A new chapter for Peacock & Gilt

There is something rather lovely about an idea that has been quietly sitting in the background for a long time and suddenly decides it is ready to come out and play.

Over the years, we have collected flowers, ribbons, unusual little details and beautiful pieces simply because they caught our eye. Some are vintage, some are wonderfully made modern faux and silk flowers, and some have waited patiently for years for just the right project.

And now many of them have found one.

We have opened a small online shop at Peacock & Gilt.

It feels like a new chapter, but in many ways it is simply another expression of what we have always believed.

Beautiful things should have a life beyond one day

Much of our work is created for weddings and events. We love the transformation of a room, the theatre of a floral arch and the moment everything comes together.

But one of the reasons we chose to work with artificial flowers was because we liked the idea of creating beauty without everything being discarded afterwards.

Flowers can be hired, redesigned, reimagined and enjoyed again.

That same thinking sits behind our new collection.

We wanted to create smaller floral pieces that could become part of somebody's wardrobe, home or celebration, something chosen because it feels special, rather than something destined to be used once and forgotten.

Starting with corsages and floral pins

The first pieces in the shop are floral corsages, boutonnières and statement floral pins.

Some contain flowers that have been in our collection for many years. Others use new silk and faux flowers chosen because of their quality, texture and colour.

We don't want them to feel mass produced.

In fact, many of them simply can't be.

Vintage flowers are rather good at making their own rules. Once they are gone, they are gone, which means some pieces will always be completely individual.

That is part of their charm.

We like the thought that someone might wear one on a jacket to a wedding, pin it to a hat for the races, add it to a favourite bag, use a larger piece as part of a celebration or simply keep it because it makes them smile.

There doesn't always have to be just one correct way to use something beautiful.

Inspiration, imagination and hands

This collection has also reminded us of something important.

Almost everything we create begins in the same way.

Something catches our eye.

A flower. A colour. A memory. A piece of ribbon. A garden. A photograph. Perhaps even a slightly battered box of old millinery flowers that somebody else might have walked straight past.

Then imagination takes over.

And eventually it reaches our hands.

That journey, from inspiration, through imagination, into something tangible, is a part of Peacock & Gilt that we wanted the shop to capture.

Each piece has inspired us in some way and, when it leaves us, a little of Peacock & Gilt goes with it.

Hopefully, when its new owner opens the box, they feel a little of that magic too.

Slowly, rather than endlessly

We aren't trying to fill the shop with hundreds of products.

That isn't really us.

We would rather add things slowly and thoughtfully: a beautiful corsage, an unusual floral pin, a hand-tied bouquet or perhaps something we haven't thought of yet.

Pieces will appear when we find something worth creating.

Which means the shop will probably continue to change.

And we rather like that.

It feels less like building a catalogue and more like opening the door to our workroom and saying:

Come and have a look at what we've been making.