Today we’d like to introduce you to Megan Flickinger.
Hi Megan, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I’m originally from the New York City suburbs, and I was a florally obsessed child. I would pick wildflowers and berries from thorny patches and treat them as treasures. As an adult, I eventually settled in Frederick, Maryland while I was finishing up a degree in Psychology at Towson University. I had always had a passion for flowers and foliage, and I come from an artistic family. I felt an intense need to create, and found just that in 2010 when I began working as a floral designer at a little upscale boutique in Frederick called En Masse. I ended up the head designer, helped the shop win local awards, and taught design classes.
I took a break from my floral career when I had my first child, but started my business in earnest in 2014 as both a handmade ceramics shop and floral design service. The name Form & Fire came from the process of making pottery. When I decided, in 2017, to drop that side of the business and focus solely on my true obsession and artistic medium, the flowers, I kept the name. I feel that it suits the vivid, living nature of flowers just as well.
To hone my skills, I studied with some major players in the floral field. I attended a workshop with Ariella Chezar, a Dutch master of floral design, at a gorgeous estate in upstate New York, and traveled to Seattle to take an arch and chuppah workshop with Alicia Schwede, an industry leader on the West coast. Besides workshops and intensives, I keep a floral library, and keep up with trends and up and comers in the industry. I try to get my hands on flowers everyday, and now that I have moved my home and little studio to more rural Boonsboro, I’ve begun planting a specialty garden of flowers and fruits that are difficult or impossible to get wholesale. Most days, between spring and fall, I have enough to make a garden arrangement. I try to post a new design or event on Instagram every day. I try to set myself apart from other florists by focusing on my own style of just-tamed, lush, elegant designs using premium flowers. I use flowers from my garden, and local flower co-ops whenever I can, and I do my best to work with sustainable design mechanics. My favorite clients have seen what I do and give me relatively free-reign with their designs!
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Running a business in the wedding industry while raising three children has been a challenge. Especially when you throw the Covid pandemic right in the middle of it! I need to carve time out for my work from the schedules of all of my family members.
I’ve also had some false starts within my chosen career path. Earlier on, I was given management and lead designer positions by huge names in the business, but I realized I wasn’t seasoned enough to step into those roles in such large operations. I learned so many skills, and gained so much industry knowledge, but in working for myself at Form & Fire, the buck stops with me, so I’m involved in every aspect of the business and extremely invested both emotionally and financially in making sure my customers are thrilled and my staff is happy. I’ve had to earn my spot in floral design.
It also took me a while to learn to value my own judgement, and not to take every job if it means sacrificing quality. I want to pay my assistants a living wage. I want to do the best job I can, not undercut the competition. The field is easy to get started in, the bar to entry is low. To have staying power, you have to have a strong voice. Sometimes I need to work on the strength of my voice.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
We offer lush, textural, premium floral design for events, photo shoots, and special orders. We are mostly wedding flowers, but we love an artistic collaboration. We source the highest quality blooms and foliage from around the corner and around the world. Our style is textural, lush, refined, and relaxed. We prefer to use locally grown product from nearby floral co-ops, farms, and friends. We love to work sustainably!
We do flowers for flower lovers. It’s not an exaggeration to say that flowers are our artistic medium, and we love miniature world-building. Examining the curve of each stem, the texture and direction of each petal and stamen, the subtle color plays that tie everything together. We love texture, and the play between shadow and light– a florist’s version of chiaroscuro. We’ve styled fairy gardens, fiestas, winter wonderlands, industrial art galleries, geometric structures, overflowing smorgasbords and picnics.
What matters most to you? Why?
What matters most to me is supporting my family while using my creative muscle to make beautiful things happen, transform spaces, and make people smile.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.formandfiredesign.com
- Instagram: @formandfiredesign
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FormAndFire
