Over the years flowers have bloomed out of just being centre pieces to break up the monotony of the table runner to often being the pillar the event is based on. From floral murals to flower roof installations, flowers have taken centre stage and all of that is possible because of floral designers, people like 30-year-old Zamathenjwa Nene.
A series of images with bright flower arrangements and one of Nene seriously inspecting a bulb in a field caught my eye on social media. Nene is a floral designer, who has been designing floral arrangements for close to six years.
After an initial partnership fell through, the Pietermaritzburg-born entrepreneur went solo and named her business Table Manners. “I’m always thinking what can I do to stand out and be different,” she says.
She’s been running the business for two years now while still working 9-5 as a communications officer at a government department in Pretoria. “The best part is seeing the end result, and that your clients are happy with what you’re doing because some of them have no idea what you’re doing, so [they’re] like 'we just have our trust in you' and in the end it’s like 'wow, you did such a good job'.
"Our flowers look amazing. I think the hardest part is that I’m not big, and as established as yet, so if I have a big job, like a big wedding, it’s sometimes difficult getting freelancers or people who are keen to help me on the big day, I think that’s the most challenging part. Another challenging part is trying to educate your client because floral design is not really big.”
Nene says she often has to convince clients they need flowers on their big day and to go with the floral designer’s vision. She also has to dissuade clients from wanting exact copies of arrangements they’ve seen on Pinterest or from other weddings. Often these ideas can’t be done due to the client's budget or the fact that the flowers they want aren’t in season.
Nene, who first studied journalism, says her passion for flowers saw her heading to the SA School of Weddings to study flower arranging and function décor. She also attends a lot of floral workshops, mostly held in Cape Town, and she’s almost always the only black person there.
“I am also trying to bring in other women, like 'come on guys!', there’s not a lot of black women out there who specialise in this sort of thing. I think most people rush to do wedding planning, like décor hire, that’s what they chase the most. It’s like everyone can do décor but not everyone can do flowers. I’m trying to teach other women that there is space for us too.”
Nene says she’s hoping that the example of her work will inspire other women who are interested in this to pursue their passion. She is also aiming to start her own workshops to teach those who are interested. She wants people to learn about SA flowers and sourcing flowers locally and in season, which also helps the environment by lowering the carbon footprint.
“I want to term it 'no roses allowed', to teach that there are different flowers, especially here in South Africa, to source from local producers. You can work and create something magical without the use of roses, I want to teach that and I want to enter into the space of eventually teaching them one on one. If someone is keen on learning a certain skill, like maybe a flower crown or an arrangement of some sort, so this year I’m definitely looking forward to teaching other women to get into that space.”
Nene has identified that in her hometown there are not a lot of people who teach floral designs and she aims to start there. She’s still in the planning stages of these workshops and hopes to roll them out in three months' time.
When the lockdown happened her business stalled but it gave her time to see what other skills she could add to her set. She took time to work on her portfolio and attended another workshop in Cape Town in December at a flower farm where she experienced making bouquets mixing various flowers excluding roses. Nene wants to venture into corporate, from making small bouquets for corporate events, to supplying flowers for reception/lobby areas etc.
Nene says besides working on the flowers, floral designers can serve as consultants as to what will complement the centre pieces and floral arrangements on the table and can also dabble in décor, even down to the height of candles and what crockery and cutlery will complement the flowers.
“[People] must be open to learning about flowers, it’s not just about having roses and that’s it, they must be open-minded to know that there are actually beautiful flowers out there. And they mustn’t only leave it to the floral designer, they must go out there and go to the stores to see what it is that’s out there.”
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