Our January 6, 2020 General Meeting features the multitalented designer, Holly Heider Chapple. A visionary, designer and leader in the floral industry, Holly has grown a kitchen table ‘cottage industry’ into a floral enterprise. Today she teaches around the world as well as at her Hope Family Farm, been featured in notable lifestyle magazines such as Martha Stewart Living, connects wedding designers around the world, and offers online training for professionals. Although she is not credited by AIFD, she presented mainstage at their designers’ symposium, an endorsement of her talent. In partnership with the Naples Botanical Garden, we welcome this sought-after designer for a demo in Kapnick Hall January 6 beginning after the business meeting at 1:00 p.m. and for a morning workshop from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on January 7.
Ever-expanding her business, Holly has branched into retail too. Through Syndicate, a manufacturer of floral supplies, she offers her designing aides, the “egg” and “pillow”. See them online at 46th and Spruce a beautiful website for all things floral. These “cages” make arranging easier so we too can create our own “Hollyish” designs. Holly will feature their use at the January General Meeting and workshop.
This talented designer works her magic before us on January 6 in Kapnick Hall. Be sure to buy a raffle ticket for your chance to take one home. Then join us for her workshop on January 7, 2020, and go home with your own “egg” and compote. What a way to greet the New Year!
Holly began ‘greening’ her thumb at her parents’ landscape design business, where her Dad taught her to make Christmas wreaths and other decorations. She grew into a talented flower arranger, so by the time she was a young mother she ran a small wedding flower and event business out of her kitchen. Today, she credits much of her success to that home based model. For this mother of 7, nicknamed “Flower Mama”, family is as fundamental to her life as flowers. She has successfully nurtured both.
Today, she and husband Evan operate a ‘multi-stemmed’ enterprise from their Hope Family Farm, nestled in an idyllic northern Virginia setting. This bucolic retreat is the site of many large storybook weddings among other events. She teaches aspiring wedding designers the secrets of her art while her husband tends the farm, growing many of the flowers she designs with. Students can even stay in the farm’s charming B n’ B stone manor house. If you can’t make a trip to this floral Shangri-La, Holly offers an online course. The Farm also hosts Gregor Lersch, the famed German designer who comes every year to wow students with his cutting edge designs.