London Venue Focus: The Natural History Museum

The Natural History Museum is one of London’s most iconic venues. Lavender Green Flowers has been working at the venue providing event flowers for over 20 years and it is one of the five venues that we work most frequently with. We speak to Senior Operations Manager at The Natural History Museum Gavin Bevan about event flowers at the venue.

With The Natural History Museum’s soaring arches and grand staircase, the magnificent architecture and museum artefacts and collections create the perfect backdrop for myriad events, from informal and intimate drinks receptions, to creative and spectacular. Senior Operations Manager at The Natural History Museum Gavin Bevan tells us: “In 2018, the Natural History Museum hosted 166 events ranging from weddings and birthday celebrations to charity gala dinners, corporate receptions, launch events and Christmas parties.”

The Museum’s variety of spaces will suit any event format, which is just one of the many reasons that Lavender Green Flowers loves designing event flowers for the London venue.

A dedicated venue hire team at The Natural History Museum has 70 year’s combined experience in the events industry and has a great passion for hosting show-stopping events. “From initial enquiry, where clients will liaise with an Event Sales Managers, to the event day, where an Operations Managers will ensure the night runs smoothly, clients can expect a personal experience and expertise from various aspects of the events industry, rather than just a venues background”, says Gavin.

“Clients hiring the museum directly support the pioneering scientific work taking place by researchers within the organisation and also support maintaining this historic building so that the museum can keep admission free.”

The Natural History Museum’s main event space Hintze Hall was renovated in 2017 when its long-term focal point Dippy (the dinosaur skeleton) was replaced with the majestic ‘Hope’, a Blue Whale skeleton, which is now suspended from the ceiling. This gave the hall a dynamic new look for guests. For Lavender Green Flower’s florists, Hintze Hall lends itself to themed or beautifully-designed event flowers, rather than floral installations. Alice Couzens Lavender Green Florist’s Events Account Director says:”In 2019, the florists dressed the Hall full of spring florals and bunches and bunches of beautiful Cherry Blossom, all in either impressive, large urns or elegant fluted vases – which fit perfectly with the scale of the London venue.”

For the Earth Galleries, which is a dramatic, dark space, when designing event flowers Lavender Green Flowers likes to use pops of colours and single variety flowers to soften and brighten the space, plus complement the giant metallic globe that dominates the space. The luxury, London florists recently wrapped candelabras with tonal pink, luxurious flowers for a private party.

An impressive space for events, Fossil Way is hugely versatile. While typically used for drinks before dinner, Lavender Green Flowers designed event flowers where the room was turned into the main event – with long tables used to really enhance the architecture. Alice says: “Naturally inspired floral arrangements, mixed with gold vessels, really sang in the space and gave guests an elegant visual to dine amongst without taking away from the incredible features Fossil Way has to showcase.”

As a leading scientific institution, The Natural History Museum considers the environmental impact of everything it does – something that reflects the ethos of Lavender Green Flowers too. The Museum has won accolades for environmentally-friendly practices, which stretches across every aspect of the events it host, from sustainable menus by caterers to transportation and guest arrival.

Gavin tell us that “When clients hire The Natural History Museum for an event, they are provided with a list of accredited suppliers and given recommendations by the events team based on their individual needs. Clients then work independently with their chosen suppliers and we trust the suppliers to help design products that reflect the character of the museum.”

As one of The Natural History Museum’s accredited florists, Lavender Green Flowers works closely with the venue’s clients, as well as the caterer and production suppliers to make sure they’re all in sync when it comes to the design, look, feel and colour palette for the event.

Gavin explains: “Lavender Green Flowers is held in high esteem within the industry, with a retail unit, events business and a large sports account, which not only shows its versatility but its team’s strength to deliver multiple projects at any given time.”

The museum has stringent pest management controls in place to protect the 80 million specimens stored onsite, whether that be in the public galleries or the numerous storage and research facilities.

Lavender Green Florists are free to let their creative juices flow while working at The Natural History Museum, with floral arrangements carefully crafted for each gallery taking into account the different character of the London museum’s three main event spaces. That said, The Natural History Museum’s events are subject to the same pest control conditions and through a lengthy accreditation process, Lavender Green Flowers’ florists must ensure every effort is taken to remove the risk of infestation when working at the museum. “We expect all of our suppliers to undertake due diligence with all of their supply chain, working with reputable producers throughout Europe.,” says Gavin.

“This includes the treatment of all floristry/foliage prior to its arrival onsite, with special attention paid to moss and bark installations. Due to conservation concerns we no longer allow live flames in any part of our galleries and items such as sand are also prohibited. When arrangements are placed directly onto the museum fabric a protective layer must be placed in between the fabric and the vase prevent any damages.”

These conditions don’t phase the experienced London event florists at Lavender Green Flowers. As Alice says: “As an approved supplier we go through an accreditation process whereby we showcase how we can still create stunning arrangements within the venue’s rules and regulations. This means, we know not only the conservation rules such as no water, no berries or staining flowers, to protect the exhibitions, but also understand the layout and venue’s characteristics to ensure when placing or incorporating our designs we are sympathetic to them too.”

Lavender Green Flowers is renowned as one of London’s finest florists, with over 28 years’ experience producing flowers for the country’s top galleries, museums and historic houses. From weddings and receptions to private parties and corporate events, thoughtfully crafted arrangements and installations take inspiration from the latest trends in floristry, fashion and art.

To make an enquiry, call 020 7127 5303, email [email protected] or visit the Chelsea flower shop at 46 Fulham Road, London SW3 6HH