Starting again...
A New Chapter in London
There are moments in a career when you realise you are ready for something different.
Not necessarily because something is wrong, but because you’ve reached a point where you’re curious about what might happen next.
For me, that meant London.
After more than 18 years working across floristry, weddings, events, education, business and creative development, I found myself stepping into a completely new chapter — moving to London and beginning again in a city I have loved for a very long time.
It’s exciting. It’s also a little strange.
There is something humbling about arriving somewhere new after having spent so many years building experience and confidence in your industry. You know what you know, but suddenly there are new people to learn from, new ways of working, new places to explore and a whole different creative landscape to absorb.
And I think that's one of the things I’m enjoying most. Being curious again.
London is a city that feels almost impossible to take in all at once. When I arrived t the end of August there were flowers everywhere, even when I wasn't looking for them there they were — in markets, shop windows, gardens, restaurants, streets and tiny pockets of green between the buildings. There are exhibitions, architecture, fashion, food, theatre, design and an endless stream of people doing interesting things.
For someone who has always found inspiration in the relationship between flowers, people and place, it feels like a very good city to be paying attention in.
I'm still finding my feet.
I'm learning the rhythms of a new city, discovering places I want to return to, finding new favourite walks and slowly building a new sense of what feels like home.
And alongside all of that, I'm in a new job.
Being part of a new creative environment has already reminded me how much there is still to learn and achieve. After so many years of working in different parts of the industry in Australia, it's refreshing to put into place what I know in a new city.
Perhaps that's what this chapter is really about.
Not starting from scratch — because I bring a lot with me — but starting from somewhere new.
The businesses, projects, classrooms, events, people and experiences that have shaped my career don't disappear because I've moved countries. They come with me. They influence how I see things, how I work and what I notice.
But I also don't want this chapter to be entirely defined by what I've done before.
I want to see what happens when those experiences, meet new people, new places and find new possibilities.
So this Journal is going to be a little record of that.
Not a behind-the-scenes account of my working life, and not a polished version of having everything figured out.
More a collection of observations.
Flowers I'm noticing. Places I'm discovering. Creative things that catch my attention. Lessons from work and life. The occasional thought that probably needs somewhere to go.
And, inevitably, a lot of London.
After a long career that has taken a few unexpected turns, I've learned that the interesting parts are the ones you couldn't have planned.
This is just the start of my next chapter.