Who is popular today?

With Mother’s Day on the horizon, the rush and the stress of trying to find a gift can be tough. But for clients of House of Blooms TT, owner and founder Aliza Missire offered different Mother’s-Day-themed artificial flowers and balloon arrangements weeks before the celebratory day.
The 25-year-old found herself dabbling in these artificial flowers and balloon arrangements last February 14 – Valentine’s Day – since the job market has been so saturated since she graduated from UWI in 2019.
Her take on the trend of balloons and flowers is combining them, but not in a traditional way: rather, she puts the bouquet inside the clear balloons.
“It was really created as a unique twist of traditional flower arrangements and as an alternative to fresh flowers, because that may not be everyone’s cup of tea.”
She said in addition to wanting to offer artificial flowers over fresh ones, she wanted to add her own style – using balloons – since the events-planning and arrangement industry rapidly changes to keep up with current trends and the taste of her clients.
“Everyone I’ve met had this impression of amazement and wonder, so it’s really a fulfilling and rewarding job to create something special for someone who loves and enjoys it as much as I do creating it.”
Missire said out of all the businesses ideas she’d thought of while in search of a job in her field of biomedical technology, House of Blooms TT was the one that took off and was well received by first-time clients.
“I never wanted our page (social media) to feel repetitive, even though we only do the artificial and balloon arrangements. So I was always trying to find ways to put a twist on the arrangements, and while scrolling through Instagram one day, I saw someone put a wedding dress in a balloon, and it seems to be popular.”
For Mother’s Day, she decided to offer ready-made designs, but she said people are free to customise their arrangements to suit their style year-round in terms of colours and flowers.
“We try to accommodate all suggestions, because we want to make this arrangement something they would love. So we fully take all feedback, implement (it) and try to get it as close to people’s idea as possible."
"One fairly popular scenario that pops up is someone having a themed birthday cake or a modern one and they would send that to us and using the colour palette and the style of the cake as inspiration, we create a floral arrangement.”
She doesn’t have a base price, but said the price is determined by the style and material used to make the design a reality. Missire said she sources her material from various local stores and from online.
Missire could not give an exact figure as her imports and shopping vary depending on the requests, but Business Day found clear balloons can vary from US$10-$20.
[caption id="attachment_1015419" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Aliza Missire includes a Newsday balloon in a House of Blooms arrangement. - Marvin Hamilton[/caption]
She said the demand for her services is not as big as some would think, so she orders according to her clients.
“I try to source as much as possible locally because of shipping fees, so that is why the prices of our arrangements may be on the higher end. But for holidays, we do put out mini arrangements that can range from $250-$350, while other arrangements, once again, vary.”
Missire added that the types of flowers also affect the cost, even though they're artificial.
“People have this sort of negative misconception that artificial flowers are cheap, but the prices of artificial flowers can go beyond fresh flowers, depending on the type and quality we choose to use. It was a conscious decision to use quality materials in our arrangements.”
House of Blooms TT gives its clients the choice of mini, full-size and extra-large arrangements. She said the XL is her most extravagant arrangement since it comes with a massive balloon and the bouquet inside.
“The sky is the limit with the customisations, and what really drives up the cost is the add-ons, so aside general customisations, there are the special requests. So you’ll see us adding crowns at the top of the balloons, floral wreaths and, most recently, substituting wrapping paper for a baby blanket for the arrangement.”
Missire said most of her clients approach her during the holiday season, but at other times, business can be a bit slow.
“For Mother’s Day, the (number) of balloons we have going out can be between 20 and 30, while in a slow month, it might be anywhere from five to ten, since I’m not a big production line or anything like that. All of these arrangements are handmade, and they do take some time to make.”
She said a full-size arrangement can take her between three and five days to complete.
“These are balloons, and balloons are susceptible to deflating, whether that be an issue with the balloon itself, or the way that I made it. So in order to rule out any possibility of there being any sort of defect with the end product, I have that inflated with me for at least 72 hours prior to putting together for the client. That’s why we make sure to tell clients that it will take a week.”
As for the future of House of Blooms TT, Missire said she doesn’t plan to expand any time soon, as she is comfortable where she is in her business journey.
“I can manage the demand that is coming at me right now. I do want to grow my business, but at my own rate. I do hope in the future, I have a physical location, because I think that will be a milestone for me. It will also allow people to come and build their own balloons there. But that is a five-ten-year goal.”
For now, she relies on her Instagram page for clients and a spare room in her Couva home to store her material while working on her arrangements.
Missire also plans to get her master’s degree soon and even to tackle a few short courses on floral and balloon arrangements. She said the more she learns, the better for her and House of Blooms TT.
 
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