The remarkable life of Constance Spry in floristry – Part 2

After eight years or so as a Headmistress, when Constance reached her early 40s she gave up teaching and opened a shop in 1929 in Pimlico, called Flower Decoration. She quickly became established, securing an ongoing contract for flowers with Granada Cinemas which increased her publicity. But it was her daring arrangements of hedgerow flowers, twigs and berries in the window of the royal perfumer Atkinsons of New Bond Street which literally stopped traffic. The unusual design launched her directly into the ranks of sought-after florists in high society.

She was a self taught innovator who rebelled against the opulence, perfection and restrictive rules of Victorian-era flower arranging. She defied convention by using simple, everyday items and gave them a modern day twist which survives to this day, some designs even bordering on ikebana (click here to learn about ikebana.)

Her innovation has forever changed the way we look at flowers as design elements, turning flower arranging into art in its own right. She revisited Dutch 17th-century artists and learnt to include branches, sticks, fruit and vegetables in unusual containers in her arrangements. ¹ And her clients, both commoners and aristocrats alike, loved her flair and originality!

To further integrate flower arranging into interior design, she even produced her own Grecian vases in opaque black or white in an Art Deco style, made for her by the Fulham Pottery Company. ¹

These high profile commissions made Constance a household name. When World War II began in 1939, Spry resumed her teaching career and lectured to women all over Britain, but her company continued to provide the flowers for society weddings, and ultimately for Princess Elizabeth’s wedding in 1947. ¹

In 1953, Spry was commissioned to arrange the flowers at Westminster Abbey and along the processional route from Buckingham Palace for Queen Elizabeth II's coronation. Constance and her friend Rosemary Hume had also opened a cookery school and such was it’s success that she and Hume were asked to cater a lunch for foreign delegates for which they invented a new dish – called coronation chicken! ²

Constance was appointed OBE in the 1953 Coronation Honours for her outstanding contribution.

Constance went on to travel to spread her message and write more books, thirteen in total.

On 3 January 1960, aged 74, she slipped on the stairs at home carrying some flowers and died an hour later. Her last words were reportedly, "Someone else can arrange this"…………