MEET VILA WRAY
I think my love of flowers began in childhood. My parents are both incredibly green fingered and I always found joy in the colour and tactile nature of our vegetable patch, garden plants and shrubs. I always appreciated the connection with blossom signalling the end of those cold, dark winter months where I grew up in North East Scotland.
I spent my early professional career as a visual merchandiser, stylist, brand manager and producer for global sportswear brand Nike. I began to realise the creative potential of flowers in 2015 while working with Lace Buds to design arrangements for my own wedding. I loved how personal and impactful working with flowers could be and was inspired to learn the craft myself and sought some training from the incredible Floral Menagerie. Surprisingly, the two seemingly very different worlds had a lot of parallels where I found my skill in understanding theories of balance, texture, form and colour seamlessly transferred into arranging floral designs. In 2021, I took the leap, left my corporate job in London and set up Veila Wray Floristry and Design from my home studio in Glasgow’s Southside.
I’d describe my style as a florist as artistically wild and unruly. I like to embrace the natural shapes and irregularities of fresh flowers as the focus of my designs. I LOVE colour, the bolder and more unusual the better. I’d describe myself as a ‘maximal minimalist’ for me there’s no greater joy than being surrounded in my studio by lucious, vibrant blooms. I really enjoy creating large scale, statement installations in my venues while simultaneously obsessing over the intricate details and different concepts of wearable flowers.
Building relationships is incredibly important to me, I like to forge a genuine connection and understanding with my clients. I think being part of the emotive, pivotal moments in any story - be it arranging the blooms that decorate a couple’s wedding day, designing installations for PR events, or crafting a memorial piece for a much loved friend - is such a special honour.
For me, concern for our environment is high alongside creativity and aesthetics when planning floral design elements. When executing my designs I always prioritise sustainability. I favour reusable or natural mechanics in my installation work and seek out locally grown Scottish flowers as much as I can while in season. I compost all designs that I de-rig at home and make sure that all single-use plastics that are sadly standard in the industry to protect exported flowers during transport are set aside for recycling.