CREATING A CIRCULAR FLORAL DESIGN BUSINESS
A flower school intensive with Chelsea Fuss and guests
October 27th-November 2nd 2024
Join Chelsea for a
FLORAL CAREER INTENSIVE
Create a floral practice rooted in the natural world.
Create naturalistic floral compositions to upgrade your portfolio and evolve your floral practice and offerings.
You will walk away from this retreat with a green business plan that is both sustainable for you and the planet, and fresh floral imagery for your portfolio!
Our Itinerary
Lisbon and Mafra
(subject to change)
The purpose of our itinerary is to help you create or update your portfolio, fine tune your floral design skills, as well as your floral photography skills and help you launch or evolve floral business to the next level in an eco-conscious way. You will walk away with fresh portfolio images and with a green business plan.
All meals and accommodation are included except where noted. Flower clippers, ceramics, and all tools are provided. You must bring your own camera or phone for the photography portion. We will also have a professional photographer capturing our work and each student will have access to the images afterwards.
It's recommended that you complete Flower Arranging 101 or the equivalent experience before attending this retreat.
Our Location
We will spend two days in Lisbon to create portfolio pieces with modern Portuguese ceramics amongst stunning architecture and vistas. After, we will make our way to the countryside where we will delve into foraging and wild arranging.
Day One
Lisbon
Arrive late afternoon
Settle in
Welcome dinner
Day Two
Lisbon
Breakfast
Warm up Day: Flowers and Photography
On this day we will work on our photography basics with access to styling, props, sets, and flowers.
Lunch
We will create natural compositions in modern ceramic vases and capture them on camera with assistance from a professional photographer.
Dinner
Day Three
Lisbon
Breakfast
Large installation Day
Together we will create a sustainable, large floral and plant installation as an art piece in an atmospheric Lisbon location.
Lunch
Photography
Dinner on your own
(we will provide recommendations)
Day Four
Mafra
Breakfast
Native Flower Study and Foraging
How to incorporate native plants into your floral business.
Lunch
Learn industry standards for sustainable foraging and sourcing.
Dinner
Day Five
Mafra
Breakfast
Eco business intensive for a circular business
How to create a circular business. Create a business plan to build your circular floral business.
Lunch
On this day we get into the details of your product plan, pricing, and environmental impact.
Dinner
Day Six
Mafra
Breakfast
Flower practice and styling and photographing on your own with teachers available for support.
A freestyle day. On this day you have access to foraging, flowers, vases, tools, and supplies to create your own compositions to photograph.
Lunch
Individual portfolio and business reviews. Meet one on one with Chelsea and teachers to guide you into your next steps.
Dinner
Day Seven
Mafra
Farewell breakfast
Guest Instructors
The instructors are curated and hand-selected by Chelsea and are all professionals who have helped her in her career or collaborated together to create successful projects.
Éva Németh
Éva is coming to us from Oxfordshire UK. Éva uses quiet observation to capture flowers and gardens on camera.
She photographs some of the most well known gardens in the UK as well as some of your favorite flower arranging books.
Éva's work has been featured in House & Garden UK, AD, Gardens Illustrated, Country Living UK, and many more!
Éva will be teaching you how to get the most out of your camera or phone to capture your designs in a way that reflects your brand and the clients you wish to attract to your work.
The Bath Flower School
The Bath Flower School was founded in 2019 by Verity Porter and Saffy Dodds-Smith. Both Verity and Saffy bring extensive experience to the table, with over 55 years between them in the floristry industry, as florists, floristry teachers, wedding florists, and floristry consultants.
A primary objective in establishing the school was sustainability. High on their list was avoiding the use of flower foam and single use plastics and using as many locally grown British flowers as possible.
Verity and Saffy advocate for a natural approach to floristry, allowing the flowers to shine on their own without being forced into unnatural shapes or patterns whilst respecting the unique twists and quirks of each flower.
Saffy and Verity will be teaching installations at this event.
João Cunha Ferreira
A plants person with a focus on natives and conservation and with a degree in plant biology, João has also worked as a freelance florist, flower grower, head gardener, and garden designer.
João will be advising students on the use of natives in floristry, their cultivation, as well as best practices for sustainability.
Terra Milo
Since 2013, Terra has been supporting entrepreneurs with technology and marketing. From website design and copywriting to content strategy and email marketing, she helps impact-focused businesses like yours communicate effectively to engage and excite your audience.
She studied Business Sustainability management at Cambridge University. She lives in Lisbon.
Terra will be helping each student craft their sustainable business plan and pricing.
Accommodation and Meals
Accommodation is included. Food is provided for most days. You can choose from private or shared accommodation. Meals can be adjusted for allergies or lifestyle diets. If you would like to attend without accommodation, please contact Chelsea. It is not possible to attend without meals.
Investment
Payments are made in 3 installments and must be paid in full one month before the retreat. Early bird pricing and special pricing for current career students is available.
Early Bird Pricing
(shared accomodation)
Deposit (Upon booking): $1997
Payment 1 (August 1st, 2024): $1997
Payment 2 (September 1st, 2024): $1997
BOOK YOUR SPOT HERE
Limited spots are available for this floral career intensive. Early bird pricing is available until June 20th, 2024.
If you have questions before booking, reach out to Chelsea at hello@frolic-blog.com!
See booking form for terms. We can accommodate food allergies. You must have travel insurance. You will sign a contract and waiver upon booking.
More Questions?
Why travel with me?
Hello! I am Chelsea! A floral designer (for 20 years!), a prop stylist (I've styled shoots for Williams-Sonoma, Bon Appetit, New Balance, Kinfolk, and more!), photographer, writer, social media maven of all things floral, a flower arranging author, and an American abroad. I've been practicing floristry and floral styling for over 25 years and have supported myself with this occupation as a single income household for decades by evolving with tech and environmental standards and by continuing to learn from experts in the fields of flower farming, floral design, botany, sustainability, and marketing. I am the author of Field, Flower, Vase: Arranging and Crafting with Seasonal and Wild Blooms published by Abrams and I am a floristry instructor.
Is this retreat right for you?
This retreat is right for you if you are a florist or want to be a florist, floral designer, or floral artist. This will be an intensive floral design course. The bulk of our time will be spent on learning floral design, developing our portfolios, and learning how to create a sustainable floral business.
This retreat is probably not for you, if you are not super passionate about floral design or eco friendly design and are not planning on working as a floral stylist or designer. It is also not right for you if you don't like to travel or be in a group dynamic.
What is included?
All flowers, tools, supplies, vases (you can take your vases and flowers (can be dried or pressed) home! We donate any excess flowers.
All lodging and most meals. You can attend without lodging but not without meals. Please contact Chelsea for more information.
What is not included?
Airport transfer.
Transport and meals during free time on your own
Airplane ticket
Can I attend without the housing and meals?
Meals are always included in our workshops and cannot be removed from the package.
For this retreat we can have people attend without accomodation. Please contact Chelsea for details.
Do you offer scholarships?
We have one scholarship spot available per retreat if it fills to capacity. Anyone who is not able to afford this fee and has a passion and desire to create a floral design business is invited to apply. The scholarship is for the retreat fee and not for any other travel costs or airline ticket. Please fill out this form.
Recommendations
It is recommended that you add on 3 days before or after to see more of Lisbon or Portugal so that you can do more sightseeing which is not included in this retreat.
Sustainability
We try our best to be as green as possible with our events and are always improving, donating or composting excess flowers, eating mostly vegetarian and trying to cut food waste, and using almost all locally made tools. We hire local teachers and vendors and promote Portuguese culture and land stewardship. We encourage you to purchase a carbon offset for your flight and can recommend sustainable approaches to the rest of your trip if you are staying after the retreat.
More questions?
Write me an email! hello@frolic-blog.com