Flowers for Love, Life and Laughter - Sweet Talking with Florist Tamsin Scott...
“Flowers for love, life and laughter” proclaims Tamsin Scott’s website, and so is it any wonder she was my first thought when looking for locations to shoot our new Valentine collection? Her magical studio lies tucked in a valley not so far from mine, reached by a winding single track road. Described by her friend and collaborator Tim Walker as “Constance Spry to my Cecil Beaton”, she trained first in set design, before working alongside acclaimed florists Wild by Heart and Scarlet & Violet. Having since established her own floral studio Gypsy Rose Flowers, she has gone on to create gloriously abundant and romantic flowers for period dramas and award-winning films such as Emma and Judy, and worked with a stellar list of clients including Vogue, Miu Miu and Louis Vuitton.
I asked the utterly love-ly Tamsin a few questions about the four letter word on everyone’s lips this month...
Either from true life or fiction, please tell us your favourite love story…
I absolutely love the film Truly, Madly, Deeply with the gorgeous Alan Rickman and Juliet Stevenson. Two love stories side by side. It has you weeping, but gives you faith in love after love, if you know what I mean ( I used to deliver him flowers in real life and he had the most lovely legs!)
Roses are forever associated with Valentine’s Day, but what flowers do you most like to give and to get?
I’m a sucker for Icelandic poppies, the way they dance and curl and fade is like watching a painting come to life. I also love the plant Daphne, I could bathe in its jasmine rose and lemony scents.
What’s the best gift you’ve been given for Valentine’s Day?
I self-gifted an old London cab and picked her up on Valentine’s Day many moons ago, gorgeous and curvy old Mabel.
I’m with Dirk Bogarde eating oysters in Andrew Edmunds by candlelight and he’s reading the Slipper and The Rose to me…with that famous tender look on his face. Interrupted by Cary Grant pouring a good Chablis.
With my daughters Harper and Stevie - my true loves - in front of the fire at my parents old house in Normandy listening to Kate Bush eating ritz crackers with prawns on top with a sprinkle of cayenne… my grandma's classic canapé.
Having a cycling race with Angela Lansbury and Jack Black through Cabot Cove chased by Sparrow and Iris on my way to a fire on the beach with my favourite friends - my other true loves, lobster, fizz and pistachios!