Esther Hu is the founder of Florealm, an online flower delivery startup based in San Francisco, California. Each week, Florealm curates a new easy-to-enjoy floral arrangement with locally sourced flowers to liven up the mood and space of their customers. The arrangement changes week to week based on the flowers in season and the mood enhancement they'd love customers to experience. We stumbled across Florealm when Esther started posting Priime edited photos to their Instagram (@florealm), and we personally love the arrangements that Florealm has sent us as well. As a Priime user, you can get your first curation for $10 with the code “PriimexFlorealm”.
We take some time to chat with Esther about the story and inspiration behind Florealm as well as how their aesthetic and brand has developed through clean and vibrant eye-catching photography.
Tell us a bit about how Florealm got started and what Florealm is.
It began with a random act. I used to work in the field of quantitative finance after graduating from Stanford. It's a random act that I started to bring fresh flowers to office, and I immediately felt the enhancement to my mood and mind. Upon further research, I found that psychologists studied and proved the positive impact that fresh flowers can bring to individuals and communities. Compared to the research progress, the flower industry was saturated with over-commercialized gift flowers, and thinking none about the power of the flower itself. People like me with the intention to get naturally beautiful flowers were frustrated to find a thoughtful provider.
My passion for flowers, visual arts, psychology, and people led me to turn the random act into Florealm. We are inspired by how people live and making products for life. Currently we offer subscription-based and one-time flower curations via our online storefront, and partner with local farms and farm-direct suppliers to bring the sustainable, natural beauty to life. Our happy customers incorporate Florealm into their mindful rituals as well as send to the flower/nature lovers they know.
What's your creative process when choosing which flowers go into each week's different curation and how you arrange them?
Every week, a new concept is produced in harmony with nature. We investigate the looks, scents, and vibes of the local land, source locally grown ingredients which we think best reflect the current season, and arrange them in our signature clean style.
How would you describe Florealm's aesthetic?
"No need to overdress to impress. No need to own a lot to feel spring," quoted from our Instagram, which said a lot about our attitude. Natural, clean, simple, chill, elegant, awakening, calming, yet energizing -- similar to what one feels about nature. Minimalism and modernism are also at the forefront of our visual guidelines. And unisex -- both women and men can enjoy the dose of nature delivered by Florealm.
What is your photo editing process like/ How does Priime fit into that aesthetic?
So far, Florealm is a 100% online brand. Photography is very important to our branding and communication. Each week, photos of new curations are posted to our Instagram. Styling, shooting, and editing are implemented under a few guidelines. The raw photos are first sent to computer for initial touch using Adobe Camera Raw, and then sent to phone for more touch using Priime, and a final tweak with Instagram. If we're on the go or in a hurry, we'd skip the first step and jump directly to Priime. We favorited quite a few styles on Priime. Recently, we often use Spirit by Loren Baxter, Corner by Red Gaskell, Breeze by Brenna Marriie, and Cathedral by Jessica Zollman. These styles work nicely with pops of colors in a simple background.
Our friends over at Florealm are giving Priime users a treat; you can get your first Florealm curation for $10 with the promo code "PriimexFlorealm".
You can find the same styles used by Florealm on the Priime App available on the App Store.
