We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Andrew Jensen a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Andrew, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s start with a story that highlights an important way in which your brand diverges from the industry standard.

We love working with couples that have a theme or strong artistic vision for their events floral design. Flowers are an incredible medium to work with, and we thrive with clients that want flowers to convey an emotion or feeling at their event. I find that many floral companies would rather pump out the same wedding flowers week after week as opposed to really focusing on the customization of a clients vision.

Andrew, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I got into floristry on a whim by learning from some amazing florists at a downtown retail floral shop. My interest in horticulture was always a big part of my life. My Grandfather worked as a horticultural therapist at the VA hospital in Knoxville, IA. I never got the chance to meet him, but I was always so inspired by the work he did. I believe that led me down the path I am on today, I think there can be something so therapeutic about flowers that is so special to share with others who are learning the trade.

My business partner Serge fell into the floral industry a bit differently. He has a corporate training background and wanted to explore an industry that could highlight his creativity and carpentry. One night on New Years Eve we went out together and said let’s start a business and ever since then we have been enjoying this new field together. I think part of our success in working together is that we balance each other out, each bringing a different skill set to the table.

Flowerchild provides full service floral and event design for our clients. From the initial consultation, we strive to fully understand the vibes our clients are looking to convey with their event design. The bigger the challenge the better for us. We love figuring out how to bring our clients dream to life whatever the challenge may be. Our brand focuses on modern floral design and what is new in the industry. We love designing arrangements that are whimsical, light, & airy in nature, as well as visually interesting.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

Initially we began Flowerchild a few months before the Covid pandemic started. We were all excited to start booking wedding and event clients however that part of our business was put on hold for quite some time. We had to figure out a way to pivot our business so we decided to buy a cute little pickup truck and started our flower truck. We branded the flower truck as a pop up open air flower market on wheels that would show up on weekends all over the city. We would sell custom made bouquets to people passing by. It was so fun to have people watch our process and enjoy flowers in an outdoor setting.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

Our team is always growing. We like to foster a healthy working environment where employees feel comfortable to express their creativity by leading with respect. We realize that all of our employees have different strengths so we like to let them shine in areas that they feel most comfortable. Creative criticism is one part that can be tough to relay to employees. Being respectful and direct is the best way to go about making sure the product is up to our standards and what the clients are expecting.

Contact Info:

• Website: flowerchildchicago.com
• Instagram: @flowerchild_chicago
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/flowerchild.chicago/

Image Credits
Ann & Kam Photography Vague Photography Photography By Lauryn Jason Crocker Photogrpahy Haley Richter Photography