap to keep her bouquets moist, and compostable bags.
Clare provides flowers for weddings and funerals too, and here the personal touch is just as important. She’ll incorporate flowers and plants and fruit from the family’s garden into her funeral arrangements, for example, to really embed that personal connection. She’s equally happy working to her clients’ instructions or using her own floristry expertise and experience to help them identify what they want.
There isn’t a shop but there is a fantastic website (check out the amazing postable flower boxes, they last for months), and now, with a shiny new studio space in Cambridge, Clare is sharing both her knowledge and love of flowers with a series of floral workshops.