14.12.23
East London Neighbours: Meet Rebel Rebel founders Mairead Curtin and Athena Duncan
We are lucky enough to have some really talented independent businesses as our neighbours. One of those is the fabulous florists Rebel Rebel who have a space in Mare Street Market. This year our hausmates Jenna and Jenny went along to their festive wreath making workshop and not only came away with a pretty impressive wreath for our office front door but also got a bit of an insight into life at Rebel Rebel. Founders and good friends Mairead and Athena talk seasonal flowers, top tips and East London's best kept secrets with us.
We were friends who worked together in television...
Actually, Mairead went to uni in Dublin with Athena’s sister and then came to work in London. Athena had always been interested in flowers – spending most of her disposable income in Columbia road on Sundays. We decided to start our own business sort of on a wing and a prayer (Mairead said she’d drive ) – we were very lucky and got a couple of good clients to start with and our flower style evolved as we learned.
We chose to be based in East London...
Largely because Athena has always lived in Hackney. We originally had a little space in South London, but it was being redeveloped so it was a natural move to come east.
Our design inspiration comes from everywhere really...
We’re total magpies. art, architecture, fashion, other florists obviously, but mostly nature herself. It is impossible to improve on nature, but we try to work with her as much as possible.
We've built a really great client list over the years...
I think our favourite place is Sketch in Mayfair because they give us quite a bit of room to be creative. A couple of years ago we made a 5 metre metal ‘Wardian Case’ filled with all the flowers and plants we think are British but which actually come from all over the world. This Christmas we have decorated the entrance area with silver birch covered in feathers inspired by ‘Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening’.
Some simple tips for flowers in the home...
Seasonal flowers are always the best and when British flowers are in season they are fabulous. Right now there are almost no British flowers apart from Narcissi from the Scilly Isles, and fabulous snowball chrysanthemums. But that is why everyone decorates with foliage. All the pines: don’t rely on the blue pine, instead fill your house with gorgeous twisty cedar, long needled Kefir pine, Scots pine and beautiful berried ivy. And twigs: birch, magnolia bud, twisted willow. For a dinner party, lots of little bowls and bottles are easy to move around and make space for your food. Mantelpieces are always a good place to make a splash in the room, and keeps the flowers out of the way in smaller rooms. To keep flowers alive for longer, just change the water and make sure they’re not near a heat source or direct sunlight.
Our calm place...
Mairead: Sitting at the kitchen table watching the birds (how is it that at a certain time of life you suddenly notice birds!) and squirrels in the garden.
Athena: Our flower field in Italy.
A sunny winter’s weekend in East London would be spent...
On the canal watching moorhens whilst dodging cyclists and runners.
East London’s best kept secret...
Nothing is really secret any more, but we’ve just been to lunch at Polintina in Bow (a restaurant in a clothing factory) and that was delicious and out of the way!
Our East London guilty pleasure would be...
Pellicci’s on Bethnal Green Road – for the breakfast but mainly for people watching (the staff and the customers!)
If you don't already know about Rebel Rebel then you can see more of what they do here
Posted on
14/12/23
