Florist
“A baptism of fire” is how Chris Thompson describes his first day working in a florist in the Sydney suburb of Leichhardt.
“I started on Valentine’s Day twelve months ago and let me tell you, it was a real eye opener. I walked home and my hands were about twice the size, totally swollen with rose thorns.”
Chris, who has a background in horticulture, wasn’t fazed by the scratches. He was just happy to have finally completed a much wanted career change
“I had been working in horticulture for 15 years and I had become bored. It wasn’t going in the direction I wanted and I didn’t want to be mowing lawns until I was 60,” he explained.
“Floristry was the logical next step as it was still creative but didn’t involve drawing up plans or designs but I could still use plant materials.”
Chris enrolled himself in a year-long Pearsons floristry course, which he attended one day a week. The course focused on colour, design and textures as well as the different foliage and plant materials that could be used to make arrangements.
“Although it was helpful having a background in horticulture and knowing many of the plants, it was also a hindrance. Horticulture industry uses one name for a plant and floristry uses a different one. Both industries use or don’t use different plants for various reasons – anyway it was interesting to fill in the gaps.”
Chris says he was the only male on the course surrounded by school leavers, return-to-work mothers and mid-career changers.
On qualifying, Chris scored a job with Flowers of Norton Street in Leichhardt and more recently he has moved to Pearsons’ workshop in Stanmore
“The interview process is quite nerve wracking,” he said. “It’s not like a corporate interview where you sell yourself verbally; they want to see what you can produce.”
“At Pearsons I was shuffled off down into the workroom and then shown the cool room where I had my pick of anything to make a $90 flower arrangement. It was hard as I didn’t know what people wanted to see from me.”
Having scored the position Chris says he couldn’t be happier and already has plans for the future
“I love my job. I never knew I could love it so much. I find it incredibly rewarding. There is no money in working for someone else so eventually I’ll do my own thing.”
