aye.creator
Any experienced florist knows there’s more to crafting beautiful bouquets than just picking flowers. From the size of a stunning arrangement to the sweet scents they carry, these colorful petals can transform any room for any occasion. While there is no shortage of floral boutiques around the area, you might be surprised to find that one of them is in Carroll Senior High School’s fine arts building. With over 100 students learning the craft behind floral design, Dragon Blooms is busy filing orders for customers all around the area — including recently providing the centerpieces for Southlake Style’s Women’s Luncheon this past October. Thanks to floral instructor Sarah Van Sice’s tutelage and leadership, Dragon Blooms will continue to blossom through Valentine’s Day and beyond.
MY BACKGROUND IS IN… fashion design. I was a buyer, I was a manager, I did everything you could possibly imagine from the retail aspect and I ran my own custom fabrics business where I supplied for local designers. I pretty much had every fashion job there was until my family and I moved out here in 2017.
DURING LOCKDOWN IN 2020… the district sent out an email blast asking for more substitute teachers. I wanted to get more involved with the schools, so I decided to join and began teaching that fall. When the former floral design instructor mentioned that she was retiring, I learned the ins and outs of her curriculum and took over the class full-time by fall 2022.
DRAGON BLOOMS IS ACTUALLY A… retail company that’s run out of a classroom. We have our wholesale license and our retail license, and all of it is run by the students. They deal with clients and invoices, they create reports about returns and ROIs — it shows them what it’s like to run their own floral business.
I’VE ALWAYS HAD A… green thumb, and I love sharing that with the kids and showing them how to grow something on their own. There’s a lot of research that shows how gardening can affect a student’s ability to be calm, relaxed and focused. I just want to make sure that my priority is on the students at all times and that they have a place to breathe and let their brains rest for a moment.
THE BIGGEST DIFFERENCE BETWEEN FASHION AND FLORAL DESIGN IS… how fragrance comes into play. We don’t care as much about what a dress smells like, but we do care quite a bit about what it looks like. That’s why we spend so much time with the color wheel and learning different color pairings that work well together. But with a bouquet, fragrance adds a whole new layer of sensation. It’s important to understand how much fragrance can affect an arrangement and when it is and isn’t appropriate to emphasize that.
MOST PEOPLE DON’T REALIZE… how huge the floral industry is in Texas. Everywhere you go, you’ll see flowers in hotels, restaurants, stores and businesses. I have all of my students take the Texas State Florists’ Association’s certification exams, and we currently have a 75% full certification rate. To me, that’s the biggest read on how I’m doing as a teacher.
WHEN PEOPLE WANT TO DO A SPECIAL ORDER FOR… a wedding, birthday or baby shower, they start by contacting us through our email or social media. After we’ve gotten the order, my students will process the flowers and make sure they stay healthy until the designers are ready to make the arrangement. Once it’s ready, clients will come and pick them up right out of our classroom. We’re constantly receiving and sending flowers on almost a daily basis.
I WANT MY STUDENTS TO KNOW… that they are absolutely capable of doing something like this — that everybody has creative value. I want them to walk away feeling like they have learned a skill they can use anywhere in their life. Not everybody is going to go into floral design, but everybody is going to need a bouquet at some point. I just want Dragon Blooms to grow and be as beneficial to the Southlake community as much as it possibly can be.