The title ‘Earth Laughs in Flowers’ comes from the poem “Hamatreya” by Ralph Waldo Emerson (1846), in which flowers articulate nature’s ridicule and contempt for human arrogance in the pretence to dominion over earth.

David LaChapelle, an American commercial photographer, fine-art photographer, music video director, film director and artist, best known for his photography, has produced a series of ten large scale photographs under this title.

Inspired by everything from art history and street culture to the Hawaiian jungle in which he lives, his exceptional talent is combining a unique hyper-realistic aesthetic with profound social messages, exemplified in these images.

This series of enormous, outrageous photographs of flower arrangements is both gorgeous and gross – all at once.

At the center of each image is a vase overflowing with flowers in the lavish style of Baroque still life paintings, but all that flourishing beauty is surrounded by a cluttered pile of pop-culture junk including doll heads, balloons, Starbucks coffee cups and cigarette butts.

This overflow of trailer-park trash mocks the trappings of old-money glamour resulting in this gorgeous/gross dynamic.

Albeit odd, these contemporary art pieces, whether you would hang them in your house or not, you just can’t help but stare at them!

If you fancy trying to re-create your own pop-culture flower arrangement, check out our vast selection of bouquets to help fabricate your artistic project.

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Filed under: Flowers, General on April 29th, 2013 | No Comments yet. Be the First! »

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When I crossed the 2012 London Marathon finish line I declared, “I will NEVER be doing that again”, yet this spring I found myself once again training for the London Marathon. How did that happen? Good question.

Having crossed the finish line in 2012 and hobbled home, I found myself watching snippets of the event. As the days went by my memories filtered into those of elation, I had completely forgotten about the six months of arduous training through the winter, and because of these warped memories I found myself entering the ballot for 2013 –  after all, it’s a highly known fact that it’s hard to get a place, so it would be unlikely that I would get through anyway.

Much to my astonishment I got through and so began the training. Despite the obvious commitments made when training for a marathon, here is what they don’t tell you:

1) Weather

You will spend six months training through bitter winds, rain and snow all to be welcomed by glorious sunshine on the day, something that you haven’t yet run in and which is a completely different running experience.

2) Clothing

Lots of tight lycra – I am certainly not living the dream with the high possibility of running with camel toe! I now have more running kit than regular clothes. None of this comes cheap.

3) Pedestrians

When you are training in London, pedestrians are something you can never get away from and it’s not like you can just run in the road. They will walk out of shop doors right into your path at which point you can’t stop. Plus it takes more energy weaving through the crowds.

4) Boredom

It is immensely boring!! There is only so much music you can listen to. I am lucky enough to train with a friend, but it still gets to a point where you see each other so much, you don’t have anything to talk about. Plus I have now run all the scenic routes in London repeatedly so there’s nothing new to see anymore.

5) Running

Now I am talking about your nose, this will continuously pour throughout your run, to the point where you haven’t brought enough tissues, and have to keep reusing them until they are soggy – gross!

6) Aches

Aches and pains are a given, but once you finish the marathon, there is nothing to prepare you for the days of hobbling after, the sleepless nights and the torment of trying to walk down stairs.

Having completed the 2013 London Marathon, I can safely say that I will NEVER be doing that again. If it weren’t for the thousands of spectators taking to the streets helping by cheering me on and the support of my fellow runners I never would have finished.

All the pain was worth it for such a good cause though: www.sense.org.uk < please feel free to donate.

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Filed under: General, Good Causes & Charities on April 24th, 2013 | No Comments yet. Be the First! »

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As part of the beta launch of our new website www.amazebox.co.uk, we whipped up a quick competition. All you had to do was send in a picture of yourself conveying how much you wanted a FREE AmazeBox.

With all the entries compiled, counted and compared, we managed to whittle down the participants to our favourite 8 ( or as we refer to them – our favour8), all of whom won a FREE AmazeBox. To find out who won keep reading – you can see what the judges picked out!

In no particular order….

Just look at those puppy dog eyes! We just had to send this Easter themed entry an AmazeBox.

If a picture had sound, this one would say ‘EEEeeeeeekkk’. So we sent an AmazeBox to squeaky clean little’un, Benjamin.

Not sure where she thinks she’s going but she certainly rocked her way to a FREE AmazeBox.

Bill and his mate wanted an AmazeBox this much, so we gave in – they only got the one mind you!

In a box to win a box, we love it Mark!

Claude the cat clearly wants to get his claws onto the prize, who are we to stop him? PS Claude the cat…we see what you did there.

Mr and Mrs Callow are all smiles as they approach their wedding anniversary. Ahhh, how sweet!

An empty bowl! We can’t have that now can we. Never fear a box of treats is coming your way.

Many thanks to all who entered and congratulations to our favour8! We hope you enjoy your AmazeBox.

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Filed under: AmazeBox, Competition, Marketing on April 16th, 2013 | 2 Comments »

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A world without funny TwitPics would be like a world without bacon. Good job it’s not true. Mmmmm delicious bacon. Here for you to enjoy are the 10 most viewed @ArenaFlowers TwitPics ever. Please note that to heighten the excitement, we’ve posted these in reverse order of popularity. Please try to contain yourself.

10. Baby’s First Big Book of Terrifying Geese. Total views 532

9. Brief FAQ about punctuation marks. Total views 793

8. Ahead of Movember, here are some tips for would-be moustache growers. Total views 917

7. Some Crikey Facts about Sunday. Total views 1,036

6. HAM TECH: Looking to buy a new ham? We compare the latest ham offerings from Apple and Google… Total views 1,065

5. What can we expect from the new iPhone? Total views 1,181

4. Ideas for coping when the Olympics is over. Total views 1,318

3. Chillingly, we are now using your Instagram photos in our ads. Total views 1,612

2. Euro 2012 (A Beginner’s Guide). Total views 2,323

1. Remember when they found that swan from the future in 1999? Total views 2,833

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Filed under: General, Marketing, Matters Webby on April 8th, 2013 | No Comments yet. Be the First! »

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No, this is not The Hoff’s cooking blog but an enlightening article on a park that changes according to nature… Keukenhof.

Based in Holland, Keukenhof is in fact the world’s most beautiful spring garden with over 32 hectares of flowers. It offers 30 inspiring flower shows, 7 amazing gardens along with 100s of wonderful works of art. This year’s theme ‘United Kingdom Land of Great Gardens’ features a spectacular flower mosaic of The Big Ben and Tower Bridge composed of 60,000 flower bulbs.

On Saturday 20th April visitors will be given the opportunity to leave the park to watch the 66th annual Bulbflower Parade which will travel 40km along the main roads from Noordwijk to Haarlem, comprising of 20 large floats and more than 30 decorated luxury cars, all decorated with millions of flowers by hundreds of volunteers. Amongst the parade, ahead of the cinema premier, characters from Despicable Me 2 will be showcased on one of the floats, including the iconic daffodil-yellow minions.

So if you’re eager to see more than 7 million tulips, daffodils and hyacinths all in bloom, then check out more at www.keukenhof.nl/en/

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Filed under: General on April 2nd, 2013 | No Comments yet. Be the First! »

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Win a FREE AmazeBox worth up to £19.99

As part of the launch of our new website www.amazebox.co.uk, we have whipped up a fantastic competition. All you have to do is send in a picture of yourself conveying how much you want a FREE AmazeBox, along with your name and email address.

We’re not judging the picture quality rather the picture content. So happy snapping!

Competition closes on Friday 5th April 2013.

Click here to enter the competition.

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Filed under: AmazeBox, General, Marketing on March 27th, 2013 | No Comments yet. Be the First! »

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Hello. A quick post to say I’m delighted to announce our new website (http://www.amazebox.co.uk) which has been in public beta for a few weeks now. We’ve been thinking about this for some time but haven’t had the time to build it or release it. Well, now we have. We hope you like it.

More info below but if you want to rush off and order one, use promocode helloamazebox to get 25% off your first order.

What is an AmazeBox?

An AmazeBox is a customisable occasion-specific gift box including a fresh flower, two treats and a greetings card that fits through your letter box, from just £9.99 (including delivery). The box arrives, you enjoy your treats (chocolates and moisturising cream are proving to be the most popular so far) and then you put the fresh flower, which comes in a little water vial protected by a cellophane wrap and a presentation tray, in its themed pop up stand (which also holds the greetings card) and display them on your desk or wherever you like. The flower will then open over the following days.

There are well over a million possible treat / flower / card design / box design combinations, plus you can make it completely unique with two photo options and a video message option coming shortly, and there are various other upgradeable options (the fully loaded version will cost £19.99 and have six upgraded options). The AmazeBox idea is also patented which means 1. I’m now officially an inventor and 2. that pesky competitors can’t copy the idea. Hooray.

You can see a more detailed description of the AmazeBox and what’s in it here and a more comprehensive AmazeBox FAQs here.

What’s the point of AmazeBox?

We think that there is a gap in the market. We love flowers and do our best to be the best at sourcing them and delivering them…but they’re not always appropriate and / or they may be an expensive option for a quick thank you or a hello. A personalised greetings card, whilst awesome, may not be enough. We think that AmazeBox fills the gap between personalised greetings cards and fresh flowers with an outstanding and innovative experience, at a great price.

We’ve tried to pack the AmazeBox with fun (there are some frivolous treats categories such as “naughty” and “drinks”) and some really great design work from our design guru Charlotte. Each AmazeBox arrives in a clear shrink wrap, the box design completely visible, meaning that when the recipient goes to check their mail they’ll find a brightly coloured box (potentially with their photo on the outside of the box itself) in amongst all the bills and they should be delighted (I certainly was and I knew my box was coming).

We also have lots of ideas for how to make AmazeBox better and relevant to more people. But the core of it will remain a fresh flower, delivered, with a stand and treats, starting from under ten pounds. No one else offers that. If you have any ideas, please email idea (at) amazebox.co.uk.

This isn’t an Oscar speech so I won’t bang on but must say thanks to all the team for their hardwork getting this live. It’s been quite a fun but lengthy project at a busy time of year for a flower business. Glad it’s out there and looks great. We hope you enjoy it.

Will

Chief Priority Juggler and INVENTOR

Slightly salesy PS: you can earn free boxes by taking part in the AmazeBox referral scheme once you’ve placed your first order. It will be coming to Arena soon too. Help us help you and all that.

Slightly informative PS: The fine people at Management Today did a write up of the project too, which can be read by getting clicky with your mouse here.

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Filed under: AmazeBox, General, Marketing, Matters Webby, Setting up, Start up on March 14th, 2013 | 2 Comments »

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1. Makes friends with YOUR friends on Facebook
As if it’s not bad enough that your mum has even joined Facebook, she is now poaching your friends in a bid to spy on your antics. Some things are just better kept schtum.

2. Cracks out Gangnam Style in the kitchen
You’re having dinner round your mum’s and whilst she’s cooking in the kitchen, Gangnam Style blares out of the radio and she suddenly starts dancing like a horse at the kitchen counter. Not only are you mortified by the fact that she even knows the song but also the dance to go with it.

3. Drinks one glass of wine and is drunk
Growing up, she’s always enjoyed a glass of wine or two at the weekend, but now you’re older it’s become apparent that it goes straight to her head and she completely loses her filter on what she should and shouldn’t say. Mum! It’s only midday on a Sunday, rein it in a bit.

4. Has the birds and the bees talk with you as an adult
You would think that “the talk” would pop up around puberty, but alas no, she has decided to bring this topic up when it’s just too late. Yes, we know where babies come from but she still persists by yelling ‘Honour God’ at you whilst you’re on your way out to a date.

5. Whips out naked photos of you
Who hasn’t this happened to? Mum thinks they are cute, but you beg to differ. The worst thing about it, is that she is now on Facebook so these photos will no longer be confined to the comforts of your home and public humiliation is imminent.

6. Answers the door in her dressing gown, hair curlers and a face mask
The shame! You’ve even rung to warn her that you’re popping round for a cup of tea, so why hasn’t she had the decency to change? Yet she stands at the door proud as punch waving to the neighbours.

7. Winks at you whenever you are seen with someone of the opposite sex
She seems to think that even if you so much as look at a member of the opposite sex you must be into them, even it if is your little old neighbour from across the road.

8. Tries to text the lingo but gets it wrong
You received the text; “Felix just died, LOL Mum x”. You think to yourself, what’s so funny about the cat dying, until you realise that she means ‘lots of love’ instead of ‘laugh out loud’. Epic fail.

9. Starts whistling at the TV when a half naked man appears
This seems fairly acceptable until you realise that she is full on wolf-whistling (yes, fingers and all) to the image of Bruce Forsyth in his pants. Seriously?

10. Performing the “lick wash”
We all know what this is, the licking of the thumbs and the wiping of the face, usually in a public place just to add to the humiliation. Doesn’t matter if you’re not old enough to talk or whether you have a family of your own, it happens at all ages.

Yet among all these cringe-worthy moments you just wouldn’t have it any other way and that’s why we love our mums so much. So if you fondly recollect your mum doing any of these embarrassing mum moments then maybe you will want to thank her by sending her some Mother’s Day Flowers.

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Filed under: General, Mother's Day on February 28th, 2013 | No Comments yet. Be the First! »

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Dear Friends and Customers,

Valentine’s Day is an important time of year for us. We are fiercely proud of our reputation for delivering the freshest flowers and we prepare hard for this busy time of year. So when we experienced a technical supply-chain issue which threatened to slow production just before the big day itself, I threw all of our reserve resources at the problem.

This was nearly enough to get all bouquets sent, but despite our best efforts, a small fraction of orders were produced just after the courier deadline for Valentine’s delivery. Our reserve courier stepped-in and was able to provide a truck for delivery on 15th so we enlarged bouquets where possible and got them sent out. However, it seems like it was a week when we just couldn’t catch a break: we learnt from our customers that a portion of the late bouquets were not delivered at all.

I immediately doubled the size of the customer service team and then doubled it again. However, despite working 12 hr shifts over the weekend, they have only recently been able to process the backlog of redeliveries and refunds.

Whilst the problems were not in our control, we fully accept the blame as we know that you expect us to deliver. I would like to apologise to those customers affected, particularly those hit by both issues. I also appreciate your patience this week as I have asked the whole team to step-up and resolve your issues as quickly as possible. We believe that we have now resolved, redelivered or refunded all customers, but it is possible that we have missed a few emails: if you have not had a response, please re-send one email to customer@arenaflowers.com so that we can action it.

Deliveries have been back to our normal high standard from 15th February and we know that this was a one-off problem. I know that many of you will be angry or disappointed with us for our failure. I understand this: I feel wretched that we have let you down. I do however hope that you will use the 50% discount codes we have sent to affected customers to give us a chance to prove that this is not what we normally do.

Sincerely,

Will Wynne
Co-Founder Arena Flowers

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Dear Friends and Customers,

We take great pride in our reputation for delivering the freshest flowers for a great price. That is why I’d like to personally apologise to a small group of our customers today for failing to deliver their bouquets for Valentine’s Day on time.

As a result of logistical issues in our supply chain some orders missed our deadline for delivery today. The team did everything possible to minimise the impact. They worked through the night to fulfil as many orders as possible, and our entire management team packed flowers for 24hrs straight (you cannot start packing any earlier if you want to guarantee an oustanding product is delivered). However this was not enough to get all our orders out for delivery and I am truly sorry for our failure to complete these orders in time. This is not up to the service that I believe our brand stands for.

For those affected, I have sent an email this morning. All orders will be delivered on Friday 15th and we have given a 50% discount as an apology. In addition all orders for a dozen red roses have been upgraded to two dozen red roses. If however customers would like to cancel their order they can do so by emailing customer@arenaflowers.com with “Cancel” in the subject line and we will be happy to do so.

We are unable to respond to phone calls at the moment, but we are answering all email enquiries as fast as we can and have employed
additional staff to respond to any enquiries that you may have – customer@arenaflowers.com

Will Wynne,

Co-Founder Arena Flowers

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Filed under: General on February 14th, 2013 | Comments Off

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