About Us
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Media Kit
History
Bearded Florista & Totnes Florist
(formerly Blue Geranium)
Both Don and Phil are Dartington College of Arts Alumni. Don graduated in 1999 with a BA (Hons) Theatre and Music Degree and Phil graduated in 2003 with a BA (Hons) Visual Performance Degree. Their natural skills and flair for the arts were enhanced at the prestigious Arts faculty, which aided their smooth transition to the creative art of floristry. Dedication and passion drives them both to achieve the very best for all the wonderful events they've provided flowers for over the past 20 years.
Working with traditional floral craftsmanship skills ensures their customers are more than happy and guarantees repeat orders for the recognised brand. Over the years, customers have purchased their flowers with the green fuse (franchise) on Totnes High Street, then they branched out on their own with a small kiosk at Torquay with a new name Blue Geranium, followed with a stall at the historic Totnes market for three hard years, then 13 years on Castle Street, Totnes and now at a fabulous new shop on Station Road - April 2024.
Bearded Florista provides Traditional Floral Craftsmanship; a style that's natural with rich textures and tonal colours that are compared to classical garden-style arrangements.
People want flowers for all occasions wherever in the world, which has fortunately offered Phil & Don some amazing opportunities such as a Premiere football player's wedding in the Caribbean, 2012 Olympics, Royalty and other celebrity events - link to >Full List
6,500 Like/Follow
3,333 Followers
People say the nicest things...
Meet The Team
Donald Thornford
Chief Florista of Totnes Florist
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Senior Floral Craftsman
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Front of House
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Customer service
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Events consultant
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Stock buyer / purchase all goods for the business
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Visual merchandiser
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Bereavement councillor
The singing Florist, known affectionately as Don. Front of house guy, friendly, approachable and genius artist when it comes to designing and arranging flowers for weddings, funerals and all other celebrations. Loves singing and entertaining. Married to Phil since October 2019.
Philip Thornford
Florist & Manager of Bearded Florista
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Publicity
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Social media promoter
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Photographer / Videographer
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Website designer
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Blogger
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Delivery driver
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Admin - estimates, invoices
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Bookkeeping with Xero
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Floral Craftsman
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Warehouse manager
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Visual merchandiser
Phil, husbear of Don for 25 years and motivator of the business they created over 17 years ago. Designing and building a website allows Phil to promote and update every day, along with social media posts, brochures, business cards, promo stickers and other POS items. Phil doesn't shy away from floristry, because he creates all the fiddly floral designs such as buttonholes, floral crowns and corsages.
What We Do
The Mechanics of Floristry
Fresh flowers arrive at the shop or on location for Phil & Don to prepare, condition, arrange and install. Several hours have already been spent in preparation prior to fresh flowers arriving; Consultations, writing quotes, negotiations, ordering sundries, stock etc.