Volet has fast risen to the ranks of the UAE’s most sought after floral design studios, but like most home-grown success stories, it all started with one accidental meeting.
“I met my business partner Julia Volet in 2013,” recalls Tobias Gibreel. He had recently re-located to Dubai as the operations manager for a hospitality group and she supplied candles for the restaurants he ran. Together, they shared a passion for flowers and botanics.
“We would talk endlessly about the gaps in the floral design market here, how I would always end up doing my own flower arrangements for the restaurants and how the UAE desperately needed something like the European flower markets.”
The lightbulb moment came when they decided to turn their passion into a business and started Volet from Julia’s garage studio. Three months and a trade license later, they launched their first floral design studio in Dubai in April 2015, opposite CityWalk. The studio remains true to the duo’s inspiration for the project — Battersea or Columbia Road flower markets — with a distinct workshop vibe. Testament to its success, Volet launched a shop-in-shop at the recently opened department store Robinsons, in Dubai Festival City, along with pop-ups at urban hot-spots, Comptoir 102 and The Sum of Us.
“My love affair with flowers dates back to my childhood,” says Gibreel of what drives him. “My passion for floristry and botanics grew into an obsession when I moved from Sudan to Germany as a teenager and discovered botanical markets. Now Julia and I get to share our love, research and techniques with flower lovers in the UAE.” Here Gibreel discusses three floral design trends that define 2017.
Force of Nature
The year’s definitive trend for floral decor, ironically, eschews typical flowers for the muted, earthy tones of green. Pinterest and Instagram are flush with images of verdant greens replacing tradition floral decor at weddings; table top arrangements have given way to branches and wreaths suspended over the occasion. Leaves — Jungle king, Monstera and Thlaspi — are the heroes of the scheme. “The urge for people to connect with nature has never been stronger,” reasons Gibreel. Trends in fashion and interiors are accrued by obvious symbolisms of life, health and healing. “I personally prefer wilder arrangements with greens such as Mentha, Dille visnaga, Parvifolia eucalyptus and seeded eucalyptus.” Layer the greens with South African wild flowers such as Protea or Banksia.
Blush
This trend takes the lead from the popularity of pastels in interiors and fashion. The rise of washed out hues is a direct response to our need for calm and serenity; in floral design, that means we steer clear from bright reds, yellows, oranges and any warm colours. White, blues, lilacs, and mauves are the palette of choice, with vintage pink balancing the tonality. “Variety in texture and flower type is key for such an understated look,” says Gibreel. Mix big bunches like hydrangeas and voluminous David Austin roses with tall stemmed Delphinium and delicate Ammi Majus. “A hint of baby blue eucalyptus lends informality and movement.”
The New Wedding Bouquet
Innocent whites are timeless classics, but the wedding bouquet everyone will be talking about is designed around hues of summery pink. Specifically, it is the muted, grayish hue of pink, referred to as ‘dusty rose’ that is most sought after.
“Flowers such as the Lady Suzanne rose have a soft, home-grown quality that makes it a wedding bouquet must-have,” says Gibreel. The styling of the bouquet itself is dialled down on drama; the new bouquet has artisanal charm. “Think of the bouquets one would make at home - a mix of variety and an organic structure. The idea being it should not look too contrived or stiff. It is romance that we are after, not florist produced perfection.” Eremurus, Astrantia, Ornitigarum work well with the dusty rose, lending mild contrast and texture. Fill in with the season’s hottest greens such as Eucalyptus nicholii.
