Woodinville Florist: Both Artist and Businesswoman

Oriana Hammerstrom views her work the same way a painter views a blank canvas, as a way to express creativity. Unlike a painter, Oriana does not work in watercolors or oils, her canvas is an empty vase and her paints are the flowers she arranges.

Oriana is owner of , the only independently owned florist in town. She bought the business in 2006 when the original owner retired. When asked, she said she sees herself as more of an artist than a business person.

 “But I have to do both,” Oriana said. “I would like to think I have a sixty forty split going on between artist and businessperson.”

She didn’t start out working as an artist or a florist. Before becoming a florist she worked for 20 years in the restaurant business.

“One day I was tired with restaurants and I walked into a florist and I felt this sense of peace like this was home,” she said. 

To ensure that her business prowess was as strong as her creative side, Oriana enrolled at Lake Washington Technical College.

“Most florists don’t go to school but I wanted to.” She said. “If I was going to do it I wanted to be able to do it right.”

She also searched out florists who would mentor her. She worked at Woodinville Florist for two years under the guidance of the original owner before buying the shop. Now Oriana spends her days running the business with the help of her husband, Matt, who does the deliveries and one employee, Anna Brandt. 

When Oriana is not in the shop she can often be found, bright and early, buying her fresh stock from the wholesale warehouses in Seattle. She is the first to admit that running her own business can be stressful, but her artistic side is renewed in her floral creations.

“I will look at a [flower’s] color or their bloom shape,” she said. Sometimes a stem will have a really nice curve and I will accentuate that.”

She also unleashes her creative side on her businesses website and her Facebook page, where she often posts pictures of her floral creations.

Oriana said her creativity flows best when she is able to have interaction with her clients. One client emails her pictures of where in her house the flowers will be placed.

“I can see the colors of her walls, the style of her furniture, the height of her ceiling, the whole thing and I can design,” she said.

She also spends time talking to her clients about the person they are buying for, what colors they like and if they have any particular flowers they love. Of course, most of those conversations are by phone. 

The reality of modern business is that the bulk of ordering floral arrangements has moved from the small, independently owned shops like Oriana’s, to internet companies and grocery stores. Oriana said she has to compete with deep discounts that those outlets can offer customers. 

“The floral industry is designed in such a way that it is really easy for people who don’t do [the] flowers to make money and lots of it,” she said. 

Large companies offer customers online deals, but those discounts come at the expense of the local florist, she said.

“It was costing me about five hundred dollars a month in fees to these places,” Oriana said. “The idea is they are drawing customers into you. The problem is they are drawing customers into them.”  

For that reason, she said she has withdrawn her business from the online floral giants. She is also dismissive of flowers purchased from grocery chains. 

“Grocery stores put all their flowers by the fruit which gives off a gas that ages them,” she said.  

If flowers are handled correctly from the start, keeping them in cool temperatures with little handling, many can last up to three weeks, she said.