Hidden Gems: Meet Meg Anderson of Foliage Floral Design Studio

Today we’d like to introduce you to Meg Anderson.

Hi Meg, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself
I began my journey as an entrepreneur in 2012 when I founded Nutmeg, an Independent Yarn Company. From 2012 to 2020, I grew my company bit by bit, using natural dyes to create our own yarn brand, traveling the country, and further abroad to Korea and Japan, to provide clients with our yarns and knitting designs.

In the fall of 2019, I was beginning to feel the call to move on from Nutmeg and began a second company as a side project called, Foliage. Once March of 2020 came around, and travel became impossible, I decided to fully shutter Nutmeg and focus all my entrepreneurial energy on my growing flower business.

Throughout 2020, and in spite of a lot of difficulties due to the Covid-19 pandemic, our company grew and grew! What began as a one-person side job, is now a busy local business. We have two divisions: Foliage Floral Design Studio that focuses on our event and corporate floral services, and East Nashville Flower Shop, which focuses on everyday floral deliveries. I have three employees, and adding more soon! We expanded to focus on events and corporate flowers as a part of our 2021 growth, and have loved every second of getting to work alongside clients for a variety of different kinds of events and purposes.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I think that an entrepreneur’s journey is never smooth. It takes a lot of work and hours. It takes a level of risk that you have to be ok with, because you see the greater benefit of being your own boss, of creating something of value for the community. It takes a good support team to encourage you on the inevitable days when you feel like nothing is working and what in the world are you doing this for.

Cause no matter how many or few sales you have, those days will come! Being prepared for those hard times as an entrepreneur is key. Knowing that the instinct to pack it in is simply a part of being human, of wanting to protect ourselves from danger. The important part is knowing when to keep going, keep pushing, keep doing “all the things” so that the business you are building will come to fruition.

Good things come with time. Patience, hard work, and belief that what you are doing is important and of value is ultimately what gets me (and a lot of entrepreneurs) through those difficult times.

Also, finding an amazing business mentor changed my life! Get support, get help! Even if you’re the only one in your business, there are so many amazing communities of like-minded people that can give support at the times when we, as the business owners, need it most.

As you know, we’re big fans of Foliage Floral Design Studio. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
The Look: Our floral aesthetic is lush, airy, and romantic. We enjoy local and uncommon blooms and always source those first, with an emphasis on designing for destination weddings. We prefer a loose, garden-inspired style with a sophisticated color palette and a variety of textures. Our bouquets are organic in feel and filled with depth, movement, and space; very much influenced by the location and the season.

The Approach:  We work closely with you, as a couple, throughout your entire planning process to ensure that your florals are completely unique and tailored to your personalities. We want you to feel excited and heard throughout the process. Getting to know you is key to creating a floral look that represents you and the event genuinely. Budgets are established early on, and we never ever charge more than we have agreed. We love opportunities to travel to new places: Soaking in the colors, textures, and florals of the area, designing a look for our clients that feels like a natural extension of the environment. Our clients trust our knowledge to create a sophisticated and cohesive floral story for their wedding. We pride ourselves on our discretion and clients’ privacy.

Expert Advice: Skip Pinterest, trust your florist. We find that when you let the season and location’s colors and floral varieties steer your design direction the result is always better. Everyone involved in the planning process has the same goal, so it’s important to trust your team and know we’ll take care of every last detail.

Be clear with your total budget and trust your team to bring your dream to reality. Bigger is not always better. Harmonious proportion throughout your wedding makes the florals look intimate and elegant like somebody made them with care.

If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
This is a hard one! I’d say that the willingness to try is a huge part of it. For me, when I begin to dream, brainstorm, etc. About something that I want to do, I take steps towards doing that thing, whether it’s work-related, or in my personal life. When I meet people that talk to me about “Someday, I want to do this, or that,” and they’ve been talking about doing that same thing for years, I always just wanna yell “TRY IT!” Like, literally, just TRY IT. Take steps towards that dream! It’s your dream for a reason! Something put that dream in you. So, walk towards it! What’s the worst that could happen!

Being willing to try, to walk into the unknown and embrace the adventure is such a fun way to live. And it really can bring you joy and success in totally unexpected ways.

Contact Info:

• Email: foliagenashville@gmail.com
• Website: foliagenashville.com and eastnashvilleflowershop.com
• Instagram: @foliagefloraldesignstudio @eastnashvilleflowershop

Image Credits
Jamie Pratt, Katrena Cheung, and Sionnie LaFollette