We recently connected with Mike Bolio Liz Keating and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Mike Bolio, thanks for joining us today. Let’s start with a story that highlights an important way in which your brand diverges from the industry standard.

On a small scale, we are trying to reshape how couples think about design expectations and flower availability, with the hope that one day, this becomes part of a larger movement in the wedding industry. With our focus on being sustainable and sourcing locally, sometimes specific flower varieties or colors may not be available given the time of season. Classic designs seen through social media may need to be reimagined slightly to fit within our goals of eliminating use of floral foam. We try to find a way to work with consumers regardless of how small their budget is which is uncommon in this industry.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Night Bloom Floral Design (NBFD) is an event floral company founded by Mike Bolio and Liz Keating. Our goal is to build a sustainable floral company that caters to the environmentally conscious consumer. The floral industry leaves a significant carbon footprint on the environment, particularly because of the carbon emissions involved in transporting flowers around the world. NBFD was born out of a want to grow, design, and educate clients and the local community while sourcing locally and using organic growing methods. This commitment requires we reimagine designs without widely used industry tools, such as floral foam. While it is technically biodegradable, floral foam breaks down into microplastics that can live in the environment for years.

We met while competing at a local flower show. As luck would have it, Liz wanted to learn how to grow flowers locally and Mike wanted to expand into event floral design. Shortly after, NBFD was born. With Mike’s agriculture background and Liz’s floral design experience, they are building a business that is eco-friendly, accessible, and beautifully crafted.

Mike’s Background
I have been working in the agriculture industry most of my professional life, from small scale landscape and permaculture designs to farming. In 2014, I completed an apprenticeship at UC Santa Cruz in Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems, learning and working on their 30-acre farm. Later that year, I started a therapeutic farming program for adults with autism and related disabilities, that provided instruction on all facets of farming, including a flower CSA and a weekly mobile farmer’s market. Out of a desire to expand my skills as a farmer, I left to begin working on a large scale organic production farm. I have continued to seek opportunities to grow professionally, and now work full time as the Farm Manager growing flowers and vegetables on a small farm in Massachusetts, where I oversee a flower CSA, farmers market, wedding, and wholesale accounts.

Liz’s Background
I have been a florist since 2008. My first job was at a local supermarket, where I learned about basic floral care and design while assembling florals for weddings, proms, sale displays, and other special orders. Upon graduating college with a Bachelors of Fine Art in Graphic Design, I continued to work on a variety of floral events on my own. One of the most valuable learning experiences of that supermarket was honing my client relation skills. After working in the event industry for over a decade, I decided to explore floral art and try my hand competing at local flower shows. I enjoy creating artful arrangements and aim to understand every clients’ needs and expectations to make sure the flower décor becomes an extension of our client’s personality.

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

The pandemic hit at the very beginning stages of Nigh Bloom Floal Design (NBFD). So, the cancellation of public social gatherings made it pretty difficult to grow a business aimed in wedding and event floral design. I began to explore ways to shift the focus of the business to stay relevant during this time. One of the many benefits of being a farmer in New England is the great community you are surrounded by. Through that community, I was able to rent a small plot land to grow flowers on. With that small plot of land, we were able to offer a flower CSA with locally grown organic flowers throughout the first summer and fall of the pandemic. With many storefronts still shuttered or limited in capacity, I scheduled CSA pick-ups under a pop up tent in front of my apartment building. It was a patchwork effort that ended up really shaping how NBFD looks today. Once things began to slowly open back up, cancelled weddings started to be rescheduled. With some Covid restrictions still in place and concern about the pandemic still looming over larger gatherings, we began to receive lots of inquiries to do micro-weddings and smaller scale weddings. Small scale and micro weddings were never intended to be our focus, but it has become a staple of what we offer as a small growing business.

What’s been the best source of new clients for you?

Liz – Word of mouth. Now, this might sound old fashioned, but the best clients come from other happy clients. People love to talk about things they love and hate. If you create the emotional connection during the consultation and elevate the event with your product, you will seal the deal on future business as well.

Mike – Word of mouth is probably our biggest source of new clients, as well as in person interactions through volunteers and customers from working on a farm. Social media and our presence on Instagram have also had an impact, though I have a love/hate relationship with maintaining a social media presence. However, the payoff is there. Lastly just putting out good quality work that we are consistently proud of.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.nightbloomfloraldesign.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nightbloomfloraldesign/

Image Credits
Cassie Wang Photography