By MA. GLAIZA LEE
We love to memorialize our dearly departed. That’s the Filipino way of remembering loved ones who have gone ahead of us to the Great Beyond.
So we pay homage by bringing flowers and candles to their tombs or their “nitsos.”
Flowers speak a thousand words. They may make sad person happy. They soothe a broken heart. They heal the sick, or at least their spirit. They bring sunshine to a gloomy day.
Indeed,"every flower tells a story," as Rose Cuizon, asst. manager of Flower Stories, puts it.
Flower Stories Floral and Special Events, a flower shop located in Intramuros, Manila, opened in November, 1999 as a subsidiary of JS Contractor, Inc., an ISO 9002 certified company dealing with overseas workers.
The shop started as a supplier of flower arrangements for its mother company’s events.
"We used to cater solely for JS Contractor but when people saw our arrangements, they started to order for their parties. Who are we to refused?" says Rose.
From then on, Flower Stories has joined exhibits, advertised and constructed a website to widen its clientele.
Today, Flower Stories has regular clients including hotels, offices, restaurants, catering services, among others.
According to Rose, Flower Stories gets its flower supplies in Davao, Tagaytay etc. They also sometimes go to Dangwa, the most popular flower market in Manila, or import flowers from abroad.
"In this business, you have to have many sources to control costs," she explains.
She talked about current trend this year:
"People nowadays are practical. They want flowers that are simple and affordable. This season, few people are buying flowers because they have to go to the province and they rather buy fruits or something edible as pasalubong."
She enumerated flowers that are in demand this season which includes roses, tulips, daisies, lilies, carnations, poinies, lilies of the valley, anthurium, among others.
"Mums? Well, mums are common. Honestly, people doesn’t like them. But because they are cheaper, people would buy them. Besides, mums can complement other flowers to make a beautiful arrangement," Rose relates.
Popular flower arrangements are the following:
· Exotic/ Ikebana, an arrangement based on Japanese flower arrangement.
"Ikebana uses less fresh flowers, more leaves, and the price ranges from R600–R1,000," Rose says.
· Vase and basket arrangement with a combination of different flowers or a bunch of the same flower arranged in a vase or a basket which costs R800–R2,000 each.
"The price depends on the flowers to be used, type and size of the vase/ basket," Rose explains.
· Bouquets come in three variations — Lips-2lips, a dozen tulip (R2,500); garden bouquet, combination of mums, daisies and roses (R450–R850); and,the classic, one dozen Holland/ imported roses (R850–R3,500).
"This arrangement is the best seller," Rose utters. "Expensive? Well, yes but I can go as low as R150, too, depends, again, on the flowers. If it’s pure daisies or pure carnations, maybe," she defends.
· Flowers and fruits make the most colorful arrangement made of flowers and fruits in season.
"Of course, the fruits are replicas but they almost look real. This type of arrangement goers for R1,000–R2,500," Rose says.
· V.I.F (very important flowers). ‘Bigger is better’ best describes this arrangement which comes in two sizes – 3 feet and 5 feet. It may be composed of tulips, lilies, daisies, misty blues, rose with fruits. It is priced at R12,000.
"It’s expensive because it uses many flowers and comes in a vase," Rose explains.
· Silk and dried flowers will last the season and is priced at R500 and up.
"The price depends on how big the arrangement is, what dried flowers to be used. It’s not easy to dry flowers. Then there’s silk which is expensive," Rose says.
"Aside from the type and size of the flowers, the style also determines the price. Also, if people want something extra with the flowers like chocolates, wines, stuffed toys cakes, etc., then they have to pay more," she continues.
What counts is the quality and the personal touch.
"We make sure that the flowers are fresh. No wilted leaves or petals. We get our flowers everyday, so we provide really ‘fresh’ flowers, direct from the farm," Rose says.
"Aside from that, we personally talk to the clients. We don’t want people to order over the phone because we can’t see them. We like to observe people, not in a negative way, of course, — how they talk, what they look like, their expression from these observations, we get an idea about what flower arrangements suit them best," Rose continues.
Although Rose admits that flower business is not that profitable because of overhead expenses, she still chooses to remain in the business because " it’s not all about profit. It’s about the passion for beauty, the love of flowers and the story behind each flower."
