Heidi and Katia are the dynamic duo behind HeiDesigns. You may have spied their work in many of our pubs, from the ceiling at The Pig & Sty to the sprawling bourgainvillea on the terrace at The Farm House, they specialise in creating incredible floral installations to elevate a space and to bring the outdoors in.
Keep reading to find out more about their origins and just how far they’ve come in the last couple of years.
What has been your favourite design so far?
Heidi: To be honest, the biggest favourite has to be the Pig & Sty because that was so emotional, especially for myself because that was where we had our first meeting with the Elite Pubs team to talk about the concept and then when we came together and actually completed it – we were just in tears, it was so emotional because that’s where the journey began. Nature took over. That was the inspiration for that one, and it really does take that on. It was the biggest job too, we did it all in one day – we were there till 9 o’clock!
How did you both get into floristry design?
Katia: I’ve done floristry since I was a teenager, it’s the only thing I’ve ever done so I hope I don’t want a career change at any point! Floristry wise I started as a teenager working local to home and in local shops and then made the move into London, and worked for a florist in Knightsbridge and went all the way from florist, to store manager, to events manager and then left there a year or so ago and met Heidi. The whole thing just kind of came together really.
Heidi: We used to work on doing installations together in London, and Katia was like events boss lady and then I started helping her out and then we just went on like that creating them all together. I then started up HeiDesigns, she came on board and now we’re like proper sisters! Sisters of the flower world.
Could you talk us through the process for The Farm House terrace, how do you begin a project?
Heidi: Well we have a chat with the team – just to discuss areas, and then we’ll come up with a few concepts. I’ve spent so much time at The Farm House, for me I felt like the courtyard has always felt like being on holiday. We wanted to try and make it feel a bit Ibiza-y so we were going along the bourgainvillea feel and it seemed to work really well. Katia and I will then get together, crunch the numbers, and work out how many stems we need. I’ll also do some drawings so that the client has a visual and they can imagine what’s going on and then that’s where it begins really. Once we have the okay we have to buy everything! So that’s quite a big outlay.
Where do you get your inspiration from?
Heidi: So at the moment, we’re working on an installation at The Gun – even just taking that journey there, a very beautiful journey where you’re going through lots of trees, and woodlands on the way there. That’s the inspiration for this one coming up, it will be really beautiful. We’ve gone for an ‘edge of the woodlands’ sort of feel.
Our last question is what’s your go to drink to order at the pub? Doesn’t have to be alcoholic!
Heidi: I’ve got two (laughs) – day time and then night time! Daytime would be something like, a really lovely grapefruit gin – that’s so refreshing! After 6pm I go down to the dark side, and then I’m on the dark rum and coke…
Katia: I love a good cocktail, something like a nice mojito. Maybe a passionfruit mojito?
Heidi: That’s definitely a bit of you…