Brought to you by Square.
"I want to create this really vibrant and creative hub where people can come in and learn about flowers."
Earlier this summer, we embarked on a mission with
Square to find some of the very best independent businesses in Dublin. We had a truly transformational prize worth €17,000 up for grabs, which included some brand new POS hardware gear from Square, and after whittling down the incredible entries, we were left with one winner - Heather Condren's
Flowerpop.
Established in November 2021, Flowerpop is a florist and floral studio based in Inchicore. Heather creates vibrant unique bouquets and wreaths for all occasions, but she also hosts seasonal floral design, wreath-making and flower crown workshops out of her studio.
Heather describes herself as an "accidental florist", who fell in love with the art after taking a flower-crown workshop herself at a hen party.
"The girls that did the workshop were from Kay's Flower School, so I followed them on social," Heather tells Lovin Dublin. "They were open 30 years, so they
ran a scholarship competition which I entered for the craic. And then I won it and found myself training to be a florist.”
During lockdown, a bored Heather started experimenting with flowers at home, "I thought, you know what? I'll do a few bouquets. I stuck a post up on Instagram saying if anyone wants to order one, let me know. And then I had 75 orders in 24 hours, so I had to get someone in to help me straight away."
From there, things really took off for Flowerpop, and today the business has expanded to include workshops as well as some major collaborations and events. Most recently, Heather joined forces with Kildare Village and Maser Art for
Colorama.
"We got to do some flowers that you never get to do at a wedding because they were so bright and different and cool. So I love working with events and creating visual impact for events and brands. But I also love the workshops. There’s a bit of a teacher in me. So I love getting people into the studio, and just passing it on. There is secrecy around floristry in Ireland, which I hate, so I love sharing it with people."
Learning that she was the winner of the Square competition was "wild", Heather says, and now she's excited to incorporate Square's technology into her business.
"We have both a retail and an online presence, and we currently use two different services for those, so it's going to be great to combine these together so that it's all one cohesive piece. And obviously, their software looks slick, so I'm excited to have that in our studio, which is being done up at the moment. It will be lovely to have a gorgeous point of sale which will go with our new look as well."
Gearing up for the transformation, Heather explains her plans for the studio's future.
"We're being renovated at the moment," she says. "
I want to create a destination space, so we have a brilliant designer in helping us with the renovations. It’s gonna be really bright and colourful and different. I want to create this really vibrant and creative hub where people can come in and learn about flowers."
She also hopes to do even more teaching and pass on her knowledge base to others, "w
e do lots of teaching with amateurs but I’d like to bring it to professionals, so I’m doing my European masters of design at the moment. That’s what I’m working towards," she said.
Before our call ends, Heather has a few words of wisdom to share with budding entrepreneurs.
"
Be very brave and just go for it," she says. "If it doesn’t work out, just pivot. Everything is changeable."
Collaborating with others is helpful too, she notes,
"find the people who match your brand and ask to work with them. I don’t mean do things for free, everyone deserves to be paid. But definitely get in touch with the right people, the people who are on your wavelength."
Heather also believes in putting yourself out there, "I think that's one of our strengths for us is that I'm so visible on Flowerpop and people buy people. So just be brave and go for it. It will be grand!"
We can't think of a more worthy winner for our Lovin Locals competition, than the vibrant Heather, who champions local businesses and strives to make the best place it can be.
You can check out Flowerpop
right here.
Brought to you by Square.
Squareup International Limited, trading as Square, is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland. 
