Hannah runs Leeds based Elder & Iris. She came to floristry after 20 years in the NHS, drawn to flowers for their calm, their creativity and their capacity to shift how people feel.

Her piece for Flowers on the Edge was inspired by the Yoruba goddess Oshun, goddess of water, love, fertility, and by Hannah’s own reflections on representation, and the need for softness in a hard world.

“The jumping off point for this piece was the divine feminine, leaning into nature and kindness, humanity and compassion, which led me to my muse, Oshun. As a black woman, it felt important to represent lesser known goddesses, and I built my design around what Oshun represents - water, reflection, and her colours of gold and yellow.”

Swirling around two mirrored plinths, designed to both reflect and disappear; to allow the flowers to speak for themselves, the delicate mmm design incorporated smoke bush, clematis seed heads, sweet peas, phacelia and nasturtiums - a perfectly executed mixture of form, texture, scent and immersion. 

For Hannah, working as a season led florist isn’t just about sustainability, it’s about mindfulness, immediacy, and designing in response to what’s growing on any given day: “You've just got to go with how you're feeling in that moment and lean into where the flowers are taking you with what you have available on the day. It is exciting to work in this way. It makes you more creative.”