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An interview with Ken Yeong
Why did you become a florist?
I became a florist by chance, really. If I remember correctly, I think my first contact with floristry was when I was about eight or nine years old, and this was during the Commonwealth Games in Malaysia. It was the first time that we had hosted a game of that stature. During it, they had an international flower show. It was the first of its kind in KL in Malaysia.
My parents decided to take me to this flower show, and little eight year old me was completely transported. I was lost. It must have felt like I spent a whole day in that expo, I just I did not want to leave.
I stared at every single installation. Just marvelling. My parents could not drag me out of the Expo.
From then on, I remember every time we went to a hotel that had like a flower installation in the lobby, I would stop. I would try and figure out how they did it. I would also try and dig up the flowers, which would get me into trouble.
Then years later, when I was studying at university, I found myself going through depression. In my journey digging myself out of that hole, I found myself drawn back to botanical sculpture. I just returned back to the space where I was making things with my hands. Specifically drawn to botanical materials.
Floristry became therapy to me. It wasn't just like a craft. It was just a way of accessing my creativity, and creativity is my safe space.
With that in mind, what led to the point of deciding to open your own space?
I think halfway through my floristry course, I realised I'm going to be a florist for the rest of my life. It was confirmed to me that I had found my medium, and as any creative will tell you when you find a medium, It's like a hallelujah moment.
If you live in it and you occupy that space, then it's all of you. Instead of worrying about other people, or following other florists, I just had a feeling that this was the right time to do it. You just have to feel ready.
There have been times when I thought I was ready. But I wasn't. But this time, it feels... correct. It's in a way that it's balanced. Like I'm feeling fear and excitement. It doesn't feel like how it did in previous times. This time, it feels like I'm in the right place to succeed.
Summarise what Petal Smith is. How would you explain it to us?
Petal Smith is... Oh, wow, it's... I want it to be a portal, to which you could actually access your own creativity.
It's really just a medium. The way that I see the brand extends itself over time is as a place that you go to explore floristry. Because right now there's no place that you can go to do that.
I don't think people see floristry as a viable, creative medium. It is seen like a craft but for me, it is a legitimate medium to which you can access your own creativity.
Why is it important to share floristry as medium with other people?
Because it saved my life.
And because I think flowers are so accessible. You don't have to worry about making it pretty, making it beautiful. It comes pretty. It's automatically beautiful. You don't have to do anything. And it's the perfect medium between you and nature.
That connection is what a lot of other mediums don't bridge. I believe that all art is nature. In fact, it's a fact. All art is nature. But we forget that.
I think floristry is the closest thing to that as a practice. You're getting nature in your hands. You can get dirt in your fingernails. I believe that that activates something. It grounds you.
For people who come into the space and the studio, what is something that they should take away with them?
That nature is everything. The nature you should make room for nature. That we live in nature, but we forget that.
That's why you buy flowers every Sunday. You might not realise it but that is a biological yearning for nature. There is a reason we all love flowers; it activates something in our brain because it’s ancient. it's primal.
Every ancient culture, all over the world, has a connection to flowers. It's symbolic.
Who do you expect to walk through that yellow door of the shop on Greville St.?
Anyone.
Really?
Yeah, Anyone. I think we undermine flowers as a product, as an industry, and as a practice.
At some of the most important moments in our lives, we all think of flowers. When words fail, when we know in our heart that words will not be enough; we think of flowers.
It's funny that when we want to make a moment last forever. We turn to flowers. The one thing that will never last.
And I think that is so symbolic. It's so beautiful that we forget that the ephemerality of flowers, the ephemerality of all life, is what makes these things magical. Flowers are the reminder of the magic that we live in every moment.
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