A sniff of Monaco’s glamour
May 19 2008 by Karen Dent, The Journal
A BACKGROUND in event management and creating sumptuous floral arrangements on a private yacht in Monaco has given a fresh twist to a North East floristry business.
Rather than concentrating solely on weddings, Newcastle-based Cinnamon Rose is building up a strong corporate clientele which includes The Journal, the Port of Tyne and Lemington Hall.
Martine Gray started the business when she returned home to the region after working as an event manager in Brunei and as a stewardess on a private yacht in Monaco, where she put together floral displays for glamorous cocktail parties.
She said: “A lot of florists have a shop and work from that. We are a specialist and the flowers are bought to order.
“Our arrangements are of the highest standard because we do not have a large stock to rotate so our designs are always made using the freshest flowers in beautiful mixture.”
A year ago, around 95% of Cinnamon Rose’s business came from weddings but now around 40% of Martine and her trio of florists’ work comes from designing displays for corporate and special events.
“We are steadily building up our clients. People see one thing we have done and they like it,” she said.
