Wolves Lane Flower Company are micro urban flower farmers, growing with an organic approach. They want to explode consumer attitudes towards flowers, to prompt people to reconnect with flowers as beautiful, living and ephemeral things.
Join them to celebrate the publication of their first book How to Grow the Flowers as they discuss sustainable gardening practices, embracing true seasonality and why they believe growing flowers can really help us all save the planet. The duo will be in conversation with author and organic food grower, Claire Ratinon, who penned the book’s foreword; and the book’s photographer Aloha Bonser-Shaw.
As well as the ups and downs of growing, they’ll discuss their approach to documentation and how to photograph the garden authentically in the age of Instagram perfectionism; what makes Wolves Lane a unique growing space; how the act of growing can generate a sense of well being and hope; and what the challenges and opportunities are for this generation of growers and gardeners.
Following the talk, there will be time for questions. Claire Ratinon will be signing copies of Unearthed and Wolves Lane Flower Company will be signing copies of How to Grow the Flowers.
Speakers
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Wolves Lane Flower Company
Wolves Lane Flower Company
Marianne & Camila set up Wolves Lane Flower Company five years ago. They are career changers, like many florists and growers they used to work as producers, Camila in fashion and tech; Marianne in theatre and within contemporary dance. Their departure into the soil was a serendipitous twist of fate but they have never looked back. They have been featured in Vogue, The Telegraph gardening pages, and The Evening Standard. How to Grow the Flowers is their first book and is published on the 15th September 2022.
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Claire Ratinon
Claire Ratinon
Claire Ratinon is an organic food grower and writer who has grown edible plants in a variety of roles including growing organic vegetables for the Ottolenghi restaurant, Rovi. Claire has shared her growing journey in talks for organisations including Tate Liverpool, Barbican Centre and Royal Botanical Garden, Edinburgh, as well as contributing to Radio 4’s Gardeners’ Question Time. She co-wrote the pamphlet, Horticultural Appropriation for Rough Trade Books with artist, Sam Ayre and her first book, How To Grow Your Dinner Without Leaving The House was published in August 2020. Her new book, Unearthed: On Race and Roots, and How the Soil Taught Me I Belong is out now.
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Aloha Bonser-Shaw
Aloha Bonser-Shaw
Aloha Bonser-Shaw is a UK based photographer. Her work has been featured in The Telegraph and Bloom magazine. Bonser-Shaw collaborated with Wolves Lane Flower Company over the course of a season, visiting the site every few weeks, photographing and documenting the entire flower growing calendar from start to finish. Just a fraction of these beautiful images can be seen in How to Grow the Flowers.
