Willow Crossley. Making floristry accessible and fun, achieving sustainability in business and balancing working from home

Tilly at home, with...

Willow Crossley is an English nature writer and a high-profile floral stylist.

Willow is interested in the profound impact nature has on our emotional and mental well being, and has gained a substantial following for her down-to-earth and inclusive approach to floristry and gardening. Willow firmly advocates for a sustainable approach to floristry, working with the seasons and sourcing locally grown stems. Concurrent to her work in floristry, Willow authored four lifestyle books; The Art of Handmade Living was published in 2012, followed by Inspire, The Art of Living with Nature (2014), Flourish (2016), and her latest book, The Wild Journal (2020). Willow specialises in creating floral arrangements, installations and exhibitions for events and weddings. Having worked alongside high-profile names and world-renowned brands such as Chanel, Jo Malone, Liz Earle, OKA, Daylesford,Anthropologie, Boden and The Duchess of Sussex, Willow provides flowers for their events as well as teaches their VIPs and clients floristry. Willow has recently launched an online floristry course with Create Academy that has been critically acclaimed by House & Garden and The Daily Telegraph.

What a total treat to spend time with Willow in her beautiful house in the Cotswolds. We chatted about how her flower arranging and being in nature is very soothing and uplifting to her. Willow explains how always feels calmer, happier and more relaxed as soon as she steps outside, whether it be with her new found love of gardening, working with her flowers or just walking her dog in the countryside.

We talked about her wild and relaxed style and how her free spirited nature has created her signature style. Willow is very inclusive in her approach sharing her knowledge and love for floristry and with her brilliantly IGTVs and on-line course she loves to encourage people to have a go at flowers and not to be scared of them by thinking that they have to be perfect. We also discussed the issue of sustainability with flowers, plus she gave her top tips for looking after your stems, drying flowers, how best to incorporate fake flowers, the rules behind picking wild flowers and her advice for the floristry tools that we all need in order to up our floristry game.

Find Willow on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/willowcrossleycreates/

Her website with links to her shop, books and her courses https://www.willowcrossley.com

Willow also mentioned paper flowers by Green Vase https://shop.thegreenvase.com
Her wallpaper collab https://www.barnebygates.com/product/willow-crossley-for-barneby-gates/