THE PERFECT FLOWERS

Zahava Mimran

At the centre of the stage stands a huge arc composed of hundreds of flowers. Its base is coated in a deep red which morphs into a lighter pink and finally flows into white at the top. The cream backdrop adds an elegant touch, and beneath reclines a white leather couch, it’s back an elegant downwards slope. On the floor, red petals flutter across the stage, completing the vivid scene.

It’s a wedding setting, and Esther Itzinger of Tudor Greens and her team have just finished arranging the flowers in the hall. It’s been a hectic day, with an early deadline, and although the team are one worker down, they’ve made it just in time.

Esther’s professionality and her expert creations belie her humble beginnings. ‘I never thought I would be doing this,’ she confesses to me. When she married her husband just over seven years ago, she had known that his grandparents owned a flower shop in Stamford Hill, yet it had just been another fact about her new relatives. However, soon after their marriage, his grandmother decided to retire and asked Esther if she and her husband would be interested in taking it over. ‘I was really hesitant,’ she says, ‘I didn’t know anything about flowers, and I had a job working as a medical secretary, which I loved. Yet my father persuaded me to just give it a try - and now I wouldn’t give it up for anything!’

Esther’s first year working with flowers involved a lot of googling and YouTube tutorials. ‘There wasn’t much expectation amongst our customer base,’ she explained. ‘The shop in Stamford Hill was very run down, and our customers were really just happy with whatever we could do.’ However, she and her husband had a vision, and a year later she took a professional floristry course so that they could branch out more. ‘We started by renovating the Stamford Hill shop and revamping our brand and what we had to offer. We built up a more progressive clientele base, and we’ve just opened

our second shop in Golders Green.’ Originally a restaurant, the Itzingers had to redo the whole place, designing it from scratch and getting their furniture tailor made. Although a beautiful and modern shop, unlike most other shops, Tudor Greens opens only on Thursdays and Fridays, so that people can buy flowers for Shabbos. At other times, people can get in touch with Esther or order online through their website, which features all of their bespoke creations.

‘In the beginning when we didn’t have children, we used to go together every Thursday at around four am to buy our flowers in the morning from the flower market,’ Esther says. Now though, her husband goes alone and usually leaves at six. ‘We’ve built up a good relationship with the suppliers there and they put aside flowers for us so that we don’t have to get there that early,’ she explains, ‘Although it’s still a tough journey; at six in the morning the trip takes roughly an hour each way.’

The market supplies flowers from all over the world, from Holland to South Africa to South America. ‘In order to keep them fresh, they send them as quickly as possible,’ Esther says. ‘You can have flowers arriving in a lorry from Holland in the morning, and they’ll be in my shop that very same day, so I’m selling very fresh produce.’ With everything sold in bulk, the Itzingers buy thousands of stems a week; in roses alone they usually go through one and a half to two thousand every Shabbos between their two shops. ‘We are very particular about the quality of our flowers,’ Esther tells me. ‘Some people order online, which is very convenient, and we actually had to do that during covid. However, in my opinion, the benefits of choosing fresh flowers in person definitely outweighs the convenience. We have a good rapport with the suppliers and they make sure that we can always get what we are looking for.’ For weddings, Esther will also order through the market suppliers, although she will make the order in advance. ‘We like them to arrive a day or two before the wedding, and sometimes it’s nicer if they are not as fresh, so that on the day of the wedding they have opened up a bit and you see their full beauty, as opposed to them being tightly closed.’

With the flowers often taking centre stage at a wedding setting (after the bride of course), selecting and arranging them is a big process. When a bride comes to Tudor Greens for flowers, Esther’s task is to take the bride’s vision and turn it into a reality. With so many kinds, colours, and styles of flowers available, the possibilities are endless, and the first step will always be meeting the bride and getting a feel for her character and the kind of look she is going for. Is it very bridal? Perhaps dark and moody? Some brides want a really elegant, or put together look, whilst others may opt for something garden inspired. On top of that, there’s also the colour palette to think about. Some brides come to her with a specific picture in their head, which Esther will then work to create, yet others may have no idea what they are looking for. ‘In that case,’ Esther says, ‘I’ll look through flower designs and creations with them, and ask them what they do or don’t like, until we’ve built up a picture of their style. Sometimes,

I’ll also ask them to make a Pinterest board of flowers they like, which can also be very helpful.’

The day before the wedding, Esther and her team will make up all the arrangements, leaving the day of the wedding free for delivery, for which they often hire a van. Sometimes though, the backdrop will have to be created on site, which can take anywhere up to three hours, so understandably it can be hectic. For big events, Esther will always employ a team, however, this doesn’t always work as well as expected. ‘We use freelancers who have no obligation to us, and therefore they do sometimes let us down. It’s difficult as they can be very hard to replace, especially if they back out at the last minute, and it usually means that the team has to work harder and that things get a lot more hectic.’

Aside from the actual flowers, Tudor Green also maintains a large inventory of different props for centrepieces and décor. When designing their Golders Green shop, they installed ceiling storage which now holds a vast array of vases of all types, colours, styles and heights, as well as candelabras, floating candles and even a gorgeous modern kallah chair. ‘We originally bought that for my sister’s wedding,’ Esther told me. ‘It was a covid wedding and we did it at my parent’s house, so it was small but incredibly beautiful.’

‘Wedding pieces are extremely satisfying to make,’ she admits. ‘But I really love creating each and every design. Give me a bunch of flowers, no deadlines, and I’m as happy as could be.’ Each arrangement on the Tudor Green website is entirely original, and Esther is continuously researching new fashions, techniques, and ways of arranging flowers. ‘I also love the human contact involved,’ she smiles. ‘I used to be extremely shy, yet working in a shop, meeting customers, and advising them really helps to take you out of your shell. I’ve learnt to have confidence in myself and my abilities, and I enjoy getting to meet and know people.’

It must also be a great source of nachas to her grandfather to see his grandson working on the business - her grandmother unfortunately is no longer alive. ‘I’m sure he is happy that the business is still in the family, and I very much hope that he is proud of what we have done with it,’ Esther says, ‘And with all the efforts we have invested in it, my dream is to leave it to my own children one day.’

"...and sometimes it’s nicer if they are not as fresh, so that on the day of the wedding they have opened up a bit and you see their full beauty"

VALOURculture