Photography by Alice Veysey
Emily Timoti is a Tauranga florist who crafts beautiful bouquets and arrangements for weddings, special occasions or just to brighten up the house. But her flowers come with a catch – they last forever. Her secret? Felt. Emily hand-makes every petal and stem, championing the medium as one of the few felt florists in Aotearoa.
How did you become a felt florist?
I started off creating small felt Christmas decorations, mostly personalised and other random bits of felt decor about 12 years ago. We were in Dunedin and our first son was only one. I got tired of hand-stitching everything together.
When we moved to Hamilton a year later, I met a flax florist who I had only previously known online through a business group. We clicked straight away, and one day she suggested felt flowers. I gave it a rough go but didn’t think much of it. It wasn’t until I did some research and found that while the odd person was making felt flowers, nobody was making posies or large bouquets for gifts.
I found a niche and everything else blossomed from there.
What do you find most special about felt floristry?
I think it is the way I create my flowers. I don’t buy patterns or templates for any of my flowers or foliage. Everything I do I make from scratch. I design my own templates and I cut everything by hand. I don’t use a machine, so no two petals are the same.
Most of the flowers are bought as gifts and are for very special reasons. To be part of that process of gift-giving is incredibly special, especially knowing they can keep that flower or bouquet for the rest of their life.
Are there any misconceptions that people might have about felt flowers?
Felt isn’t a hugely known material or commonly associated with flowers. It’s not a fabric that I think younger people find “cool”. I also feel some people think the quality of felt flowers is poor because a lot of people think artificial flowers are plastic flowers from the dollar store.
But the biggest misconception has been that people assume felt flowers collect dust easily. I’m currently taking up a quarter of the space in the garage, which can get dusty, but the flowers themselves don’t seem to gather dust. It takes a long time before I even need to consider giving them a once over with the lint roller.
How do you decide what flowers to sell?
Ease and simplicity. Sometimes I have requests for certain flowers, and I do follow through with those and see if I can work my magic. The challenge is fun, but some flowers are definitely trickier. If they are small or very intricate, I may turn it down or put it in the “I’ll figure it out later, give it another go another day” basket.
What has been the most special moment for Oh Em Gee so far?
It is possibly a toss-up between two moments. One was my biggest collaboration ever, which was with Kat Merewether and Karen from Peg Creative, where I created a huge backdrop and display for her Kuwi the Kiwi range, which was filled with loads of pōhutukawa, kōwhai and koru (fern fronds). That was my biggest project so far.
The other was my wedding. Creating flowers for my own “big day” was huge. The bridal party being able to keep and treasure their flowers/boutonnieres forever is a beautiful feeling and of course, I got to keep my own bouquet too. So no, I did not throw my bouquet into the crowd. It is still with me, sitting pretty on my studio desk.
Do you have a favourite flower to make?
I think it would be birds of paradise, with the daffodil, kōwhai and rose coming in close after. Rose is my middle name after all. I find the rose one of the easiest flowers to make.
What are your plans for Oh Em Gee?
The last couple of years have been slow, as we had another baby. Plus my older children have crazy sports schedules. I don’t work the standard 9-5, so for now, while we slowly move into preschool and build up more hours there. I will be doing what I can when I can. Getting that mojo and creative flow back, and just working on making things bigger and better.
I’ve worked on improving my website over the past year. Now I think it’s just a matter of designing new flowers and expanding my product range.
Also while I don’t offer wholesale, I have offered decent discounts in the past to a few shops. So maybe I will take another look at that aspect of the business, and see if we can get more felt flowers out around the country that will make people say “Oh Em Gee”.
How can our readers find your work?
I am on Facebook, Instagram and Tiktok, or visit my website ohemgee.co.nz
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