Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Nancy Taylor. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Nancy thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Do you have any advice regarding quality control and maintaining quality as your brand grows?

This is a question I’m constantly grappling with as Moss & Clay continues to grow and evolve. Maintaining the quality of the designs and events is linked with expressing my personal style, being able to work with seasonal, local blooms, and really boils down to finding clients who are interested in the same thing. One way to ensure this is to say “no” to clients who might be better suited to a different designer. But even better is having conversations with my clients to explain to them why this is important and convincing them to trust me to pull together a lovely design. Gaining my client’s trust is key to a successful event.

My favorite events of the past feel more like collaborations. The client’s personal style, the venue, and season are my inspiration and I build a design around them. At some point in our conversations my client will hopefully say “I trust you! Whatever you think is best”, and I know the event design is heading in the right direction and everyone involved will be pleased.

As far as quality of product goes, I source flowers and decor from lots of different places and it really changes a little bit from event to event. But choosing quality product over a specific flower variety is always imperative and my clients know that going into their event. They might not get dahlias or cosmos in the arrangements, but they will get something that is equally gorgeous and special.

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

I came into floral design after studying painting at UGA and doing a bit of soul searching while not knowing what to do post-grad. I took a class in floral design and absolutely loved it. After working in retail and learning the flower care basics, I had the opportunity to freelance for some really awesome wedding florists. That’s the first time I was introduced to hanging floral installations and I was amazed at the sculptures these ladies were creating. Floral design is a mix between painting, sculpture, and botany, and I love all of these things!

I feel like I found the medium I am supposed to create with. Flowers bring so much joy to people. So to be able to create natural, ethereal designs that bring people closer to nature is a dream. I grew up around gardens and flower lovers, and some of my best friends are landscape designers. Talking about and learning about flowers is endlessly fascinating to me.

Upon spending more time in the wedding industry, I became aware of the excessive waste and unsustainable nature of this industry. So when creating Moss & Clay, in addition to creating artful designs, I wanted to have sustainable business practices. This is still something I’m improving upon. One rule we always follow is absolutely no floral foam(it’s made out of carcinogens and you should always ask your florist not to use it). I’ve begun composting all the flowers that I can, we avoid one use plastics, and we reuse everything we can such as mechanics and vessels. I also buy local flowers when I can, and I hope to have a larger percentage, if not all of my product from local farms moving forward. In floral design we are taking product directly from the ground to create our life’s work, so the least we can do is be good to the earth when we can.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

My goal has always been to bring joy to people with natural beauty. It’s something that I have had the privilege of experiencing throughout my life in gardens and the outdoors. I love to manipulate flowers and foliages to elevate that beauty and create beautiful environments for people to enjoy and experience.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

The best compliment I get is a referral, and it’s how I get new clients. Some of my first clients were friends, starting a business in the wedding industry in my mid-twenties has it’s perks. Some were referrals from other florists who were already booked for a certain date. Now I mainly get referrals from past clients and vendor friends. The wedding and event industry is full of kind, creative, helpful vendors and I’m very grateful for the relationships I’ve made so far.     

Contact Info:

• Website: www.mossandclay.com
• Instagram: @_mossandclay_

Image Credits
Zach Barron Rachel Monteagudo Madie Ice Willett Photo