when kally ellis
announced she was leaving a prestigious
career in the City to open a flower shop, because she’d
“
dreamt it”, family and friends thought she’d gone mad.
The year was 1990, she wasn’t enjoying her job, she’d
broken up with her boyfriend and moved back in with her
parents. Then she had the vision. “It was this amazing
dream, where I was running a small flower shop, making
up beautiful bouquets,” she says. “It was the happiest I’d
felt in a long time and something just went ‘ping’.
Never mind that the country was in the depths of a
recession. Or that Ellis had no experience in floristry.
Undeterred, she handed in her notice and got to work
learning the tricks of the trade. Months later she found
McQueens: “a failing business in Shoreditch”, and bought
the place. “It was terrifying,” she remembers. “On the first
day I didn’t have a single customer.”
The beginning was a long, hard slog – 2am starts to get
the best pick frommarkets and 8pm finishes to keep clients
happy, while trying to drum up new business – but
the risk paid off. “We started to do the most
amazing window displays, and people used
to pass by and then tell other people about
it,” says Ellis. “It snowballed.”
Four years later, her business was
propelled to global fame. “The US
edition of
Vanity Fair
was doing an event at the Serpentine
Gallery but the florist they had appointed completely got it
wrong,” she recalls. “I got this call asking if I could build a
number of 20ft-high topiaries in three days. I never say no to
anything, but as soon as I put the phone down, I thought:
‘
What have I committed myself to?’
“
We worked day and night, and – at the end of the event
–
the client from
Vanity Fair
turned around to me and said,
‘
You’ve absolutely saved the day. I’m never going to use
anyone else at my events ever again.’”
Seventeen years on, and Ellis flies out to LA to create
bouquets for
Vanity Fair’s
Oscars Party every February,
rubbing shoulders with Hollywood’s A-List. “George
Clooney, Benicio Del Toro, Oprah... I don’t think there’s
anyone I haven’t seen,” she smiles. Thanks to her contacts,
her clients include the Cannes Film Festival and the British
Royal Family. She’s the main florist for London’s Maybourne
Hotel Group and is opening a second McQueens in
Claridge’s hotel (
mcqueens.co.uk)
.
“
My aim was to have a small shop in a
village,” she says. “I never imagined it
would turn into this monster of a
business. For me, it’s just about showing
the flower off. Simple but understated
–
that’s our signature style.”
Blooming success
When Kally Ellis took over a small East-End florist, little did she know it would be
her ticket to the Oscars. Always believe in your dreams, she tells
Vicky Lane
T H E
P R O D U C E R S
L O N D O N
I never say
no to anything, but
as soon as I put the phone
down I thought, “What have
I committed myself to?”
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