Victoria Brown (00:00)

Hi Larry thank you so much for joining us on Story Slur podcast I’m really excited to talk to you because you are an event designer but

not any old event designer, you’ve worked with some really big names, you’ve done some big projects, you’re flying all over the world doing what you’re doing and I’m really intrigued as to what your story is and how you got there in the first place. So for everybody listening, Larry, can you tell us a little bit about who you are and what you do?

Larry Walshe (00:30)

For sure. I would say now, yeah, I class myself as an event designer. That was born from working as a florist. I started a floristry business back in 2014, which naturally has evolved into multiple creative genres and areas where we really look after everything visual for a client and their celebration. My journey into this was a total mistake.

Or rather I should say accident slash not particularly well planned. It’s not like I had a great grand plan that this is what I was going to do. I had originally trained in musical theatre. I was a dancer, I was a performer. I worked in the West End and I had an accident which meant that I needed to re-evaluate what I was doing and I had to kind of come up with career plan number

Victoria Brown (01:05)

Bye.

Wow, my gosh, I did not expect you to say that. So all your life, all your…

Larry Walshe (01:17)

Yeah. So I dotted around. I dotted around

with career plan number two for a little while and I kind of gave everything a bit of a go. Worked out where it was that I thought I was going to end up and actually accidentally ended up working for a catering company in London,

where I then understood and found out that there was this entire industry that I didn’t know existed. I had no concept events was a thing. I had no clue that I was interested in decor or florals until I started working in that space and then realizing I had a really strong creative opinion on everything that was going into that space. And I was organizing things for clients where…

I got frustrated. I got frustrated in the guest experience process, in the design process. And I didn’t necessarily feel like anyone was bringing something inspiring to the table. I liken it a lot to interior design. So I always feel like if we were considering renovating your living room, for example, in that space, you would be receiving a service. In that process, you would see renderings, watercolours, sketches, swatches.

things that allow you to understand what it is that you’re buying. And that just simply wasn’t happening in the industry at the time that I was sat there. And I was baffled because the amounts of money that we’re talking about are not insignificant. The tantamount to exactly that. And I thought, well, there’s one industry that absolutely is promoting clarity and there’s one that isn’t. So I tried to really bring that sense of clarity into this space, look at everything holistically,

go with a very client-fronted approach to let’s provide a good level of service. Let’s show clients what they’re going to get. Let’s inspire them. And my hope is that if I inspire you and get you incited about what it is that we’re planning, you’ll actually want to go and do bigger and better things.

Victoria Brown (03:16)

you’re obviously doing well because you’ve worked with some huge names like Adele, Stella McCartney, Benedict Cumberbatch, Christian Dior, mean the list goes on you’re obviously doing something right because they wouldn’t work with you otherwise but it’s really interesting use of the word accidental accidentally fell into this and I just don’t think anyone falls into anything accidentally I think it must be where you were meant to always be and I’m really interested in the parallels between musical theatre

and event design because aren’t you putting on a show when you put on an event anyway?

Larry Walshe (03:47)

Right, and equally, are you storytelling? Absolutely you are. Did I always know that I wanted to be in some form of creative industry? Yes, most definitely. Did I spend quite a lot of time in that little in-between moment sitting as a, what I would call a frustrated creative? Absolutely, because I didn’t know how to express myself. I didn’t know through what medium I was going to be able to get my ideas out. I just knew I had a lot of opinions and a lot of ideas on

basically everything. And then it was a case of, what’s that path going to be? And when everyone told me that, don’t worry, you’ll work it all out. Like one day it’ll just come to you and you’ll just know. And I was like, well, that’s wonderful. I’ve been sitting here quite patiently for a few years now and still no light bulb moment. So does anyone want to give me a clue? And then ironically actually was the case that suddenly I found myself one day.

I was in the office late at night because a client had given us a three day lead time to produce an event for them. But it was a little dinner for two people, except it was in a very big iconic venue and they said, please make the space that would otherwise suit 650 for dinner feel intimate for two. So, here I am sketching my like little ideas out, speaking to everybody. And in that moment, it just kind of hit me that I was like, hold up a second. I’m…

conceptualizing exactly what this is going to look like. I’m designing this space and ultimately then just handing that over to other people. And I thought, well, actually, if I could only just work out how to put A and B together, I could then just do it myself. And then nothing would get lost in translation. Nothing would turn up, maybe just not looking as I had it in my mind. For better or worse, whatever I’m seeing when I’m doodling this, I know I could then deliver.

verbatim. And so I thought, well, if you want to go and put your money where your mouth is, then go and start doing something about it. So I cashed in my holiday entitlement. I went and did a two week flower course, came back, handed my notice in the very next day and then sat at my dining table with 500 pounds in my pocket and went, this is what I do now.

Victoria Brown (06:02)

I love that because I think the best business people have instinct and then they act on it.

Larry Walshe (06:07)

Yeah, I agree. think people that don’t necessarily have too much of a measure of risk and are then willing to actually take a gut instinct or take a feeling and actually go and action that. I think tend to be the ones that creatively, especially to try and push the envelope.

Victoria Brown (06:27)

I’m sure that that will really resonate with a lot of people, that idea of being creatively frustrated and maybe you know that you need to do something, you know you’re meant to do something, but you just don’t know what it is. What would your advice be to anybody in that position?

Larry Walshe (06:33)

Mm.

That’s a really good question. I remember sitting in this space, my dad was a painter. Very, very good oil painter and water colorist. And he turned around to me at about age 15 and said, you can’t do this. Like, you can’t paint. And to be fair, he’s right because I haven’t got the patience. I’m a creative that needs to work at speed. actually flowers for me was actually a very forgiving medium because…

If I haven’t chopped enough of the stem off and I pop it in and the arrangement doesn’t look right, I can take it out, chop a bit more off, put it back in and I can balance it. My critical eye is really what I say my key skill is. I can look at anything visually and I can spatially work it out just on a glance. I can pull different fabrics, textures, colours, materials together very, very quickly. a vocabulary that’s very easily accessible for me.

and I can pull something together that’s particularly cohesive. I think my advice is to start looking at the things you know how to do and be self-reflective in that moment. Because I didn’t know that there was a career, for example, to go and be a creative director of something or an art director, or you don’t get told what all of these little facets are. And especially from there, you definitely don’t get told what could be way less obvious, like, I don’t know.

an artisan that makes beautiful trimmings. Like, who would have known that that was a thing? Nobody tells you, you could be a trimming maker, you know, in career class. So it’s kind of like, or, you know, you can go and do straw marketry. Nobody talks about artisanal work in that way. Those things are usually generationally handed down. So if you haven’t come from that world, you wouldn’t know. And I think if one starts in the initial instance evaluating

critically yourself in private, what is it that you know how to do? What is it that you know that you’re good at? And now let’s start adding those things up a bit like one would a pros and cons list. And then let’s start funneling what the options could be from there. So for me, I do not have the patience to spend weeks drawing a piece of artwork. If I haven’t achieved what I’m going for, like, and sketching something in like 10 minutes,

I’m over it. But instead of using that as a negative, I use that as just something that I acknowledge in myself.

So what are you going to be good at doing? Well, I’m actually very good because I work very quickly. I’m very good at working under pressure and I’m very good at working in a tight timeframe. So if a client gives me two weeks to produce a wedding, I can make those decisions. I can function at that level. So use what you could otherwise potentially identify something you can’t do. Use that as a positive also.

Victoria Brown (09:34)

Yeah.

Yeah.

Larry Walshe (09:47)

just start really working

which of those things and really then you’re kind of doing that pros and cons list, you’re sitting with what those pros are, things you like or things you know you’re good at and then take it from there because then this whole world starts to open up in front of you as you then just start delving into that rabbit hole, things open out in front of you that you wouldn’t even know existed.

Victoria Brown (10:10)

Yeah, I love that and I think it’s so true. think once we know ourselves, find something that really suits us and sometimes it doesn’t exist. It’s like you said, it really doesn’t exist. So, there’s no point chasing it. Well, exactly. So there you go.

Larry Walshe (10:20)

I mean, how many years ago was it that podcasts didn’t exist?

And then when they

first came out, everyone was like, ⁓ like any new idea, is anybody going to want to do this? You know, now there’s an entire industry that several years ago didn’t exist. And this is also the magic of just being a creative. You create a space for yourself. You don’t necessarily have to be defined by one particular job role. I started as a florist not because I was passionate about flowers.

My dad had been a keen gardener. My dad told me from about age 10 that one day this entire library of books that he had would be mine and I couldn’t have been less excited.

Honestly, like who sits and thinks that they want the whole Dalling Kindersley something or other? I was like, no, no, no, no, no, no. I think I was hoping for like a house or something. And I was like, okay.

But then interestingly, it’s also that kind of, what I almost say like learned behavior. It is the way that you’re brought up. Funnily, all of those things, whether I was choosing to pay attention or not, I did actually know a lot about botanical flowers and everything else. And so suddenly then I found a way in which I was interested in that, using it as a medium, using it as, for me, I use it like paint.

And I always say like, I paint with flowers, but then I started going into that space and I would design something really beautiful to sit on a table. Then, as I say, with everything I’ve done, it’s because I’ve got frustrated. So for example, I put really nice flowers on a table. I became frustrated that somebody put a horrible white cloth on there, which totally ruined everything that I’d worked towards. So I started having an opinion on what that cloth should be or that chair should be or that piece of cut.

And as you kind of go through every single layer of that, then I found I was designing what I would consider to be the whole event and not just a little portion of. But I didn’t realize that that was a job. I didn’t realize that, or equally, that was a thing. I thought I was actually original. Then I found out lots of people have been doing it for years. But I never knew that that was a path I could be taken into. Nobody ever promotes that when you’re looking at.

what that kind of career path looks at much earlier in life. So I think equally, there’s no need to necessarily be constrained by what somebody defines as an already acceptable or pre-existing job role. I think it’s about sitting in a space and working out what you’re passionate about, what things, if you’re like me, what things frustrate you. And when people always say like, look for the pain point.

You see it on Dragon’s Den and know, Shark Tank and all those kind of things where they go, what’s the pain point? Well, I tried to look for products and it just wasn’t my forte. Cause I was like, well, I don’t really know. Do I need like a clip that does this? I’m not sure. Like really just wasn’t my level of expertise, but I actually genuinely upon reflecting, I found that in a different way. I found a pain point in a process and I found a way to try and deal with that as best I thought I could.

Victoria Brown (13:34)

Yeah, which is brilliant. And I love the fact that you’ve probably explored every career option that there is.

Larry Walshe (13:41)

I do like to give everything a go. It’s a bit like when you go shopping. I like to look at everything before I commit. So I really did dabble.

Victoria Brown (13:49)

So that’s another tip. ⁓

So, Larry, when you’re asked to design a huge event, how do you approach doing that? Where is your starting point?

Larry Walshe (14:02)

My starting point for a wedding celebration is the couple. I start with a blank piece of paper and I have a meeting and I just, I sit down and we just talk. I listen, I talk about their story. I want to know where they’ve come from. I want to know what ideas they’ve had. I want to know what they thought when they walked around the space that they’ve picked. All of the bits and pieces. What have you gathered? Have you been on Pinterest? Have you got any of these things? Do you know what you like? You don’t like?

But I do that in a way that doesn’t feel like an interview. We just have a nice conversation. I actually might just not touch my piece of paper at all while we’re talking. I just want to be in a moment where we just have an opportunity to connect. And then for me, storytelling is so important in the design process and also in the way it’s delivered.

But I believe it starts at the beginning. So I’d like to try and make the process the start of that story. The finished product is the final chapter. But as an experience which ultimately sits with you as long as your marriage does, that six or 12 months before is just as equally as important. And some of the details that ultimately make it to the end of that story are created here.

right at the beginning in this moment. And what I actually love about some of those is it’s not necessarily something that you as a guest, let’s say, are going to identify or know. It could be that we chose a particular piece of fabric for a reason because it was resonatory with something and we used it for a napkin. It could be that we pulled a particular colour because it reminded you of a walk that you took when you first met. You’re not going to know that.

But what hopefully you will know, and which I believe as part of trying to create the most considered designs that I can, is that when you design with intention, there’s an authenticity which reads true. So as that guest, every part of that visual journey, which is the bit I’m responsible for, should sing.

Victoria Brown (16:17)

And you say you’re responsible for the whole visual journey, but you’re not responsible for everything. So you wouldn’t be responsible, for example, for what the bride was wearing. Any times when you get frustrated that you can’t control the whole thing.

Larry Walshe (16:30)

Would I necessarily always make some of the choices they do? No. Mind you, I think if you tried to put me in any dress, I wouldn’t look particularly fetching. As a general rule though, I use where they might be in that process. They’ll often start with something like the dress. I do also use that to try and inform where I go with the design.

So I tend not to find that I get blindsided by something that they’ve gone and picked and that I have no awareness of it. It might inform me as to where they’re coming from, the silhouette that they wear, the level of theatrics that goes into that gown is going to give me a really good clue as to who they are as people. And I think I find it fascinating actually studying anthropology and really kind of thinking about how people behave, how people think. And I find as a creative,

it really interests me to try and dive a little deeper and actually understand from you why you want something or why you’ve chosen something else. Again, so that my intention with that is to then try and deliver the most intentional response that means something, that’s memorable.

Victoria Brown (17:45)

Yeah,

you’re absolutely speaking my language as a philosophy graduate. I always wanted to know why I never found out why, I always want to know why. I think there’s such power in why and why someone starts a business because when you know what that why is, sometimes even if you don’t know and you’re just going on your gut instinct, following that why, I think it’s the most powerful thing.

Larry Walshe (17:53)

You

and questioning always, for example, this is how we do this. Why? Why is that how we do it? I’m not suggesting that then you’re going to go and reinvent the wheel, nor am I equally suggesting that everything needs to find a pain point. You don’t. Sometimes there’s no pain point to be found. And I don’t believe in inventing additional tasks for the sake of it, because you might do that at the beginning when you’ve got nothing to do. But honestly, the time you kind of get going, you just want it to be as easy as possible.

I do, however, think that questioning that in the same way as being self-reflective of your skill set, of other people, of the way that you respond to people, all of those things that you do in your day-to-day process, I think help you to get a more intentional response at the end. So for me, it’s often a case of, why is somebody saying no in this moment, for example?

I’m so last minute, you a lot of my clients work with me on very, short lead times. somebody said to me yesterday when I went and met them in Italy, I was meeting with this lovely fabric supplier and she went, you’re just such a delight to work with, but I would like to know, do you just leave it to two weeks before, before you call me? Or is this really like the request times that you have? And I was like, no, it’s really the request times I’m working to, I promise you. I’m dialing you before I’m even off the phone to my client, just to try and get you on the line.

But it’s interesting to sit and say, why is somebody saying, no, that’s not possible? Why is somebody sitting and saying, no, I don’t like that? And once you understand that, I feel like you are then able to come back with a better response. It might be that you can then understand why that person thought they wouldn’t be able to deliver in time. You can maybe find that solution, which will facilitate you getting what your client wants in no time at all. Or the other way,

if you’re reading your client, it just might help you understand what you need to come back with, realising that a lot of the time, if you’re not listening, what you’re otherwise doing is projecting your own desires and opinions onto somebody else. And perhaps your client’s being incredibly clear that they want something, but you’re just not hearing it.

Victoria Brown (20:29)

How good do you think people are at listening then?

Larry Walshe (20:33)

I think atrocious usually. think it’s our default response actually, especially sometimes as creatives, not to listen because you have an idea. Because maybe I see something as we’re speaking right now that I’m thinking, ⁓ I could do this. I then cease to listen to maybe the rest of the things that you tell me. I’ve already decided this is what I want to do. But in my experience, I’ve learned that when you go into the process that way and you try and project

your intentions onto somebody else, that’s not necessarily going to yield you the best response. It’s most likely not going to be the easiest of journeys with that particular client. And I think actually it’s so simple to say, but so difficult to do. Remove what it is that you might want to create in this moment. What is it that they’re asking for?

just listen, they’ll probably tell you. And then from there, I like to consider that then my job is to interpret that in what I perceive to be the most beautiful way I know how. Hopefully the rest of the world agrees with me, but I’m not saying that that’s guaranteed at all.

Victoria Brown (21:42)

can be…

be really hard to balance though I think because as a creative sometimes you’re coming up with new wacky ideas that people haven’t seen before, haven’t heard before, but you in your gut know it’s a good idea. somewhere you have to listen to other people but sometimes you need to resist them a little bit as well. So how do you balance that?

Larry Walshe (22:04)

I think it’s a fine line. I entirely agree with you that as a creative, for example, you can otherwise have clients that come to you with particular imagery. I’ve seen this before. I want this again. Well, if we stand for what we believe in as creatives, we don’t want to create the same work twice. We don’t want to just rinse and repeat something. We’d like to create something original for this couple because that design you’re referring to, that was made for somebody else. That was dreamed up for somebody else on their story.

Hopefully, you’re hiring me for a reason. So there needs to be a level of trust between two people in that instance. There needs to be a level of respect that I’m an expert in what I do. Now, I’m in a service role. I am here to serve you. So if you turn around and tell me that you would like a black and white wedding, for example, I shouldn’t be coming in with hot pink because I’m not listening to you.

What I should hopefully do though is go, okay, let’s go through the ideas that you’ve had. I can then come to the table with original ideas that take the idea of something, let’s say black and white and do it in a way that hasn’t been seen before. And I think it’s a hybrid of the two. It’s listening to what’s being asked of you and having the opportunity to revert a sense of originality.

Victoria Brown (23:30)

Yeah, and you mentioned that all important business word trust there, which can be sometimes really difficult when you’re starting out for you to build. I how did you go about building trust in the services you create?

Larry Walshe (23:43)

think I was very, very conscious and still am to this day that what I actually refuse to do, I refuse to dilute my work. I’m known for a particular kind of look and feel, a silhouette, a feeling. Doesn’t always mean I’m doing massive, massive, massive projects, but what it means is that the quality level of what I do, whether it’s one piece or 600, they’re all as good as each other.

people said, when did you think that you got good at your job? And I was like, I was good from day one. I just didn’t necessarily have people that trusted me to spend that much money as they do today. The product has not got any better. I was really good from day one. The quality level was there. The design eye was there. I just didn’t have the confidence of somebody that wanted to give me bucket loads of money to go and decorate with.

I’m very, very mindful that whether it’s one thing or 600, they all have to be just as good. And sometimes when you get into a quantity game, people say, oh, well, can you just do this look, but for less? So don’t worry if it’s actually that detailed. Just make it look like it is from afar. And that I won’t do. And that’s where I say hard no, I won’t do that. Because the level of trust between us is that you’ve seen my work and

I need you to trust me that what you’re seeing isn’t smoke and mirrors. So when you see it either in real life or you’ve been to one of my events or you’ve seen something on Instagram, the quality level in a photo and a video is just as good as it is in real life. There are no hidden angles. There’s no, it looked really great from this angle, but actually the back had total gaps in it. No, everything is good from every single angle. And you come to me,

trusting in that. It’s an innate trust from the beginning. And that allows us to then speak very, very honestly with one another about the level of investment, for example, that you might like to make in me as a creative.

Victoria Brown (25:53)

So you have very firm boundaries, which I think is really important.

Larry Walshe (25:57)

think it’s that consistency you build over time. It’s brand recognition. It’s brand trust that you have. And I think what’s so important is that provides a respect that you have with your customer from day one, from the very, very outset. So that at that point, I’m able as a creative to say, hey, I’ve got an idea. I really just want you to think about it. Like, please, can I show it to you? If you trust me, you’re going to say, yeah, that’s fine. OK.

You do you, you know better than I do. You come up with a really nice idea. I’m gonna stop backseat driving at this moment. You do you and let’s review. If they don’t trust you, you’re being second guessed at every opportunity. And it’s back to the balancing business with creative. You can’t be creative if somebody’s shackling you. If somebody’s dictating how something needs to be, you can’t imprint upon it. You can’t go and have good ideas if somebody won’t

give you time to think. So with all of those things, that trust level means that you have the space in between, say, consultation to presentation to go and think about things, to say, I heard you, I did, respectfully, I disagree with you, so I’ve come back with this, could we at least talk about it? And actually, then you get so much more out of that client.

you get so much more, you end up with a project they never thought they were going to have but couldn’t be more delighted with. But you potentially also get to push that creative envelope the same way you say, how do you then put something original into the universe? With trust. You do it together, but it’s a joint journey between you and your client.

Victoria Brown (27:40)

Yeah, and it sounds like it all comes down to great communication at the end of the day.

Larry Walshe (27:44)

I mean, as with all things, the clearer you can be in that and the more you can handhold them, you maintain that level of trust. Hopefully you start with it, but how you run your process and how, as a business, you choose to guide that client, that will ultimately result in how trusted they feel throughout the whole process. And if they trust you and you have a systematic process that really makes them feel at ease,

then psychologically we know already they’re going to spend more.

Victoria Brown (28:21)

you talked about your brand there and about not compromising it. How would you describe your brand then, Larry?

Larry Walshe (28:29)

I would say that we design with generosity at the core of everything that we do and that we really enhance the spirit of excellence with everything that we do. As a designer, I consider I’m versatile. So I’m happy working in a multitude of genres. I like doing that in fact, because today I could be designing one thing in black and white and another day I’m doing it in hot pink or orange. And that to me provides wonderful freedom.

to go and express myself in a multitude of different directions.

Sometimes I think I found that more challenging in my career because it’s hard sometimes to define who I am in quite the same way as you could with somebody who has a very, very specific look and feel. That sales process can actually be easier if you’re very specific because somebody can see your shop window, whether that’s Instagram, your website, whatever it is that you’re using, they can see everything looks very, very consistent in that regard as to a particular style. That’s the style I want. Boom, done.

you’re the designer for me. Sometimes if you offer a multitude of things, they’re not quite sure whether you can do the one that they have in mind yet. And I found that’s actually been probably harder in my career path so far for people to understand. But I think that ultimately the excellence and the lack of compromise in quality, both in service and delivery, is what overridingly rings true. The look and feel might be very, very different, but whatever you do,

believe you can look at our work and say, but that’s beautiful, that’s beautiful, that’s beautiful. And consistently, it’s that level of excellence and taste that always rings true.

Victoria Brown (30:16)

Amazing. So your business has changed, or your whole life has changed, obviously starting out as a performer in the West End, which I still can’t believe. ⁓ Working in catering for a while, then becoming a florist, then becoming an event designer, and then deciding to go global. mean, what moment did you decide to go global and why? Which countries do you work in?

Larry Walshe (30:41)

So consistently we have businesses in Italy, America and the UK. So between those we can work across the Americas and throughout Europe. We do a lot in France, we do a lot in Italy and throughout both West Coast and East Coast America. There was no intention as with everything else in my business journey where I actually set, wrote a plan, did a five or 10 year like forecast and said, this is what I’m aiming towards. I’m not even gonna pretend that there was.

everything really has come from maybe a moment of frustration or identifying that kind of pain point in a particular scenario that as the creative in the room, like I want to go and fix it as well. I’m a cancer in at heart. So suddenly I care about everybody’s feelings. I’ve got a lot of empathy. And so suddenly I’m a swimming pool of emotions and I want to go like make so and so’s wedding perfect over there. But I have absolutely no concept of how to do it or why I’m doing it.

And with those organically, we were asked to go and work in Italy on a couple of projects. And I looked at it and suddenly realized that I needed the right to work there. That then spurred that conversation and it started that rabbit hole journey of actually opening a business. How does one do that? And intrinsically, I’m not easily inhibited.

by the idea of going for a particular milestone or an idea that you might have. I seem to very analytically in my mind just work backwards. If I wanted to, for example, go and be a surgeon, how would I do that? Let’s not overthink it or worry about it. Let’s pragmatically think about it. Well, if I want to do that, then I have to have trained in this and I need to do this, bum, bum, bum. And I work right back to the point I am right now and I set out a very, very clear plan and then

I don’t overthink it, I just go and do. So in that, I started kind of saying, well, let’s do this. And a bit like during COVID, let’s do something to keep us busy. Let’s open a retail arm. So we designed this fully sustainable, 100 % plastic free company that I genuinely thought I was going to do half a dozen bouquets, put them on a website, wrap them in brown paper, and then Bob’s your uncle. It’s sustainable. And as I started going down into this journey and learning about inks,

Victoria Brown (32:46)

you do.

Larry Walshe (33:03)

and adhesives and I was like, you’ve got to be kidding. They can’t be plastic in an ink. I was like, oh no. And I thought, well, if I’m going to do this, I’m a typical overachiever. I’m going to do this really, really thoroughly. But that was a six month journey down this rabbit hole into a place I never thought I would go. as we were saying before, doing that with intention and with integrity, now we have something born which lasts and it stands the test of time.

Victoria Brown (33:33)

Yeah and I think it’s exactly what you say with intention because it’s all very well and I think it’s important to have an instinct and go for it but at end of the day in business there’s practicalities of are you going to get investment, are you going to get the money to be able to make these things happen and if you can’t put stuff down on paper or can’t be at least intentional in the direction it’s going you won’t be able to realise that.

Larry Walshe (33:57)

But I also think it’s one of those things that I always say, you’re at your savviest when you’ve got absolutely So for example, do you need to sit and worry, I need investment for, ⁓ maybe you do. I don’t know what your business idea is. Maybe you genuinely do, but I’ve never borrowed a penny. And I sat there and I went, but if I didn’t have somebody, for example, to build a website, cause I couldn’t afford one, I went and learned how to do it. If I didn’t have somebody to help me input,

all these products into said website, I called my friends. And then she was like, you’re all sat at home with nothing to do. How do you fancy logging onto this and giving me an afternoon of your time? I’m not even joking. Like you’re at your most resourceful when you’ve got nothing to lose. Aren’t you really glad that you’re just not at the end of my phone list? I’m like, hi. You’re like never taking a phone call again.

Victoria Brown (34:39)

I did that go-day.

He’s to be.

Larry Walshe (34:48)

But it’s just one of those things. I actually think you’re most creative, you’re most resourceful actually when you don’t have any resources because you just have to find a way to make it work. And I think those people who are most entrepreneurial are the ones that do exactly that. They just find a way to make it work. We’re not gonna look at what those roadblocks are between where you are right now and the place that you would like to be. We’re just gonna say these are the steps. Refuse to…

fail, so refuse to accept that there’s a roadblock and just start dealing with

Victoria Brown (35:23)

Yeah, great advice. Love that.

Larry Walshe (35:24)

I think the only thing I’ve

particularly learned is because I don’t overthink them, I don’t skip three steps ahead and go, yeah, but by the time we get to that, it’s gonna be really difficult. I don’t do that. I’m just kind of like, right, but I don’t need to worry about that today. So if there’s five things I need to do to get to there, what’s number one? Do that right now, don’t overthink it, just go and do it. And then number two.

Victoria Brown (35:45)

Do

you ever look back and think, I wish I’d have thought about that?

Larry Walshe (35:50)

I don’t, I’m glad that I did set up my business when I did because the only thing I had debated and kind of popped out as a pipe dream and said, I’d love to work in America. I’d love to have an American company. And I had no intention of really following through on that. It was just that at the time I did, I kind of also thought if I don’t do that pre a particular part of my life and

a particular age, I don’t know if I would be able to do it. As I’m getting older, I’m slightly more risk adverse than I used to be in my 20s and 30s. Therefore, I’m glad I did what I did when I did, because I was happy to take risks that maybe today I wouldn’t do. I do look back on certain things and I’m like, that was bold. Like, cool, you spent your rent money. Smart.

As it is, it worked out. But would I do that today? Probably not. So I’m kind of, I’m glad that that process happened when it did. And I try not to look back on those now. I try more to look forward to, okay, what’s the next thing I’m trying to achieve? And always kind of go, what’s next? So that there’s constantly a sense of evolution and growth.

Victoria Brown (37:05)

And when you are marketing your business globally, how do you go about that? it a different, do you market them in a different way over here compared to in America, compared to Italy, or is it mainly British clients that are going over there, for example?

Larry Walshe (37:21)

I don’t actually market particularly everything I do is word of mouth. Our industry is globally actually particularly small. So it’s interesting. There’s a lot of crossover, especially when you work with particular brands or high net worth individuals. It becomes an even smaller world of vendors and artisans and creatives and producers and caterers and all those things. So I actually just, relationship build.

with all of those people and I use that lack of compromise in my reputation for excellence to actually feed through so that I wonderfully find that somebody in Los Angeles knows of our brand, has seen our work and now knows that we’re in a position to be able to work there also. Suddenly that opens up the door to a new project or a new exploration.

Victoria Brown (38:15)

Yeah, and I imagine that’s much easier now, now you’ve got that roster of amazing people that you’ve worked for. But when you first started out, how did you go about attracting that kind of audience?

Larry Walshe (38:27)

It comes back to your point on consistency. I was good from day one. I just didn’t have that person that was willing to do it yet because I didn’t necessarily have that portfolio piece that inspired that particular client to look at it and go, he can do that. Finding the first one of those is really, really tricky. But I remember the first job I ever did for Christian Dior, the brand, was the fact that it was quite a small project. But I did that one beautifully. I gave him a good service.

And they came back to me again. The next time it was a slightly bigger project and bigger and bigger. then, know, Ellie Saab called and so and so called. And those things spiral. It is all to me about consistency. Make sure that on every delivery that you do, no matter how big or small it is, don’t underestimate the value of the person at the end of a £200 bouquet. Because they might be getting married next year.

and then you have an entirely different project to consider. Make sure that the quality that you’re putting out, whatever it is that you’re offering, is just as good from the minutia to the bigger pieces, because that consistency will build trust and that trust builds future recommendations.

Victoria Brown (39:46)

Yeah. And I think that’s spot on. And I think that’s where so many people get it wrong. They spend more time chasing new people than serving their existing clients.

Larry Walshe (39:57)

Absolutely, and I very much firmly believe in the other. I remember being told by my dad, when you butter bread, he said, butter the corners and the center will look after itself. But it’s so true. Focus on the clients that you have. They’ve come to you already. You’ve already done a really good job because you’ve encouraged them to want to buy from you. So now,

Victoria Brown (40:09)

Look that.

Larry Walshe (40:24)

Whatever it is that you did, whatever investment you made to get those on board, whether you’ve entertained them or you’ve paid for marketing, whatever you’ve done, now provide what it is that you’re saying you’re going to. In return, their recommendation will get you way further than a billboard.

Victoria Brown (40:43)

So you’ve had some amazing experiences over your life, Larry. Being on stage, working with amazing clients, having a global business, a startup. I mean, what has been your most, proudest moment?

Larry Walshe (40:52)

I like to keep it colourful.

I did a project a couple of years ago now where we were asked to step in on a wedding that had been in the works for three years, but we were given six weeks to take over where it had got to, get it to a place where the client was really, really happy and ultimately deliver that. And at the time that was my biggest project to date, but also one of just the biggest challenges because of how I was being brought into that space.

I think I was so concerned that it was my biggest project. I was so prepared for what I walked into. I had a great team around me. But I think there was a very, very humbling moment of the fact that that was probably the easiest job I’d actually ever installed, even though in one respect it was the most challenging. But I suddenly realized in that moment that the brand that I’d created was so much more than one person.

It was this army of artisans. And in that particular project, we were like 160 people working on this project each day for three weeks. And I looked around myself and I just realized the effect of what this industry can do, of how you can be so free to be creative. And also that I was so blessed to be in a position where I was able to work around so many incredible talents.

and ultimately have them represent me. And that was a really, really kind of humbling and defining, I think, moment for me to realize in that moment, I felt like I’d really made where I wanted to go because I didn’t necessarily get into this just because I wanted to make a lot of money or do a particular design. I just wanted to express myself somehow. It comes back to that frustrated creative. I just wanted to feel like I was kind of getting what I had to say out in some form.

And I think in that moment, I also felt like I really had got my voice out there. That was kind of the first moment that I sat back and looked and went, right, you’ve really done this now.

Victoria Brown (43:07)

And when you look back to your journey when you were your previous career, I mean, would you have been able to believe that?

Larry Walshe (43:14)

No, couldn’t have asked and said, would you think, would you imagine that you would be working on something of that scale? Would you imagine that you would manage that many people? I mean, my goodness, if you told me, would I imagine managing 160 people, I’d have cried and run the other direction. HR is totally not my forte. But I think it was so humbling, not only just to see so many people giving their all for the brand.

but to also realize that you’d been able to have that level of impact on others too. As a creative, it really feels like you’ve been able to kind of share something with the world. And I think that’s a lot of the time we’re all trying to find something to say or a way to say it. And I think in that moment, it was the first time I really felt like my voice had gravity.

Victoria Brown (44:01)

sounds amazing and yeah I’m sure he’s a big reason of why you do everything that you do do isn’t it it’s your big why

Larry Walshe (44:12)

It is. And it’s also where I come back to that. Again, I look at things and I make decisions with intention. I make them with a genuine…

a genuine approach so that the reason I’ve chosen to do a particular thing or the reason I’ve chosen to take a particular service standard is to hopefully then get that to another point. But nothing is done by guesswork. It’s not necessarily done with a particular level of calculation either. It’s not like I go, if I do this, it’s going to totally work out. Usually I have no clue. But I kind of think if you don’t know if it’s going to work.

If you believe it, it’s authentic to you, it probably will.

Victoria Brown (45:00)

And so you get to this point in your career, you’ve achieved so much. what’s next for you? are your ambitions? What is your vision? And also I think obviously part of that is gonna be a sustainability journey, surely, because it must have so much impact on what you do.

Larry Walshe (45:18)

It does. And I actually believe that COVID really taught us a lot. think a lot of us became much, much more aware of the necessity for our awareness over sustainability and the need that we all need to take action and do something about that. I certainly felt it when I sat at home on lockdown and realised how many packages were coming through the door, how much packaging was involved in that weekly shop that we were permitted to go and do.

and how much waste I was generating because so often we don’t sit in one space and sit still for a week. You go to the office, you go home, you’re out and about. So you don’t actually realize what you’re generating till it’s sat in your recycling bin and you really can’t avoid it. And in that moment, kind of actually like events are not a sustainable space to be in at all.

It really needs to be something that we all think about because it all of us, but it’s all of our responsibilities. So I try where possible with clients to guide them into spaces if I’m allowed to, if a particular design or taste level allows us to go into something that can be sustainably created, I see as my responsibility to push that as much as I can. Sometimes people want something to be created, which…

can’t be done in any other way. But I do try and guide that as much as I humanly can and then equally spend time developing new techniques, say, florally, new techniques of how I can make a design look a particular way and also last and also be delivered. And I think that’s my responsibility as an entrepreneur to constantly keep doing that so that I’m doing the work for my customer.

I can educate my customer and then in return hopefully my customer makes a better choice.

Victoria Brown (47:13)

Yeah, and I think that’s spot on. think if we’re going to tackle this problem, it’s going to need to be with creativity.

Larry Walshe (47:18)

Absolutely, absolutely. And again, we’re looking at certain pinch points or we’re looking at certain things that people want this to work a particular way. Okay, great. Then we need to tackle how do we get there? Because it’s not okay anymore to just go, well, we don’t know how to do it. And creatives ultimately are who we’re going to get there because they’re thinking laterally, because they’re the ones that are going to come up with a solution that we didn’t know even existed.

And maybe we’re also going to come up with that in a way that’s incredibly beautiful, which would also be nice.

Victoria Brown (47:50)

Yeah, you never know. Let’s not look on the dark side. We may find a way through. So I just mentioned the word vision, and I know that you don’t always have a specific vision in mind, What do you want to do? And how do you keep motivated when you’ve achieved so much in your career?

Larry Walshe (48:08)

think I’m very, very blessed to be able to actually come to work and do something I like. That in itself is incredibly motivating to me. I wake up every day excited by what lies ahead. I’ve got so many projects, for example, this year, this season, that are all so, different from one another. And I was excited about the ones I did last year. And in the same way, nothing I do is the same twice.

So even just doing my day-to-day job keeps me really, really excited. I would say my vision for the future is to continue doing what I’m doing, to be consistent, and to ultimately see organic growth in my company as a result, where I get the privilege to be trusted with so much from a particular client. I get so much trust gifted to me that is the ultimate compliment because

as an artist, as a creative, a lot of, think, what we’re seeking is for somebody to say, here, you do you. I want what you’re offering. I mean, what finer compliment is that? So actually, for me, it’s being placed into that position of trust by a client again and again and again, but each with their own ideas. So I get to sit there and today I’m thinking about this and another day I’m flying off to America and I’m doing a completely different problem.

But those challenges to me keep it exciting as a business owner going into different spaces, different regions. We become quite adept at what we do time and time again. If, for example, we’re working in the UK or in Italy. So suddenly when somebody is like, how do you fancy working in Iceland? I’m like, couldn’t be more excited.

because I’m literally like the biggest sadist to myself. I’m like, how can you make this more painful or difficult for yourself or stressful? Because apparently the reward on the other end of that is more satisfying. So that’s always my kind of challenge to myself. It’s how can I take myself and do something that hasn’t been done for the sheer satisfaction and also validation of being that person that goes, nailed it. I do.

Victoria Brown (50:18)

love a challenge.

would you ever retire then Larry?

Larry Walshe (50:23)

Well, not anytime soon. ⁓

Victoria Brown (50:24)

No, I’m not saying soon, but I’m just saying

ever. Would you see yourself retiring?

Larry Walshe (50:29)

goodness, I hope so, yeah. I’ve got visions of me on a beach somewhere with a B &B with like 16 dogs. I’d be very, very happy. So one day I hope that’s a reality. But until then, I’m very firmly where I am doing what

Victoria Brown (50:31)

You

my god, if you do that let me know because that’s going to be the most immense B &B with attention to detail.

Larry Walshe (50:47)

Stop it, an entire football

team of beagles running around this ground, it would be like my absolute dream.

Victoria Brown (50:54)

And where would you open it?

Larry Walshe (50:55)

I have no clue,

no clue. I change it every season anyway because I literally, I’ll be like, where’s that holiday destination you’re going to? And that’s where you’re going this year and next year it’s somewhere else. So who knows, but TBD.

Victoria Brown (51:08)

well, thank you so much for joining us, Larry. I’ve really enjoyed it. I loved hearing your story and finding all about you and your amazing advice, actually, because I think there’s so much that people can take away from learning to be more trusting of their gut, more intentional and just communicate better.

Larry Walshe (51:09)

You’re so welcome.

I think of remembering at all times though, like really go with that level of authenticity. If you believe in it, then stick by that. Don’t be swayed by what somebody else is potentially suggesting you do. Everyone has an opinion. Go with what you believe in and you might get plenty of people that say no along that journey, but then you’ll start getting the ones that say yes. And that in itself is then gratifying and motivating.

Victoria Brown (51:48)

Yeah, amazing advice. So if people want to find out more about you and get in touch with you, where can they do that?

Larry Walshe (51:57)

LarryWash.com, you can also at Larry Walsh on Instagram and all other social media channels and yeah,

You can see where our next little adventure is.

Victoria Brown (52:05)

And I highly advise people do just to look at the amazing flowers and displays and everything that you’ve created in the past because it truly is awe inspiring. Amazing.

Larry Walshe (52:15)

Thank you. That’s so kind of you.