SIÓG Botanicals - The Flower Preservation Specialists

Entrepreneur(s): Joanna Sammons & Lorna Frawley

Business Name: SIÓG Botanicals

Business Location: 3 Market Square, Kildare town, Co. Kildare

Website:  www.siogbotanicals.ie

Established in: 2021

Famous for: Flower preservation specialists

Tell us about your business and what you do….

FLOWER ART COMMISSIONS - suitable for all types of blooms from wedding bouquets to sympathy flowers, or simply a special bouquet or single flower you want to preserve. We expertly preserve the flowers and create a bespoke piece of framed art. At present, this service is available nationwide.

3D BOTANICAL ART Have your wedding bouquet or other special flowers dried in 3D and rearranged in a 37cm square shadow box frame. We carefully disassemble the bouquet, dry each bloom, leaf and stem separately to preserve their natural structure and colour. We then carefully design and rearrange each one, enclosed in a beautiful white frame for you to treasure forever. The total cost is €179. There is a €50 booking deposit to secure your date, and the remaining balance is due upon completion of your commission. Artist: Lorna Frawley.

TRADITIONAL/ CONTEMPORARY PRESSED FLOWER ART. Your flowers will be individually pressed and then carefully reconstructed and arranged flat in a traditional bouquet style and framed in a 45cm by 55cm handmade ivory frame. The total cost is €179. There is a €50 to secure your date, and the remaining balance is due upon completion of your commission. Artist: Joanna Sammons.

• FLOWER PRESSES: Handcrafted and assembled in our County Kildare studio using high quality birch plywood. Prices range from €45-€82.
• BOTANICAL CANDLES: SIÓG candles and wax melts are handmade in our County Kildare studio using a unique blend of the highest quality pure European rapeseed wax and organic essential oils - making them 100% natural. Using 100% rapeseed wax and only organic essential oils in our candles provides superb fragrance retention, scent throw and extended burn time. Rapeseed is also a member of the vegetable wax family; a vegan and eco-friendly choice made from a renewable and easily grown plant. Free from toxins, these natural candles are safe for you, your home, your children and pets.
• BIODIVERSITY & BOTANICAL ART WORKSHOPS. We offer live workshops that cover a wide range of pressed flower ideas and applications, as well as concepts and techniques for sustainable harvesting, Irish wildflower identification as well as creating gorgeous, long lasting pressed flower art that you will be proud to display in your home or give as a gift. In-person workshops such as card-making and creating framed botanical art with pressed flowers will take you all the way from flower selection and preparation to learning how to use a flower press and gluing the flowers so they don’t mold or fall apart. These workshops are a great opportunity to learn from some of the leading botanical artists in the country and get an in-depth look at our process and technique while being inspired to create your own works of art.Our workshops are open to any skill level, and provide step by step guidance through the flower pressing process, including what supplies you will need and what flowers to use, depending on the season.Average price €85 pp.

What can you tell us about the early days and how it all started?

SIÓG evolved from a lifetime of shared memories from friends Lorna Frawley and Joanna Sammons (that's us!). As children, we shared Summer holidays with each other’s families on the West coast of Ireland, where we searched for wildflowers like foxglove, forget-me-nots and cowslip, while also reveling in the beauty of our Grandmothers’ gardens of hydrangeas, roses and lilies.

SIÓG (fairy) represents these magical days spent discovering the nature, myths and legends of the Irish landscape, and our continued appreciation of Ireland's wild habitats. In recent years, we’ve also developed a stark awareness of the impact of climate change and biodiversity loss. Sustainability is at the heart of what we strive for. While we cherish the past, we’re conscious of the future and we know that change is needed by all of us to protect and sustain our natural world for future generations. Our love of nature and creativity eventually inspired us to set up a flower art studio, which launched in 2021.

Since then, we have been busy continuously improving the quality and sustainability credentials of our work. At our studio and on our website, you’ll find examples of our art, as well as a range of products that have been designed and made in Ireland from the finest quality materials and ingredients.

What were the high points and low points when you were a start-up?

The low points were probably shivering on many cold and rainy days at craft markets around the county during Winter! This time also gave us an incredible insight into our customers preferences, and interacting with the public in this way during our first year in business became an invaluable piece of market research.

What was your big ‘break-through’ moment?

In late 2022, a number of things happened all around the same time that just felt too good to believe and it felt as though all our hard work was paying off!

• Featured on RTÉ's Late Late Show Taking Care of Business Special
• Featured by The Kildare Nationalist
• Finalist in Kildare LEO Digital Champion Award
• Became an official partner of WeddingsOnline.ie
• Featured by One Fab Day
• Featured by Wedding Journal Show 2023

Local Enterprise Office Kildare has supported your business. Tell us about these supports and what impact they have had?

The Local Enterprise Office in Kildare has been an invaluable support to us, enabling us to take the next big step at a critical point in our business’ development. Opening our flower art studio at 3 Market Square has given us the ability to work collaboratively in a shared space, with ease of access for our nationwide customer base travelling via the M7, M9 and M4.

What’s next on the business agenda for your company?

We recently opened our flower art studio at 3 Market Square, Kildare Town. In the coming months we will be focused on settling into our new space, welcoming locals and tourists alike to learn about what we do and exhibit our work.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever gotten about running a business?

Be sustainable - or forget about it!