Purple Heather Floristry Design is an independent floristry business owned by me Helen Costello Smith, created in 2020, based in the heart of the East Yorkshire countryside. The business strives to provide an individual bespoke service for life’s special occasions. This is achieved by taking time to discuss the clients needs, within a friendly comfortable environment of their choice.  Purple Heather Floristry strives to cultivate a personal relationship throughout the design process so that a connection is made between the floral design and the recipient.
The rural setting inspires my passion for natural organic, seasonal floral materials, that are sympathetic to the environment. I love making each design personal, giving an individual impact for each and every client. My love of texture, colour and nature has always had an impact in my life, I suppose it stemmed from my childhood playing in the fields and going on rambles with my friends. Often, I would be picking wildflowers to give to my mum, so I would not get in too much trouble for being caked in mud and looking like Stig of the Dump. I must have been around 14 when I got the floristry bug, I remember walking into a florist shop and being in awe of all the beautiful fresh and dried flowers, using my pocket money I purchased several bunches of dried flowers that hung from the ceiling much like a beautiful work of art. From that day on, I would create small arrangements and drive my parents crazy with bits of stems all over the house. Today that pleasure goes to my husband with my constant collecting of weird and wonderful object to design and create floral designs. 
Floral designers that inspire me are mostly European; however, I also take a great deal of inspiration from UK designers, such as Judith Blacklock, Simon Lycett and Johnathan Mosley, with their natural English style garden way of designing. European style of floristry has unusual techniques, often made in a sustainable way, great ambassadors for this style of design is Pim Van den Akker, David Ragg and Kluse Wagener. Other inspirational designers are, Gregor Lersch and Moniek Van den Berghe, although the way they design is very technical and intricate, they all have an organic look, mixing hard textures with rustic materials such as tree bark then incorporating beautiful florals.