We were friends who worked together in television...

Actually, Mairead went to uni in Dublin with Athena’s sister and then came to work in London. Athena had always been interested in flowers – spending most of her disposable income in Columbia road on Sundays. We decided to start our own business sort of on a wing and a prayer (Mairead said she’d drive ) – we were very lucky and got a couple of good clients to start with and our flower style evolved as we learned.

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We chose to be based in East London...

Largely because Athena has always lived in Hackney. We originally had a little space in South London, but it was being redeveloped so it was a natural move to come east.

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Our design inspiration comes from everywhere really...

We’re total magpies. art, architecture, fashion, other florists obviously, but mostly nature herself. It is impossible to improve on nature, but we try to work with her as much as possible.

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We've built a really great client list over the years...

I think our favourite place is Sketch in Mayfair because they give us quite a bit of room to be creative.  A couple of years ago we made a 5 metre metal ‘Wardian Case’ filled with all the flowers and plants we think are British but which actually come from all over the world.  This Christmas we have decorated the entrance area with silver birch covered in feathers inspired by ‘Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening’.

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Some simple tips for flowers in the home...

Seasonal flowers are always the best and when British flowers are in season they are fabulous.  Right now there are almost no British flowers apart from Narcissi from the Scilly Isles, and fabulous snowball chrysanthemums.  But that is why everyone decorates with foliage.  All the pines: don’t rely on the blue pine, instead fill your house with gorgeous twisty cedar, long needled Kefir pine, Scots pine and beautiful berried ivy.  And twigs: birch, magnolia bud, twisted willow.  For a dinner party, lots of little bowls and bottles are easy to move around and make space for your food.  Mantelpieces are always a good place to make a splash in the room, and keeps the flowers out of the way in smaller rooms.  To keep flowers alive for longer, just change the water and make sure they’re not near a heat source or direct sunlight.