We were lucky to catch up with Caitlin Jeffery recently and have shared our conversation below.
Caitlin, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s jump right into how you came up with the idea?
It all started when I pursued a career in the software development space in the financial industry; I took Economics in University and always had a strong desire to use the left side of my brain since I loved math, logic and analysis. In some ways pursuit of this path and leaning on this side of my brain helped me realize how much I missed using the right side of my brain. I had always grown up as a creative, putting on performances for my family every night, creating characters in the mirror and singing my heart out through choir.
This realization resulted in me resigning from my job to pursue a career in floral design; I enrolled and got accepted into a program at a local college. As I was seeing through the final days of my contract with work I was required to go to the college to take an entry level English exam so I could avoid taking this course through the program. I will never forget the feeling that pulsed through my body as I entered the building to take this exam. I was flooded with feelings of “this is not right”; I realized it doesn’t have to be one or the other it can be both. After returning home post exam I withdrew my resignation to work (which thankfully had not yet been processed since I gave such a large runway) and withdrew my candidacy for the floral design program.
From that point I started to preserve any flowers I received from my partner at the time. I found myself realizing how wasteful It was to consistently throw out the flowers I would receive upon their wilting and decided I would play with preserving them for purposes of creating potpourri; potpourri is a mixture of dried, naturally fragrant plant materials used to provide a gentle natural scent.
Flowers were always a large part of my upbringing; as a ritual when visiting my grandmother or aunt’s houses in the spring, summer or fall, or when they would visit our house the first thing we would do is take a tour of the gardens. We would spend time discussing how certain varieties were keeping that year, what had popped up since we last perused the space and their desires for what to grow in the future. I loved this ritual and think about it often as it is something I do and deeply look forward to with my mother when I visit her house.
As I began this journey I grew quite a collection of specimen to utilize for potpourri purposes. It wasn’t until a change of living arrangement, where I moved in with one of my best friends that the medium took a new shape.
My best friend is a talented artist and illustrator and always encouraged me to explore her studio at home and use any tools or materials she had. She would constantly think of creative projects for us to do which really helped this longing I was experiencing for utilizing my right side of brain.
One evening I was analyzing and playing with my dried flower specimen and decided to create a mandala design with them on a piece of frame backing. I found myself immersed in the activity; it put me into a meditative headspace and helped me focus on calming my breathing to ensure the flowers stayed in the place I wanted them to be.
As my friend returned that evening she saw what I had created and exclaimed how happy she was to see the outcome. She suggested that I glue them down so we could hang it up in the apartment. We spent the next hour co-gluing the flowers down and then the next day completed the framing.
My friend’s encouragement and support through the process was pivotal for the shift in mindset away from potpourri to creating pieces of art.
The art became a vehicle for me to spread a deeper message which is that there is beauty in death and though it is hard to accept or understand that it is fundamentally our fear of the unknown which scares us rather than the finality itself.
I continued to expand this medium by creating a number of different framed floral art pieces that I would hang in my room or apartment. When my friends came over and admired the pieces they eventually nudged me toward showing this art at local fairs and markets.
Through eventually showing the art in these forums I was asked by people I’d meet if it possible to take their flowers from weddings or funerals and create a living memory of the person or point in time that they represented. From there Gentle Decay was truly born.
Caitlin, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
My name is Cait, I am a flower preservation specialist, software delivery coach and the founder of Gentle Decay.
Gentle Decay uses dried flowers to tell your stories about a person or a point in time. Dried flowers as the medium teaches valuable lessons about letting go, the beauty of death (whether that be of a relationship, an identity or an individual) and the importance of slowing down and being gentle with oneself and the parts that are fragile.
Gentle Decay is a company that shows where there is darkness, there can also be light. Death doesn’t have to mean the end of something, it can also signal the beginning.
Gentle Decay was founded on the principle that beauty can be found in death. Most people buy flowers which look nice for a week or two, then they expire & get thrown in the bin. By intervening in this natural process, we can instill new life into (what would otherwise be) a dead product.
Gentle Decay cherishes all things natural & doesn’t use any additives to aid in the preservation process. Gentle Decay believes in letting all things be exactly as they are & finding beauty in whatever that may be.
For prospective clients, Gentle Decay offers preservation services where I take your fresh flowers, preserve them and create a piece of art with the dried flowers. In addition I create home decor items such as terrariums and dried bouquets that are sold via Etsy and a few local consignment shops.
For businesses (florists, event planners etc.) I offer tear down services where I specialize in the practice of reuse; more specifically upcycling. I will take your left over excess or damaged event florals and florals used in large installations and will transform them into dried relics that are repurposed into pieces of art, home decor and workshop materials.
It is important to me to promote sustainability in an industry that creates a lot of waste (via one day use flowers).
Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?
I wish I knew the power of community earlier on in my journey and the importance of having people to bounce ideas off of and learn best practices from.
About 5 years into my journey I had joined an entrepreneurial community called ‘The Profoundery’; a business coaching community for intentional entrepreneurs designed to give folks an element of Community, Accountability and Momentum. The Profoundery was created by Steph Pellet who is the worlds most supportive business coach and consultant.
Communities like these help alleviate feelings of isolation that can be experienced as a solo Entrepreneur, knowing you are surrounded by like minded people who are facing similar complexities as they operate their business.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
As my creative venture took stride I quickly learned that I am not a super human and I am incapable of doing everything on my to-do list perfectly, within the aggressive timelines I set.
I learned that burning myself out and sacrificing self care or other aspects of my life that were important deeply impacted the quality of my work.
I learned the importance of sentiments like ‘done is better than perfect’ and had to shed away perfectionist mindsets I held. In addition I learned the importance of prioritization and identifying what is a must right now and what can wait.
I often learned this when I would set a date for completing a client’s order and an angry email would come from them about their frustration for how long they’ve waited for a piece to be done or when I had to send an apologetic ‘sorry i need more time’ email that I learned the importance of setting realistic expectations and service level agreements that took into account that not only am I an entrepreneur but a person who holds a full time job and a person who has other passions and commitments that need to be taken into account; setting realistic expectations up front is key!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.gentledecay.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gentledecay/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gentledecay
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/caitlin-jeffery/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@gentledecay6503
- Other: https://www.etsy.com/ca/shop/gentledecay?ref=profile_header
Image Credits
AMBER ELLIS, CREATING LIGHT STUDIO