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Saturday, 17 August 2019 00:59 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
By Ruwandi Gamage
Celebrating a decade in the floristry business adorning weddings and brides, Flowers by Shey has set its mark in the industry as a florist who transforms venues into a natural setting, transcending formal décor and bringing something very different to the game.
Shehara Wickramasinghe, a one-woman show, shared with Weekend FT her journey to becoming a florist and her success at staying ahead of the game. 
Acquiring a family business from her great grandparents and having been brought up in an environment where she had constantly been exposed to wedding décor thanks to her grandmother Kamala Perera, Shehara has started learning about flower décor from an early age. With the passion to pursue a career in floristry, she has attended Capel Manor College, England, where she completed a Bachelors in Floral Design and Floristry.
“I came back in 2009 and I started right away and carried on what she was doing. My grandma was working with giants in the industry such as Harris, Ramzi and Michael, and she did mostly bridal bouquets and not décor.”
Having studied flower décor in natural settings, Shehara has started her own career, bringing in new trends and transforming venues into natural settings. “I might be the one who started the set-up of flowers in jam jars, when others were using the green foam to set-up flowers. I started with the vase and putting the stems in water, and switched to using jam jars. It has caught on well and since become a trend.”
After completing her first event at the Mount Lavinia Hotel, she has since then worked in many different locations, incorporating many different themes and vibrant colours and is proud that she was able to be different and be a success. She reflects that her success was because people embraced her vision and loved her work for what it represents: a love for nature.
“It’s nice to see when people look at my work and learn from it. If we need to see beautiful things and also be influential, that’s what I mainly want. If people are looking at my work and are being influenced to do it that way, then I think I must’ve achieved something.”
She says that though she is different from her grandmother as a florist in many ways, she gets clients who seek out her expertise just because their mother’s wedding was done by her grandmother. “Now I have clients who come to me saying ‘you have done my sister’s wedding, I want to hire you for mine’.”
Shehara asserted that she likes incorporating all natural flowers in her décor, because they fall and behave in a natural way, without being set to be straight and standing, like artificial ones. However, she puts her clients’ wishes first and accommodates their requirements and incorporates artificial flowers such as to fit to their budgets.
She confided that the only way to bring out the best in whatever you do is to like it, which is why she prefers working in an all-natural setting. “I pick out artificial flowers that look very natural and mix them up so that it is hard to tell the difference. However, I like working with natural flowers.”
She has since expanded to taking in requests to do décor at birthday parties, and says this is as much as time permits. Shehara can be contacted for flower décor needs through Instagram or Facebook, via ‘Flowers by Shey’ on either platform.
Pix by Ruwan Walpola
