Welcome to the untamed edge
About us
The School of Sustainable Floristry is a floristry school with a difference. Simply put, we are on a mission to reimagine how floristry is taught and practiced.
Located on a flower farm within a historic walled garden just outside Bedford—allowing our students to be directly connected to their medium—we teach an approach to floristry that is led by the seasons, by the flowers themselves, and with a more untamed naturalistic style of floral design that is always underpinned by sustainable mechanics.
We offer a range of full and half day workshops aimed at those seeking to dip a toe (or rather stick their hands into the earth) with arranging flowers seasonally and sustainably, to our more professional focused offerings, including our year long Season Led Florist professional change programme and The Business of Floristry.
Everything we do is led by a more artistic approach to floristry (flor-art-istry), by the seasons, by our sustainable values and by a drive to see a more sustainable floristry industry.
How it began
Frustrated by the floristry training she received, Cissy Bullock realised that it hadn’t taught her how to create the kind of designs she was drawn to. Something was missing. She couldn't quite put her finger on it until she discovered the colour, movement and vitality of locally grown flowers and experimented with a more untamed approach to floral design using mechanics that aligned with her sustainability values.
As a wedding and event florist, Cissy made a bold, early commitment to become a season-led florist, choosing not to work with imported flowers, even in the winter months. (Floral foam had always been a complete no-go for her.) With more and more clients coming to her exactly because of her decision to work seasonally and sustainably, and with rising prices of imported flowers, Cissy could see that this was the direction the industry was headed. But, she realised that traditional floristry training was still rooted in outdated practices, relying on imported flowers and unsustainable mechanics. Florists were graduating ill-equipped for the rapidly evolving sector.
What if floristry and its training could be reimagined? What if we could help florists skip the years she spent unlearning and relearning the skills needed to thrive in modern floristry? What if we could truly reconnect florists to their medium? And what if we could create a movement of florists that would accelerate the industry's journey toward sustainability—environmentally, socially, and financially?
So Cissy approached Lucy Copeman, a flower farmer with a deep-rooted commitment to sustainability. Together, in 2021, they embarked on a mission to establish The School of Sustainable Floristry.
Meet the founders
Cissy Bullock
Founder & Lead Instructor
Lucy Copeman
Founder of Howbury Farm Flowers
About Cissy
Cissy is the driving force behind The School of Sustainable Floristry and serves as the lead instructor. She's also the founder and creative director of Wildstems, a season-led wedding and event floral studio. Cissy's journey into floristry began following a decade of living and working in Asia. She returned to the UK in 2015, pregnant with twins, and an inexplicable, but impossible-to-ignore, urge to be connected to the earth and the seasons. Flowers had always played a part in her life, coming from a family of keen gardeners where treasures from the garden always brought into the home, and a career as a florist just felt the most natural and obvious thing in the world. She just wishes she’d realised it earlier!
Her floral design and style has always been instinctive and led by the flowers, but it is her constant need to understand why (yes, she was that child) that underpins her approach to teaching. Cissy is generous in the sharing of her knowledge, experience, and all the mistakes she made along the way, and she makes sure that her students leave with a deep understanding of floral design and its medium - the flowers, With an irrational love for wreaths and an obsession with Chinese cuisine, she brings a unique blend of creativity, expertise and drive to the School of Sustainable Floristry.
About Lucy
A former financial PR professional in London, Lucy followed her heart to Bedford, where she set about restoring flower growing to an 18th-century walled garden at Howbury Hall, setting up Howbury Farm Flowers in 2013. A chance encounter with a local floristry teacher led to her growing dahlias for floristry workshops, which transformed into successfully selling wholesale to florists and individuals … and another not-so-chance encounter with a local florist-turned-teacher 10 years later saw her generously open up her successful flower farm, estate and home to The School of Sustainable Floristry.
Unleash your wild, creative side with us
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The Season Led Florist
Master the four seasons of flor-art-istry in six days.
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Flor-art-istry Workshops
Develop your flor-art-istry with our skill focused workshops.
“Cissy's exuberant teaching style is a breath of fresh air! She is unapologetic about her promotion of British grown flowers and their beauty. She also has a strong commercial focus … my head is buzzing with newly gained knowledge, understanding, inspiration and perhaps most importantly, confidence!”
Adrienne, Season Led Florist Student
