Meet Nottingham’s contemporary florist who spray paints flowers

When it comes to buying flowers, most of us just think of the usual floral suspects – roses or lilies. However, when it comes to new and exciting, Nottingham has some talented florists who are blurring the boundaries between art and flower arranging to create the unexpected.

Matt Pain from Eastwood is a contemporary florist who is known in the city for his unusual colours, neon flowers and spray-painted designs. His beautiful work, as Glasshouse Florals, can be seen in some of the city’s stores including Luna Collective Tattoo Studio and Tuckwell’s hair salon.

“I spent a lot of time with my grandad who was an avid gardener so I’ve grown up around plants, gardening and flowers which is where it all started. I did some volunteer work with National Trust as well as a horticulture qualification at night school. I was gearing up to run my own garden but then I realised it wasn’t creative enough for me,” he said.

Matt realised that flower arranging would allow him to get creative and posting the photos of his work online helped his business to take off. He uses a variety of flowers in his arrangements from Lillies, carnations, ferns and dried flowers but with a modern twist.

He said: “I had no idea what I was doing at first and made my first flower arrangement in the kitchen. I posted photos of my work on social media and everyone has been really positive about it. It’s ignited a spark at that point where I thought, this is it.”

In a bid to make his vibrant bouquets even more colourful, Matt began adding bits to the arrangements and also painting the petals of flowers. He says that developing eye-catching design is making the art of floristry more attractive to a younger generation who want to move beyond the traditional flower choices.

“Once I started, I felt a bit like a crazy professor as I wondered what about this colour, or that technique or what happens if I paint this? I think flowers have a bit of a bad rap when people see supermarket flowers and it feels like a lull. Younger people are not interested as it doesn’t speak to them but then you do something with gold or neon and it’s really impactful.”

Matt’s work can currently be seen at Tuckwell’s Hair Salon on Upper Parliament Street. He has also created some beautiful displays above the doors of stores in the city centre. He covered the door of Luna Collective on George’s street with autumnal inspired dried flowers and ferns. Another display at Coco Bridal Boutique used vibrant blues, purples and pinks to create a display above the door that Matt said reminded him of Sully from Monsters Inc.

Matt has teamed up with other independent businesses in the city including creating mini dried flower arrangements with Sugarberry studio in Sneinton and organising a speed dating event at the bar 31K. Although the speed-dating event did not go ahead, Matt is open to creating quirky events in the future with other businesses.

When it comes to developing his business, Matt wants to keep striving to create more beautiful bouquets and push the boundaries between art and flower arrangements. He says the reaction to his work drives him forward.

“I want to continue to impress and create impact. It’s about people’s reactions to the flowers and how their faces light up when they see what can be done. I would love to move into more installation work in terms of displays where I can get creative. I would also like to move into hosting workshops where you can do more floral art so you can create a fresh flower arrangement but you learn to do the stuff I do with my work. So it would be more creative and much more of an experience.”