Joseph Massie ... a man with a mission to win and help
I first met Joseph Massie back in 2005 when, as an enthusiastic 17 year old, he’d volunteered to help at Spring Florist Event and why we were sharing trolly pushing duties to get a team of top international designers onto stage.
Because having started as a Saturday boy on a street stall in his hometown of Liverpool at the age of 14, and self-funded his career and formal college education single handedly on the back of his own credit cards, he was determined to do everything and anything to make his way in floristry.
Since then, I have watched him grow and develop. Not just as an incredibly gifted and innovative designer but a young man who scooped a record breaking five Gold Medals at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show (just three of his wins pictured below) and took high placements in all the other competitions he entered as part of the UK World Skills cohort of young designers.
And then, in 2014, he completely retired from competitive work. Indeed, in many ways retired from the industry in general.
“I stopped competing with the BFA, because the BFA back then is not what is today. I decided to focus on my own projects instead.”
It was a move that not only saw him build a highly successful and profitable business where art is as much a part of the mix as the exquisite floristry - his red rose dress commission back in 2014 was a classic example - but one of the most successful schools as well.
A teaching skill that sees him travel the world with a client base of blue-chip clients – he’s just returned from a two-week tour of Asia with Elly & Mika Lin and is headed to Shanghai to teach for a week for CN Floral - and, as we’ll discover later, a massive online training programme as well.
In fact being regularly booked to teach, demonstrate and lecture on the world stage is something he is very proud of, except back in early 2024 he got the competition bug again!
“It crept up on me! I’d got through the Pandemic and made some life changes that gave me thinking time. Having been rather insular for so many years I saw the schedule for the British Florist Association Florist of the Year heats and was curious. I wanted to see what the lay of the land was; discover how - or if - the industry had changed in 10 years and see if I could even do it! I decided it was a challenge I couldn’t resist.”
Because whilst all parts of floristry are demanding ... as a commercial florist Joseph knows just how hard it is ... he believes there’s a different sort of challenge to competitive work.
“Not just because it must be top of its game but there’s a sort of intellectual challenge to it; a bit like the crosswords I’ve been doing to train myself to think more laterally. I see a competition the same way – it’s a little puzzle I can unlock - how I can make it lighter, quicker, more unique – the mindset is different.”
And even though he had already worked out his plans ... and even made the framework for his first heat entry ... he didn’t enter until an hour before the closing deadline!
Not only did he enjoy it, but he won his heat in Sheffield, going on to the finals held at FleurEx at the end of September. So how did it feel to be back in the world of high-level competition?
“Apart from feeling privileged to be in the same place as so many other brilliant designers, if I’m honest I felt rusty! A decade ago, I would have been faster and perhaps more instinctive. This time I found myself double guessing myself more and it took time to get into the flow. On the other hand, I was far less stressed than I would have been 10 years ago. That’s possibly because I didn’t feel my career depended on winning, so it was far more enjoyable. I went into it thinking if I win it will be great but if I don’t it won’t be the end of anything.”
He may have felt rusty, his skills were anything but! Joseph smashed it, taking the top prize and his 20th national title! Now he’s the man to represent the UK in the Florint World Cup being held in The Netherlands in August 2025. And how does he feel about that?
“I’m not daunted. No way will it be a walk in the park ... there are some amazing contestants ... but I know I am capable of doing a good job for the UK and that I’ll give it my best shot. I’ve seen the schedule and it’s very much along the European format; one third pre-prepped; the rest either semi surprise or full surprise designs and I won’t need huge amounts of funding because Florismartdirect are sponsoring me as the UK competitor, and I’ll be supported by the BFA team throughout the whole process. I’m also in a good position myself with my business to go forwards”
Because Josephs’ business is in a very different place these days due to the Pandemic. “I bought a flower school back in 2015 and had built up a strong real-life business. However the backbone of the business was weddings and of course that disappeared overnight. I’d always been a bit sceptical about on-line training but quite frankly we needed to generate revenue so, as a sticking plaster solution more than a burning desire, we moved into online sessions.”
To say it took off would be an understatement and since the Covid days Jospeh has built a massive membership through the Flower Class global education platform, runs Masterclasses, has produced a fabulous book called The Flower School (the perfect Christmas present) and hosts, with top Australian designer Matthew Landers the Flowers After Hours podcast … you can even hear me in the new season!
So, whilst the Pandemic seemed like a nightmare at the time it was, according to Joseph, like a door opening. “The online courses have really taken off and we have built a really amazing following, which I’m very proud of. We have over 400 online students every month in our Flower Class Membership as well as our in-person sessions around the world”.
“If I’m honest I didn’t love weddings anyway, so I cleared the slate of all the commitments that had been delayed and by 2022 we were able to focus on the Academic side. Socials are great for me, but my newsletters and blog are the main drivers of my business”
And it’s easy to see why. The time and effort Joseph and his team put into the content is awesome and even if you can’t take a course just checking out the Free Resources is a dream whilst the Insta account has another mass of help including some fairly - no let’s be honest – very robust pricing advice!
Admittedly the Joseph Massie style is a million miles away from the ubiquitous gerb/ayr/rose £40 hand tied but to my mind there are oodles of ideas and inspiration that can be deployed by every florist. What’s more visit the site and you can see – in fine detail – the designs that gained him his place as the UK representative in the Florint World Cup.
“I’ve always viewed competition work very much as the ‘haute couture’ of the floral world. Alexander McQueen might only ever sell one dress stitched together from razor clams, but they’ll use that to get eyeballs on their work, then take the motif of the same shell, and work it into brooches and silk scarves and buckles on shoes - carefully, intelligently diluted designs of which they’ll make millions upon millions of pounds worth of revenue from. Competition work should be viewed in exactly the same way - to get eyeballs on your work - and then you can take reference points and build it into your commercial work.”
And it’s that sort of thinking that makes Joseph is a true World Cup contender with every intention of doing his darndest to bring the title home. Oh yes, and where he can, help the next generation be winners too.
“I’d really like to help champion further education. This year alone I’ve offered 12 hours of free classes, taught online, throughout the year. All we need is a student’s email address so we can send them the link to the class - that’s it. No credit card required. I do this every year, on a wide range of topics. I also have a pile of free resources, and a free you tube channel. I’m in a position to give back and I want to practice what I preach”
Because whilst he may have built up a hefty turnover and no longer needs to worry about the credit card being maxed out Joseph wants everyone to have the same opportunities he had.
“Those who are gifted will find a way but with less money, less support and less education it will be far harder. That seems a dreadful shame ... I want to help the next generation of Champions while I can make a difference and reach as many people as possible.
The new season of Podcasts is now live. Click here to listen to Joseph, Matthew and Caroline Marshall-Foster.
