Buying a bouquet you’ll enjoy for a few days is one thing. But choosing a piece of art that looks garden-grown and lasts is entirely different. For Nicole French, that’s the sweet spot where her maker’s magic comes together.

Crafting her eco-friendly floral arrangements is a complex process that begins with a regenerative tapioca plant root called Shola. “It’s a woody plant, and it’s found in the marshes of Southeast Asia,” Nicole explains. Due to its abundant nature, Shola has quickly become a top source for sustainable wood crafting.

“The plants themselves are hard with a kind of sheets inside,” she says. The interior also presents a beautiful, creamy color, perfect for crafting into delicate, detailed floral shapes. Nicole then takes those raw Shola flowers, painting and arranging them in authentic ways that draw on her experience with live florals.

Her journey began during the pandemic when she was working remotely as a marketer. “I really wanted something in-person and working with my hands. I just really wanted a change,” she recalls.

As fate would have it, not long after, “I was walking down Main Street and a local brick-and-mortar florist hired me,” she laughs. Working there filled her cup with knowledge of what mixtures, textures, and color palettes people were craving. “I quickly realized, ‘This is a passion,’” she notes.

While she felt she had a good eye and really enjoyed her work, after a year at the shop, it was time to look for alternatives. “I really loved the industry, but I felt that it produced a lot of waste. And I didn’t love that if an arrangement didn’t sell or the florist bought too many flowers, they would just wilt and die,” she describes.

So she began exploring more eco-friendly options and came across Sola wood flowers. Not only was the regenerative nature of the Shola plant in line with her values, but the artistic flexibility it offered excited her. She remembers realizing, “I can actually create whatever color palette I want with these flowers because I can paint them.”

That’s when she got online and started teaching herself through floral design classes. She also traveled to Boston for specific workshops, like learning the ins and outs of wedding bouquets. Ultimately, she decided, “I want this to be my business.”

In December 2022, she opened Sola Grove Flowers LLC, offering local deliveries and selling through an Etsy shop. At the same time, she left her position at the florist and applied for a role at the Hannah Grimes Center for Entrepreneurship (HGC) as Administrative Coordinator. “I really love the fact that their whole thing is to help businesses,” Nicole describes.

In her role, she acted as the first point of contact for anyone who called HGC, directing them toward the entrepreneurship support they needed. It didn’t take long for her creative mind to start wondering how Sola Grove might benefit from many of the new business resources. She remembers thinking, “I want to see what that looks like, like what happens on the other side of that so I can conceptualize my job more and what we’re doing.”

She’d heard positive feedback from the small business owners in the Business Lab and received encouragement from co-workers, as well. “After hearing them and really loving everything I heard and saw in the meetings, I was like, ‘This is just something I have to do,’” she says.

Having a wealth of new business resources at her fingertips couldn’t have come with better timing. She enrolled in the eight-week Business Lab at HGC, and one year after originally opening Sola Grove, she’s in a whole new place. “I’m kind of like relaunching my business. I took a little bit of a step back, and now I’m gaining all the skills I feel like I need to propel forward,” she says.

One thing she really appreciated about Business Lab was how well-designed it was for any business, whether product or service-based. “The foundation is so clear that you’re led to what you need to do for your business,” she says. She also felt she benefited greatly from the different perspectives of not only her instructors and coaches but also fellow cohort members.

Now she’s excited to push forward with a bigger version of Sola Grove, which has already begun thanks to an invitation to sell her incredible bouquets at the Hannah Grimes Marketplace downtown. The marketplace was the original iteration of Hannah Grimes and continues to be a hub for local artists to share their work with the world.

Because Nicole’s work is so giftable, it makes an excellent fit for the marketplace and has been well-received. It also offers her strong insight into the floral flavors people are looking for. “I really like to think about the seasons with my designs,” Nicole says. “Every time you do a flower, you have to be like, ‘What would people be experiencing if they walked into a garden right now?’ she describes.

She tends to lean toward that natural style, though she’ll sometimes add something wilder for a custom request. With custom arrangements, one thing she’s had to focus on is educating customers because Sola florals take more time to create than a live bouquet. “It’s a natural material; it’s hand-painted. And you may have to wait a little longer for it,” she notes. Helping her customers plan ahead makes a big difference on both sides.

For brides, this can be an incredible advantage. Nicole offers bridal florals ahead of time, taking one detail off the bride’s plate before the big day. “I want people to feel very prepared for what I’m offering and love the product and know that I’ve spent time,” Nicole says.

She’s worked closely with a legal coach at HGC to tap into new business resources, like tools to create a wedding contract for the brides she works with. She recently launched a brand-new website. It’s not at all what she expected she’d be doing back in 2020, but it’s been an amazing journey.

For others who might be curious about stepping into their passion, she says, “I just really like hitting home that anyone can be an entrepreneur. You don’t need an MBA; you don’t even need a ton of capital…You need an idea, next steps, and you need a support system.”

Written by Caroline Tremblay. Images by Little Pond Digital.