An Interview with Julia, Founder and Creative Director of 2Peonies

I am not a person who has received an overwhelming amount of flowers throughout her life, until I started my career. And - I should note - I bought most of those for myself. They made me calmer, completed a room, and I thought that effect was purely based on their beauty until I heard about flower psychology.

If you don’t know about flower psychology or flower therapy, I hope you learn a few things from Julia. She is a florist and the Founder and Creative Director of 2Peonies, based in Toronto. She’s redefining the way I approach flowers, and I hope you enjoy what she has to say.

Sasha: As usual, let’s start at the beginning. Tell us who you are, where you grew up, and what you do?I’m Julia, Founder of 2PEONIES, ex-fashion editor and self-taught florist. I grew up in a couple of cities just outside of Toronto, but predominantly Mississauga.

Sasha: 2Peonies aims to immerse wellness passively in the everyday lives of our audience. I love this – it’s like we’re normalizing wellness and finding ways to integrate it naturally into our existing routines. Can you tell us a little bit about how florals come into play with wellness? What exactly is floral therapy?

Well thanks! This phrase amongst all that I’ve written to paint a picture of my brand is really the key one. The entire brand is a passive act of slowing down and paying attention to the small things we usually take for granted otherwise. I noticed florals are a huge motivator in this when I started to simply buy a few flower stems for my room. They always captivated me and I soon noticed that I was constantly buying them for that reason. Then I stumbled across this vase that was the most beautiful curved shape, with an opening big enough for only a few stems. Those moments were kind of the start of the thought process for the brand. I knew I wanted people to experience the feeling of always having flowers around, and I knew I wanted to pay special attention to the single-stem, minimal aesthetic.

Floral therapy is what we've discovered through research, to be a beautiful concept referred to as floral psychology.  It is the calming state that flowers put us in by simply being in our environments. Florals offer an even deeper moment of peacefulness and attentiveness when we engage with them, which is why we love hosting floral workshops. 

Sasha: How did the name 2PEONIES come about?

Sadly there isn’t an interesting story behind this, other than the fact that I loved peonies in particular when developing the brand and considered them to be a sort of “millennial flower”, when I noticed a trend happening on Instagram being images of huge peony bushes and bouquets. The one cool part is that the number 2, rather than spelling it out, was because Two Peonies on Instagram was taken. Now I absolutely love the analog-style look of having a number in the name brand and have changed it to that officially.

Sasha: This may be a totally vague question, but could you tell us a bit about your approach to florals? If you’re curating a bouquet for someone, how do you go about selecting flowers? I guess we talked about the art of curation in the Spring with me, but I would love to know your approach!

It’s definitely an act of curation, in the most traditional sense I would say. Starting with a ‘blank canvas’, looking at your ‘art pieces’, and visualizing its development as you instinctively begin to piece it all together. That is essentially my process. I make sure to design for people who I identify with visually and stylistically when I can. This allows me to continuously create instinctively, and for lack of better description, doing what I personally like, knowing that chances are they will too. I think that’s a bit of the subconscious glue in the brand. Just to be hyper-focused on who I will create for, and to make sure they’re in my ‘niche’. In terms of selecting flowers, there are a few stems that I know will always give me the look I’m going for, and some that will be a bit constraining. I lean on ranunculus and wildflower daisies a lot to keep my arrangements airy and light, while roses take more time to look non-traditional and to fully work within my style.

Sasha: What has been the most rewarding part about starting your own business so far? What about the most challenging?

A rewarding part of starting a business that I’m currently experiencing is definitely watching it operate like lego. Watching small ideas grow into bigger initiatives, watching the team develop, and building off of relationships to continue to create more meaningful work. The sense of community is heartwarming to say the least, and is a very important thing for me to maintain as we continue to develop! Challenges in particular for a brand like 2PEONIES that is both product and service based, would be the constant evaluation of what we should launch. It always comes with some risks and unknowns.

Sasha: How do you practice self-love

I practice self-love by spending lots of time with myself and listening to my inner thoughts and voices frequently. What am I really feeling and saying, not just what I am robotically putting out into the world and telling myself. Treating myself like a perfect parent or partner would. Being that for myself has allowed me to really know who I am, what I want for myself, and how I want others to love me. And of course a good skincare routine.

Sasha: Where do you see 2Peonies going in the future?

Because I have so many interests, I consciously designed 2PEONIES to be a place where I can touch on a number of them with fluidity. Knowing that I want a progressive multi-functional concept space, and working backwards from that idea doing what is important to get there. I’m also excited to see how I will incorporate my huge love of fashion and real estate into the brand down the line.

Lightning Round!

Favourite food

Goodness I love food too much, but I will have to say a good shrimp taco or a spicy veg ramen...

Favourite Drink

Hot Chocolate! Year round!

Favourite Book

String Theory - David Wallace

Beauty/Wellness tip

It’s a win-win to try and go without makeup when you can. You begin to feel more confident in your natural state, while legitimately improving your skin as well.

Best advice

To do what you love, but not to let it consume you... :)

You can find more about 2Peonies and their floral delivery circuit here