Kate Dawes Flower Design // Creative Wedding Florist
one of Brisbane’s most well known and loved wedding florists
We have been long time admirers of Kate Dawes Flower Design and are always so excited to hear that one of our couples has booked her for their wedding, because we know that the flowers will be stunningly original and always incredible quality. Kate and the talented team around her are well known for their creativity and no-compromise on delivering impeccable service and a flawless finished product. Kate Dawes really is such a respected name in the Brisbane wedding industry.
We sat down with Kate at her Woolloongabba studio for a chat, then a quick tour of her work spaces and workshop. We loved getting this opportunity to get to know Kate a little more and dive into her creative process.
Tell us about your journey to becoming a florist…
I grew up in the bush, it was pretty dry, that’s probably why I like dried flowers. My Mum and Dad said, “anything that you can go and do as an extracurricular thing, go do it, because you will utilise that somewhere in your life”, so I went and did tonnes and tonnes of different things. I made jewellery, learnt sewing, tiling, interior design, just anything I wanted to make, I would go and learn from someone who does it. It’s interesting how you use all those things, they all just come together.
My husband and I had motels and caravan parks in Townsville and one day I just said to my husband, “I’m going to Brisbane to do floristry, you coming?” and he did. Then I went to TAFE here in Brisbane and started from there.
“I always feel that flowers don’t have to be really cutting edge to be beautiful, you can still make simple flowers look beautiful, just because flowers are beautiful.”
What inspires you and how would you describe your style?
I’m really driven by what the client is looking for and wants. Sometimes someone will come and I’ll think “thank heavens, this is just us, this is what we like to create", which is more natural, drawing from nature. But if you want your business to flourish you’ve got to go with what your client wants, not what you want to do all the time, that’s what I feel.
I think continually being unrelenting in trying to give people what they asked for is so important. If you’re going to do something, do it as well as you possibly can, no compromise. If I go to the workshop and something is not right, I don’t go “she’ll be right mate”, no, we’ve got to change it.
How do you come up with ideas?
I find that a really quiet time when you can lie in bed and close your eyes and can imagine something and you can see it, you can actually see if it’s going to work or not. I draw a lot of my designs. I always say “everything has been done, I’ll go and find something on Pinterest so that the bride can kind of see what I’m doing” and I’ll look and look and look and if I can’t find it, then I’ll draw it. My dad always used to say “did you think of that or did you copy it?” If I copied it I didn’t get much praise, but if I thought of it myself I got a little pat on the back.
What is your thought process when putting together flowers for a wedding?
Choosing the right flowers and the right colours is really important, but also just to make things interesting and think a little outside the box - thinking about what we can put in that’s a little bit unique. I always feel that flowers don’t have to be really cutting edge to be beautiful, you can still make simple flowers look beautiful, just because flowers are beautiful.
Featured Venues: The Calile Hotel and The Lussh
