IN CONVERSATION WITH

Creating the Perfect Valentine’s Arrangement with Florist Hannah Hunnam

7th February 2025

With Valentine’s Day around the corner, now is the perfect time to celebrate with flowers - a timeless symbol of romance. From 18th-century Valentines to the Victorians’ love of floriography, flowers have long conveyed emotions and beauty. We spoke with Norfolk-based florist Hannah Hunnam, known for her natural, whimsical style, to share expert tips on creating a stunning Valentine’s arrangement in our new SS25 vases!

The Romance of Flowers: A Timeless Valentine’s Tradition

Valentine’s Day is just around the corner, making it the perfect time to express your appreciation for the special people in your life - friends, family or your better half. Flowers have long been a symbol of romance, but have you ever wondered why? The tradition of exchanging valentines began flourishing in 18th-century England, with handmade lace-adorned cards and heartfelt poetry. The Victorians elevated this custom further, crafting intricate cards and embracing the language of flowers - floriography - to convey emotions through carefully chosen blooms.

Meet the Florist: Hannah Hunnam’s Journey into Flowers

We believe flowers add the perfect finishing touch to any interior, so we caught up with Norfolk-based florist Hannah Hunnam to explore the art of floral arranging. Known for her loose, natural, and whimsical style, Hannah works with locally grown and British flowers whenever she can to create effortlessly beautiful designs. Whether you're planning a romantic bouquet or simply want to bring seasonal beauty into your home, Hannah shares her expert tips to help you create a stunning Valentine’s arrangement.

I started my career working in London for advertising and design agencies, and after a few years in the city I decided to explore my floral calling and booked myself onto a professional floristry course at internationally renowned florist Jamie Aston’s, in the evenings outside of work, and have never looked back. I started focusing full-time on flowers in 2019 (just as Covid hit!), and have since worked on some amazing weddings and events; creating flowers for wonderful private clients across the country and worked with luxury brands including Monica Vinader, CELINE, Viktor & Rolf, L’Oréal, Pandora, Flora Soames and Edeline Lee.

How to Create a Beautiful Valentine’s Flower Arrangement

Essential Equipment for Floral Arranging

- You’ll need a pair of sharp scissors or secateurs to work with. I love my Japanese Niwaki secateurs, they are an investment but totally worth it.

- Flowers/foliage/branches either from your garden, or sourced from your local florist or grower

- Your chosen vessel

Hannah’s Favourite Flowers for a Unique Valentine’s Bouquet

Ranunculus
Anemones
Hellebores
Narcissus
Tulips
Viburnum
Catkins
Blossom
Nicholli

Conditioning: Preparing Your Flowers for Longevity

- Preparing your flowers before arranging them is key to ensuring they stay hydrated and longer-lasting - keeping the vessels clean and using cool, fresh water is essential

- When receiving your flowers either from your local florist or grower, re-cut the stems with your scissors at a sharp angle by at least 1cm. This creates a greater surface area for the stems to drink more easily.

- Ensure any foliage below the water level is removed to prevent it from decaying in the water as the bacteria may shorten the vase life of your flowers.

- Leave the stems for a good few hours (ideally overnight) in a cool, dark place once they have been prepared before arranging.

Creating: Step-by-Step Guide to Arranging Your Bouquet

- Place your large foliage stems and branches in the vessel first to form the outline of the shape of your design, letting the stems decide where they want to sit (rather than forcing them!) and continue to fill out with your greenery. I have some heavenly scented sweet box stems, some viburnum, blossom and catkins for this arrangement.

- Then begin to add your flowers using the larger, accent stems first - for example the ranunculus and anemones.

- Complete your arrangement by adding in the more dainty, wispy stems, such as tulips and narcissus to achieve a natural ‘hand-picked’ from the garden look.

Mini Q&A

Hannah’s Top Styling Tips

When it comes to styling flowers and flower arranging, I love to bring nature inside. Take inspiration from your surroundings and for a more natural look, go heavy on the foliage and branches - for example, a wonderfully simple, Spring space-enhancing arrangement could be just a few branches of blossom. Or for a home-made tablescape, group petite vases or bottles on your dining table and fill them with single-stem flowers en masse for an effortless but impactful effect - using flowers such as white and yellow narcissus, snowdrops, tulips or hellebores.

Your favourite arrangement or your proudest piece?

I worked on a beautiful wedding last year in North Norfolk with such a wonderful team - we created a really special celebration of Autumn in the church with seasonal pew end arrangements and decorated a rood screen filled with crabapples, spindleberry, gaura, trailing ivy, dahlias and so much more! It was a joy to work on!

I also worked on a beautiful piece with Floral Soames for a House & Gardens feature in December - my favourite being the abundant mantel arrangement above the fireplace and hallway table decorations.

The image featuring the horse head on the table was taken by Helen Cathcart.

Your source of inspiration?

The changing seasons of the Norfolk countryside is a huge inspiration for me and my work, I feel so fortunate to live in such a beautiful part of the world. Of course, florists such as Shane Connolly inspire me as well garden and landscape designers such as Sean Pritchard - ceramists too, as I am always on the hunt for new vessels. I adore work by By Raffaella and Laura Huston to name a couple, artists such as Flora Yukhnovich and many interior designers!

Describe your home interior style?

I’m currently living in the building site of our 500 year old cottage! So I’m in the process of creating moodboards and will be taking inspiration from interior and textile experts such as Robert Kime, Beata Heuman, Namay Samay, Carolina Irving, Rosie Uniacke, Lucy Cunningham and more. I love sleuthing the internet for antique homeware and furniture, and am keeping an eye on local auctions for any pieces that will help preserve the atmosphere and character of the property, and adding functionality for our family as we have young twins.