COFFEE WITH

Meet Maureen Gerber of Maura Flowers: Fake it to make it

Welcome back to The Baby Cot Shop blog where we bring you the latest in our luxury children’s bedroom furniture and more. Now, our love of interior design and aesthetics is widely known. We simply love to work with each client to create beautiful rooms that inspire their young inhabitants. Our love of design has taken us to Suffolk where we have coffee with Maureen of Maura Collection about her beautiful artificial flower bouquets, what design means to her and how, sometimes, you have to fake it to make it.

maureen-gerber-maura-flowers

Hi Maureen, thank you for sitting down with us. What led you to create your own artificial flower business? 

I have always been inspired and drawn to interior design and Maura Collection is an extension of this. Before creating the company I worked within interiors and from their I became more interested in the home dressing side of things and, in turn, wanted to offer something truly beautiful and unique. Gone are the days of naff, old fake flowers and with such realistic, bright pieces to use I wanted to create arrangements that would make people rethink the whole concept of artificial flowers. 

How do your designs come together?

Well, I like to think that our design process is an organic one that is both planned yet spontaneous. Starting with colours, we like to put together unique combinations that work well together but are something you would not usually find. I think this is part of our originality and our uniqueness, that we like to be different! One of our favourite types of arrangements that we love to work on are our large, statement pieces. I love the impact and impression that they create when you walk into a room and see something that draws your eye. Quite simply, most, if not all of our works come from what we experience and see around us. I like to think that our pieces are versatile and can work in different spaces and rooms. What is great about this approach is that they take on a different feel depending on the context. For example, the same arrangement can be used in a kitchen or in a hall and they feel different. There’s something quite magical in how they make you feel and change with the context. 

How do they fit in with interior design?

Like most aspects of design it is a question of bringing together our original concepts and the tastes of the client. All of our arrangements are ready to use which allows a client to come to us with a particular taste or idea and we can offer something that works with their ideas. We have explored the idea of bespoke arrangements but we feel that by offering versatile designs a client can find something that compliments their existing schemes. What I really enjoy is that each arrangement tends to, in a rather amazing way, work with lots of different styles and interiors. From contemporary to rural home design, I like that we offer a great selection that can, not only, fit in with most designs but enhance and complement them. 

What’s your favourite design? 

Out of all of our faux flower bouquets our all time favourite at the moment (this does change we will have you know!) is Ophelia (which is a name that has a deep connection to the forest) as she is big, bold and a bit different and works in any style of interior or space.

If you could design any interior, what would it be?

That’s a very good question! I’ve designed various interiors before but my all time favourite would have to be the kitchen. For me, the kitchen is the centre of the home where family moments and time are really spent. I would love to design a large, open planned kitchen that would welcome both family members and guests. From Toks and all of the team we would like to thank maureen for taking the time to sit down with us. You can contact Maura Collection via [email protected] or on 01473 652393.

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