We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Meghan Marsala. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Meghan below.
Alright, Meghan thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. To kick things off, we’d love to hear about things you or your brand do that diverge from the industry standard.
Thank you so much, I’m honored to be here and talk with you today. This is a great topic that I’m sure many of us think about often. How can we set ourselves apart and be a little different? For me, the short answer is: bring more sustainability and functionality to floral design. As an industry professional, I have become quite familiar with the standards and “norm” for custom floral arrangements. With Hollywood at the forefront for most floral needs here in LA, often times flower installations are created for a one-time use and they do not have a long life to fully be enjoyed and appreciated. They have become very disposable. For example, countless blooms that have been sourced from all over the world with hours of labor creating designs for a red-carpet event can be discarded after a few hours or a single shot is taken for social media. This fast paced industry has normalized that flowers can be a luxury item for those who have the budget and when the party is over, so are the flowers. They are rarely able to be recycled after hours of styling them in extreme sun or heat or if blooms have been altered in any way to create a certain aesthetic. It’s all so beautiful and magical at the time, but it can be so very temporary. How can we change that? In my new body of work that is featured here, I aim to raise awareness and bring more permanence to these handmade works of art that are also living installations. For example, a giant macrame ceiling installation that harnesses glass vases for rose cuttings or a rope and wood sculpture that trains cascading plants to grow and evolve into the piece. This difference matters because it brings more mindfulness to the art of floral design and living decór. We are slowing down to thoughtfully build unique macramé and/or other mixed media art using sustainable materials that hold cut flowers or plants, ultimately bringing these two mediums together in a more lasting way.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I have always been an artist with a lifelong desire to create and evolve works of art. My background stems from my sculpture degree from USC and designing for over 15 years at high end flower shops across Los Angeles, catering to some of Hollywood’s most famous stars. Some of my career highlights include designing flowers for The Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills, Christian Dior on Rodeo Drive and The Annual Academy Awards and Governors Ball.
My desire to start MM Florals came from the pure love and enjoyment I found doing flowers and the ability to share that joy and passion with others. We provide full service floral design and consultation for weddings and special occasions. However, in more recent years, the company has expanded to include handmade home decor and macrame, a form of textile produced using knotting. In my most recent art I have combined that medium with floral design and that is the direction this brand is taking. This exciting body of work pushes the boundaries of a traditional macrame wall hanging using suspended ropes from the ceiling to create a dramatic impact or nearly 2,000 feet of mounded rope on the floor, highlighting the natural beauty of the raw materials. I am most proud of the constant evolution of my work; the ability to expand my ideas to offer new perspectives in art and creative design and to bring this to my clients.
What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?
During the pandemic, I was forced to find a new side hustle to make ends meet when all events were cancelled in the floral industry. Weddings were postponed, the flower market was completely shut down and all large scale gatherings were no longer happening. My success and livelihood had revolved around these large, once-in-a-lifetime celebrations. With the onset of Covid-19, everything came to an abrupt halt and I found myself without work, like so many others, especially those in the event industry. I needed to figure out what to do next to stay afloat and find new ways of expressing myself creatively. One of the biggest things I realized during the pandemic was that being an artist was just as important for my financial well being as it was for my mental and emotional health. Working with my hands to make art and challenging myself creatively is what feeds my soul and it’s who I am. With the absence of working with fresh flowers I longed to create something else tangible that people could enjoy. I decided to completely shift gears and start a side hustle doing macrame. I read books, following different patterns, watched you-tube videos and started an Etsy shop. What started as a small endeavor for a little extra income kept growing. I not only really enjoyed making these pieces but found that people were buying them and there was a demand for it.
Where my work is today with macrame becoming an integral part of my art and floral design is a great example of how my side hustle turned into my main, full time business endeavor. I just kept creating pieces because I had the time and even though I didn’t always have a buyer lined up, they eventually all sold. Challenging myself to do something new pushed me as a creative designer and made me think differently about how I can improve as a florist, when I was able to return to that work. There are so many ways to create and I believe if you do it from the heart you will always be successful and the financial aspect to it will come. Your side hustle may just be a gateway to becoming a more versatile artist.
What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?
For me, the most effective strategy for growing clientele has been getting myself and my work out into the public. For example, registering my small business to be a part of local flea markets on the weekends with other creative retailers, finding art openings or art shows to display some of my work, and talking to people in person as opposed to behind my computer or phone. I have been a vendor several times in LA at The Melrose Trading Post and also at the bi-annual art walk at The Brewery Artists Lofts. I found this not only helped me engage with potential clients on a more personal level but also it helped me to better curate what work I should be producing. You can gain a lot of insight simply by watching people and their reactions to the different products you have to offer and talking to other vendors. What works best for them? Certain designs, color palettes, etc. were more popular and conversation starting than others which helped me to direct my sales in the future.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.mmflorals.com
- Instagram: @mmflorals
- Linkedin: Meghan Marsala
Image Credits
Photography by Vern Evans, www.vernevansphoto.com Studio space and props provided by Floral Rig, www.floralrig.com