BFA Award Winner, Alice Herrington

For our last student feature of the year we have the honour of announcing the recent success of our wonderful Masters student, Alice Herrington, who has just won City & Guilds Level 5 ‘Highest Practical Mark’ at BFA FleurEx! Alice scored the best results in the UK and we couldn’t be more proud. It’s been an absolute joy watching her develop amazing skills with us throughout her time at the Academy.

Since Alice has collected her award we’ve had the opportunity to catch up with her and find out all about her floral journey. She very kindly shared her story with us and some beautiful photos of her fabulous work! Read below:

ALICE’S FLORAL JOURNEY

“Hiya, I’m Alice Herrington, I’m a level 5 master florist and I completed my L5 training with Tina at the British Academy of Floral Art. I left school at 16 and started my floristry journey at Bicton College completing my L2, 3 & 4.

I have run a successful flower shop on Dartmoor with my mum for the past 12 years; since leaving school and whilst completing all my floristry training. In 2019 I gained a gold medal at Chelsea Flower Show while competing in The Young Florist of the year Awards, an incredible experience I will never forget.

Since closing our shop in April this year, I have now started my own business called ‘Devonshire Rose Floral Design’. I am now a busy wedding and events florist also offering freelance services to local wedding florists which I’m really enjoying.

I am very adaptable to all creative styles within floristry, however my own creative style is natural and rustic with a country twist, I love working with foliage, textures and I love colour!

I am currently busy setting up my own studio on our family farm; a creative space where I will be able to make my beautiful designs and also a space to hold workshops.”

“I enjoyed the Level 5 process, creating designs which were not so commercial but more artistic and creative. I did also enjoy the business studies, learning more about business planning and marketing which I do have experience and knowledge with from running our own shop, but I found it very interesting to gain a deeper understand of why we do certain things in business.

We continued to study throughout the whole of the Covid Pandemic and lockdowns, Tina made this very easy to continue to learn and complete our assignments by teaching us via zoom calls and giving us structured deadlines.

Tina is a great teacher, and all the other academy students were so lovely to meet and work alongside. We are a very tight knit group, I have made friends for life completing this course.

I would say to anyone wanting to pursue a career in floristry to get good solid training under your belt, level 2 for me is and was the foundations of my learning and getting to grips with the basics holds you in good stead for future learning and work.
Being around people who inspire you is so important, I always used to come away with new ideas and things I wanted to try after being in a lesson at the Academy… Never stop learning and trying new things! If you really want to do it, just GO FOR IT!”

“Now that I have come to the end of my 12 years of floristry studying I plan to give myself some time to learn some new skills and hobbies. I have always wanted to learn Calligraphy, but have never had the time, so now seems a good time to invest in me and try more creative outlets! Something like this can go hand in hand with my floristry, and combine my love for other creative elements with my love of floristry.

I can’t wait to start creating flowers for weddings and events booked in for next year, I am really excited and am looking forward to the year ahead in my new venture and being my own boss! I would love to be able to hold workshops from my home studio and start teaching so to pass on the knowledge, skills and passion I have gained over the years for what I do and my love for flowers!”