About
Tracey
Find out a bit more about Tracey Griffin.
Tracey's Floristry Expertise
Tracey has a wealth of floristry expertise. She was bitten by the flower bug at a very young age, having literally grown up within a successful florist.
Tracey has worked both nationally and globally. Her positions have included working and managing multi-branch businesses in the UK, experience in Finland, working in a high-end shop in Milan, Italy, and running a sophisticated florist in Jumeirah, Dubai.
Back in the UK Tracey Freelanced for a Mayfair based florist for many years. Each week her striking floral creations fulfilled extensive corporate contracts which frequented many of the city’s top businesses.
Tracey’s own business specialised in wedding, event and corporate floristry and over the years thrilled countless individuals. This side of her business was wound down as she focused supporting fellow florists in new and exciting directions.
Florismart was born – Tracey was involved from the very early days, even coming up the company name. She was pleased to dedicate her time and energy into co-founding this ground-breaking company which offers a new concept in buying, empowering florists with greater choice and more essential information on purchasing than has ever been offered before. As the concept was embraced and the company grew, operations were relocated to Holland and Tracey moved into assisting the florist industry in another way.
As the Marketing Manager of the British Florist Association (BFA) she promoted professional floristry to consumers both directly, and through assisting florists in their own promotions, and in numerous other ways. Having been so involved with floristry Tracey knew all the BFA directors, along with many corporate, college and business members, and several international floral designers she worked with.
Support for Florists
Most recently Tracey has set up SmallBizAssist with her business partner Alex. The business gives support in many aspects of business and shares a wealth of experience and knowledge. She has seen first-hand the changes and challenges within the florist industry and throughout small businesses and aims to help. Tracey is passionate about SmallBizAssist which in turn is passionate in giving considerable assistance to business owners, which it does in many ways.
Qualifications
Tracey has a string of qualifications, not only floristry, but also in business and teaching. She began her training locally, but keen to achieve the highest qualifications and attain the very best education available, relocated to North Wales to attend the renowned Welsh College of Horticulture.
Awards & Accolades
Throughout her career Tracey has seen incredible success with floristry competitions and has won multiple awards.
The most recognisable medal is the RHS Chelsea Gold Medal which she received in 2013. Her outstanding ‘never ending circle’ design gained exceptionally high marks and was one of only 2 gold medals given in the Chelsea Florist of the year competition at the world famous RHS Chelsea Flower Show in its centenary year.
In 2012 Tracey gained a Silver Medal in the RHS Chelsea Florist of the year competition with the schedule that saw her, and the other professional florists create a ‘Floral Chandelier’.
Tracey had a short break from the competition in 2011 as she was invited to Demonstrate at the ‘Talking Flowers Marquee’. Centrally located at the heart of Chelsea Flower Show, the Talking Flowers Marquee had a line-up of leading UK Florists to wow and inspire the International crowds of Flower Lovers.
2010 Saw Tracey compete at RHS Chelsea Flower Show for the first time, she came away with a Silver Gilt medal – one pip off gold, a pretty good result for her first time entering the RHS Chelsea Florist of the year competition!
The Interflora Florist of the Year Competition for UK and Ireland, is another highly prestigious professional floristry competition that is held once every four years. In 2011 Tracey represented the Southern region after winning the regional heats. She was part of the line-up of the very best florists in the UK & Ireland that competed in front of a live audience of thousands at the RHS Tatton Park Flower Show. Tracey’s skills and talent shone through as after two days of competing she was placed 2nd overall. The Winner soon after came 3rd in the Floristry Europa cup Competition. In 2013 Tracey once again joined the elite line up at the Interflora Florist of the Year Competition, again fighting off stiff competition to gain 3rd place.
Another elite competition is the British Floristry Association Florist of the year Competition. Tracey has taken part in each of the finals of this competitions since 2002, the most recent taking place in 2019 at BBC Gardens’ World live. In 2010 Mark Ward then President of the BFA, and Florint (The International Florists Association) described the seven competitors as “The seven best florists in the UK”.
Tracey has many other incredible competition achievements under her belt including 2017 -2018 designer of the year.
Over the past few years Tracey has turned the tables and been judging floristry for ‘The Wedding Industry Awards’.
National & International Demonstrator
Since 2002 Tracey has Demonstrated sharing inspiration and expertise in both the professional floristry world and as a highly regarded NAFAS National Demonstrator. Check out the dedicated pages of demonstrating and NAFAS National demonstrating that explain far more about this aspect of her work.
National & International Teacher
Tracey’s skills are shared not only through demonstrations but also teaching workshops, both of these areas have seen her travel throughout the UK and Europe. Find out more about how Tracey can offer floristry business training here or check out this information on having Tracey run workshop for design groups or flower clubs.
Published Work
Her work is published in the international best-selling book ‘International Floral Art’ in the 2014 – 2015, 2012 – 2013 and 2010 – 2011 issues. Hopefully, her work will yet again be featured in the next issue 2021 – 2022 addition. The aim of the International Floral Art book is, and has always been to push the boundaries, it creates a platform for inventiveness, and provides a great outlet for creativity and innovation. For well-established floral designers, such as Tracey, this book is an opportunity to demonstrate how years of hard work have honed their crafts to perfection. This series of books, displays the variety and rich potential of contemporary floristry, they have become true collectors’ items among professional florists and passionate hobbyists alike. Leafing through the pages of this book is like embarking on a fantastic journey of floral discovery, if you’ve ever done so you’ll know exactly what we mean.
Press
With all the achievements it’s understandable that Tracey has been featured in the press throughout the years. Click here to view the numerous articles featured in the press.
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