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About Paradiso: Paradiso Flowers is a charming flower shop on the main street of downtown Kingston. Housed in a historic limestone building (circa. 1893) it is a cross between a vintage Victorian conservatory and a rustic garden shed. Old architectural elements, such as the Gothic church door, and recycled shed doors, used conceal the cooler, give the shop its unique character and atmosphere. In addition to abundant flowers and luscious arrangements Paradiso also sells upscale garden accessories such as statuary, birdbaths, urns, trellises and unique giftware. Opened over thirteen ears ago by sisters Jeni and Lori Richards, Paradiso has built a strong reputation for creating fresh unique and beautiful flower arrangements as well as providing excellent service. Jeni and her staff base their design on their strong artistic and design backgrounds, and their extensive understanding of colour and composition. They are inspired by the freshest flowers and they let nature dictate their form rather than following a formula or recipe.
Over the past decade, the Paradiso
team has been involved in hundreds of special events and weddings
from small intimate dinner parties to tent weddings to extravaganzas
involving landscapes, gardens and ponds. Their approach is always to
go beyond what is required, and to have fun doing it! |
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"Nothing excites me more than a fridge full of interesting blooms or getting on the flower truck in the morning and seeing what is fresh. Each days flowers may inspire a new, refreshing color combination such as lime green, orange hot pink and purple, or tomorrow it might be the funky texture of artichokes that excite me! When I started designing in Kingston, over thirteen years ago, the flower supply was limited to standard florist flowers, so I made the gruelling, weekly trip to the flower auction in Toronto (which happens at 2AM) to obtain the variety of interesting flowers for which we have become known. Thankfully, now eclectic floral suppliers drive their trucks to Kingston almost daily, and we now enjoy the same variety and quality as any shop in Canada. Because a lot of the interesting flowers are seasonal, I choose to treat each arrangement as a unique custom-made design inspired by the flowers themselves. I reject the confines and constraints of standard floral design and for this reason never went to design school. Instead, I preferred to apprentice for, and learn from, designers whose work I admired. I rely on my artistic and design background to guide me, with respect to colour, composition, texture, etc. I have chosen not to join the flower services such as FTD and Teleflora. Instead I have contacts in Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal London, Ont., and other major cities who share the same aesthetic and quality as Paradiso. Over the years, I have had the pleasure of meeting many interesting clients and collaborating with them to create spectacular events and weddings. I love the process as we brainstorm and throw ideas around. As the excitement builds, ideas start gelling and we come up with a theme that goes beyond the ordinary. I even enjoy the jitters of the days before the event, as we scramble to make everything exceptional. But most of all, I love the wonderful feeling of satisfaction and pride afterward, knowing that we really did go beyond expectations – and did our best. How many people find that kind of satisfaction in their work…lucky me!"
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