Meet Emily Greenstreet | Florist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Emily Greenstreet and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Emily, how has your background shaped the person you are today?
I was born and raised in Pasadena, CA. My family was always interested in art and flowers, so naturally I got a lot of exposure to both. As a kid I was enamored by flowers and spent a good amount of time in the yard gardening with my dad. He would take me to Home Depot every season and let me choose the flowers for our yard– my favorites were marigolds and snapdragons. If you pinch snapdragons the right way, they look like they’re talking, and for a kid obsessed with Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, I found this idea of talking flowers quite amusing.

My parents also enrolled me in art classes from an early age. My grandad was a gifted watercolor painter and I always aspired to be like him. He primarily focused on English landscapes and flowers, which also became the subjects of my art.

There are a few moments I think about that really impacted who I am today. The first is when I visited the Huntington Gardens for the first time on a class field trip in middle school. I thought it was the most magical place I had ever been, and I still love visiting to this day. I’ve spent countless hours at the Huntington painting, studying, exploring with friends– it’s undeniably my “happy place”.

The second was the summer going into my senior year. I did a summer program at Oxford University, and decided to pursue a career in architecture. I fell in love with Christchurch Meadows, which was also the home of the real-life Alice who inspired Alice in Wonderland. That summer significantly impacted the trajectory of my life and I’ve had a career in architecture ever since, but I’ve found ways to bring my love for art and flowers into my hobbies and side hustles.

Please tell us more about your art. We’d love to hear what sets you apart from others, what you are most proud of or excited about. How did you get to where you are today professionally? Was it easy? If not, how did you overcome the challenges? What are the lessons you’ve learned along the way? What do you want the world to know about you or your brand and story?
My background as a painter and architect has definitely shaped the way I build my floral compositions. I’ve painted flowers for so long that transitioning to floral design felt like another form of painting, but with the flowers as my medium. I get most excited about using flowers that aren’t typically seen by customers. When selecting flowers my goal is to always have at least one flower that will make a customer say, “I’ve never seen that one before!” That’s the most exciting part of what I do– introducing people to new flowers and seeing them get as excited as I do.

I started Nonsense Florals after becoming incredibly disillusioned by the world of architecture. I had been working on a project for three years that left me feeling emotionally unfulfilled. During this period, I was buying a lot of flowers for myself as a pick-me-up and posting photos of them on Instagram. The feedback I received from people was really positive and eventually I was getting requests for flower arrangements.

When I started to seriously consider starting my own business I reached out to a friend of mine, Melissa Thomas, who I knew had started a successful floral business in Denver. Her advice to me was to get as much exposure as possible to the industry, recommended getting a job for a local florist and practice, practice, practice. So I did just that: I started working part-time at a local florist shop while continuing to buy flowers for myself and practicing at home. I quickly fell in love with the process. When I work with flowers, I’m filled with a sense of pure joy, and tend to lose track of time. In the first couple of months I found myself putting in a lot of hours and sleeping very little to keep up with the surging demand for flower arrangements on top of my full-time job. Because I love flowers so much, it’s really hard for me to say no to customers, even when I know I’m spread thin. This is something I’ve been working on and continues to be my greatest challenge.

I’ve learned that having a secure transportation system for deliveries is crucial– there’s nothing worse than having a full bucket of flowers with water overturned in your car. And although dahlias are beautiful, and I ALWAYS want to buy them, they WILL die if I look at them the wrong way.

The name Nonsense stemmed from a hybrid of frustration and sentiment. A surprisingly huge deterrent to me formalizing my business was my frustration with making decisions on the “business” aspect of things such as a name. I tend to put a lot of thought into the meaning of words and imagery and was having a difficult time shoehorning my vision into a box. I was spending way too much time thinking about these details and eventually decided the whole process was nonsense. I just wanted to make pretty things and not worry about the rest of it! Thus, Nonsense Florals was born. Nonsense also held a sentimental meaning for me because in Alice in Wonderland, Alice says, “If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense.” Like Alice, I still find myself daydreaming of nonsensical things like talking flowers, and that’s the feeling of childish curiosity and excitement I strive to capture in my art.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I like to break up the days by neighborhoods.

Pasadena Day – Huntington Library & Gardens and Juliennes. The espresso cookies from Juliennes are a must.

Malibu Day – First Point for surf and swimming followed by Malibu Farms or Broad Street Oyster Company. I always get the hot lobster role at Broad Street.

K-Town evening – KBBQ + Karaoke

Downtown Los Angeles – Grand Central Market, Bradbury Building, Angels Landing and ROW DTLA.

South Bay Day – Biking from Playa Del Rey to Palos Verdes. I love to stop off in all the little beach towns along the way and look at the array of housing styles.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My shoutout goes to the biggest kid I know– my Dad. He has always supported my nonsensical ambitions and taught me how to believe impossible things. He’s my personal flower identifier (before the iPhone created the feature) and color theory consultant. I also want to recognize my amazingly supportive friends, who emotionally and physically show up for me consistently and without hesitation. A special thank you to Melissa Thomas who so graciously gave me all her tips and guidance when I came to her for advice on how to break into the floral industry. Lastly, I want to thank Scott Hanson for nominating me. I’m flattered to be recognized by someone of such talent.

Website: https://www.nonsenseflorals.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nonsenseflorals/