Taking part will be Carole Patilla of Tuckshop Flowers in Kings Norton, one of the co-founders of this not-for-profit directory that connects people to funeral florists throughout the UK who can offer beautiful, personal funeral flowers made without plastic floral foam or single-use plastic.
Carole said:
"We are so thrilled that The Farewell Flowers Directory is bringing the beauty of funeral flowers out of the shadows and into the spotlight at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. We want people to know that good funeral flowers should be anything you want them to be: gentle, bold, reserved or naturally, beautifully wild. They can feature a pair of flower-filled walking boots, a wreath of vegetables to celebrate a keen grower, flowers from your garden or a clever arrangement that can be shared after the service. We work with people to give them unique arrangements that capture a life, a time and a place and are as sustainable as possible. People often tell us how the beauty of the flowers helps to get people talking at a funeral. They provide a point of beauty to focus on, and make the experience of funerals that little bit easier."
Featuring exclusively British-grown flowers and foliage and completely free of any plastic, the spectacular installation by The Farewell Flowers Directory will demonstrate that you do not need to sacrifice beauty for sustainability. The Directory hopes the display will spark conversations about what funeral flowers and funerals can be.
Gill Hodgson MBE, Co-founder of The Farewell Flowers Directory said: "Funeral flowers don't have to look funereal, they can be whatever you want them to be. We hope that our Chelsea exhibit will help start conversations and let people know that they have a choice. You can choose to celebrate and reflect a life with fresh, seasonal materials that are natural, beautiful and resonant with meaning. And you can choose for your tributes to tread lightly on the planet."
Carole adds: "As funeral florists, we know that personalised and thoughtful funeral flowers make a difference because people write, call and even pop by to thank us."
The Farewell Flowers Directory exhibit is sponsored by the Institute of Cemetery and Crematorium Management (ICCM), The Green Funeral Flowers Online Course, New Covent Garden Flower Market and Workplace Bereavement.
Mathew Crawley, Chief Executive of the ICCM said: "The Directory champions a simple but transformative idea: funeral flowers can be personal, beautiful, and environmentally responsible. That vision resonated deeply with us. This exhibit will be more than just a showcase of flowers – it's a statement that grief, remembrance and sustainability can exist together in harmony."
The Chelsea installation by The Farewell Flowers Directory will take the form of an artistic interpretation of a funeral scene. Its centrepiece will be a soaring arrangement of vibrant, wildly natural seasonal garden flowers and foliage that appears to burst out of an open willow coffin held aloft on Birch pallbearers. Watching on will be the wirework forms of an old man and his dog by Yorkshire artist, Susan Nichols. Nestled nearby in the grass by the gravestones will be personal funeral flower tributes from walking boots filled with fresh flowers to casket sprays, wreaths and arrangements designed to be divided and shared with family and friends.