In a bid to minimize ‘waste’, Pinstripes & Peonies, a Creative Floral Design company, have launched ‘The Second Hand Flower Shop’, selling bouquets made entirely of repurposed flowers.
Based at New Covent Garden Flower Market in Vauxhall, Pinstripes & Peonies already donate 80% of the flowers cleared from their weddings and events to Floral Angels, a charity who repurpose them into small posies taken to care homes, shelters, hospices, etc. Even with this sizeable donation, the team at Pinstripes & Peonies were still seeing beautiful flowers being put into the compost heap, with nothing wrong with them, just with nowhere else to go.
The Second Hand Flower Shop initiative was born therefore to take this final bit of ‘waste’ and turn it into something positive. All money raised from the sale of the ‘second hand’ bouquets will be put into school garden projects to create green spaces in otherwise urban areas.
Since 2013, Pinstripes & Peonies have already been sponsoring local primary school, Herbert Morrison, to create an enviable Nature Garden for students to enjoy. Previously unkept with no resources for its maintenance, the space is now thriving with plants and flowers once used at Pinstripes & Peonies’ installations. The scheme has been so successful that Pinstripes & Peonies are hoping to roll it out to a total of five schools in the next year.
Ruari McCulloch – Director and owner of Pinstripes & Peonies commented:
“As a parent, a business owner and a London-centric creative business, I fully believe in the proverb that ‘it takes a village to raise a child’. When looking at where P&P could help improve and have direct impact in the local area, we saw that school green spaces were going unloved, unfounded and yet are completely essential. We hope that the funds raised by the SHFS will help elevate these outdoor spaces, improve horticultural learning and provide a little patch of green where lives are sometimes surrounded by grey.’’
Pinstripes & Peonies have partnered with District who will house the flower stand at the Nine Elms store. Seasonal bouquets will be available throughout the week- check their Instagram account (@theSHFS) for regular updates.
