"Fresh flowers have a place in society, but for me, I fell in love with the dried," says Alana Rapaport of Everlasting Olive.
"I love the feel, the smell, the longevity and the value for money."
After years of working in the corporate world at Newcastle Permanent, Rapaport has discovered a new fragrant, floral path for herself. When she left her job as a branch manager, she was in career limbo until she took a course in floral design at Newcastle Flower School.
From designing her own arrangements to hosting workshops in her recently refurbished barn in Medowie, Rapaport is enjoying her new endeavour, which also allows her to raise her daughters.
Personally, she finds florals are a form of therapy, and now she also uses the barn to host other creative initiatives like yoga and meditation.
"I wanted to offer something different from everybody else; I didn't want to just be a floral shop," she says of her decision to host workshops.
She does floral crown and wreath workshops, too.
On a recent Sunday, I had the chance to participate in an arrangement workshop. Our hearts were warmed as myself, my mother and four other women gathered together in the barn and got creative with banksia, protea, poly gum, leucadendron, tea tree, strawflowers, wheat, Billy Button and bracken ferns.
The workshop costs $165 and runs for two-and-a-half hours. Rapaport provides the flowers, foliage, ceramic vessels, cool beverages and individual grazing boxes for snacking while you create.
Rapaport gives basic instructions and is encouraging while students figure out what style they like best. The seven of us all got to know each other while experimenting with different lengths, quantity, colours and ribbons. At the end of the class, we all looked at the finished arrangements. Even though we used the same materials, each centrepiece was strikingly different.
"I think, for sustainability, it is so much better value for money going down the dried flower path," Rapaport says.
"Fresh flowers last a week, maybe two, then you're composting them or putting them in the garbage bin."
The name Everlasting Olive is both a nod to the dried, everlasting flowers, and Olive is the name of Rapaport's nan, who loved her flower garden.
Rapaport's husband is a landscaper and the pair apply permaculture principles to their farm and grow their own flowers on the 2.5-acre property including strawflowers, globe amaranth, statice and celosia. They don't use synthetic chemicals, and their aim is to live a slower, more self-sufficient life.
Now that she's found her passion, she hasn't looked back. The couple are keen to use their property to collaborate with others.
"This year is, for us, all about creating community and connection with like-minded people," Rapaport says.
"We've opened the space up, sharing with lots of people."
everlastingolive.com.au
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