FOUNDED ON: Film And Foliage creator Ashlee Wheelhouse on finding calm in the chaos in 2022
We’ve never been ones for New Year’s resolutions. What we can get behind though, is kicking off ‘22 with some solid foundations (fresh goals! strong values!). So we’re stoked to have chatted to 5 makers about the ideas their brands are built on and where they’re headed in 2022.
What led you to start Film and Foliage and what are the values/ideas it's founded on?
Film and Foliage came about completely accidentally and organically. I took a floristry course to fill in time in a break from my University degree. I fell in love with working with nature and my hands, being able to make money while being creative and the absolute joy of surrounding myself with blooms. After 2 years of study, I landed a full-time job in a very busy styling company and was thrown right into the deep end. We averaged 3 big weddings a week and I ran the floral team - meeting clients, quoting, ordering flowers, hiring and managing a team, I had a huge amount of experience thrown at me in the very early days of my career.
After 2 years of flat out flowering, I became burnt out and it was clearly time to move on. Feeling lost I freelanced for others and made coffee while my friends told me I should start my own business but I disagreed - I had zero maths skills, sucked at planning and felt so overwhelmed by tax and bookkeeping. Eventually, after a few jobs in the industry, I realised I hated being told what to do and had too much pride to be underpaid and undervalued. After working alongside so many vendors on weddings I had become known for my florals and started receiving inquiries from clients who had been sent my way.
Film and Foliage was an old Instagram account where I liked to share photos of flowers and nature - it became my name by default (I thought it was going to be temporary but it stuck), and the business was born. Over the years I have absolutely fallen in love with being a business owner and it has led me on the most magical flower journey. I've flowered all over Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, I've connected with hundreds of beautiful flower friends all over the world, sprinkled floral magic on 500+ weddings and recently started sharing my flower knowledge within an online flower school called 'Wildflower Academy' where I teach florists who were where I was, seeking out knowledge and inspiration on their own flower journeys.
What's the biggest lesson you've learnt while running your biz?
The biggest thing I've come to learn is that you really can sculpt your business to be whatever you want it to be. You can refine your services - you don't have to offer services you don't enjoy doing! You can work wherever and whenever you want, and you can choose your clients, charge your own pricing and incorporate your own values - obviously, this takes time, experience, clever marketing and hard work but it was such an amazing feeling when I realised I can steer this ship in the direction I want. There are a lot of aspects of traditional floristry that do not resonate with me and for a while there I felt I had to follow along with the industry norms. When I began pushing back and implementing my own practices and sidestepping values I don't align with I found a beautiful community of like-minded clients who sought me out and filled my books. Now I flower on my own terms, I travel with my job and work in a beautiful studio space. Dream life unlocked.
How would you describe your approach to 2022?
This year is a little bit chaotic due to the postponements from Covid - we're attempting to Tetris 3 years of weddings into 12 months. Despite this, I am attempting a more balanced work and life situation. It's not always successful but I'm determined! I'm also working with a high volume of flowers so it's a blessing and a curse. While the quantity of work can be overwhelming, the quantity of flowers filling up my studio is bloody delightful!
I absolutely love my job, maybe a little too much as it's hard to take a day off sometimes because my brain is always buzzing with ideas and my hands are itching to create. I'm working on outsourcing tasks, building a little team, automating, a little more organisation and taking more time for myself. I want to be doing this for a long time so it's really important I take care of my health (floristry is crazy hard on your body) and don't become burnt out.
Who/what inspires you to keep doing what to do?
My main inspiration is Mother Nature herself - I get lost in the beauty of nature and am constantly inspired by a really incredible tree, a speckled leaf or a sweet wildflower, I'm a terribly distracted driver - the sides of the highway are a little too beautiful for me to focus on straight lines and road signs. As well as that I love almost all art forms and find inspiration in photography, ceramics, interiors, fashion and paintings. I dabble in it all, I'm what's sometimes called a multi-hyphenate. Incorporating aspects from other artforms are a great way to diversify your style, avoid boring trends and stay fresh. For me, the issue isn't finding inspiration, it's sifting through the zillion ideas I have and trying to choose the best one to action. My creative brain rarely rests, it can be tiring at times but I wouldn't want to have it any other way.