Business is blooming
The Flower Lady continues to evolve
Business owner Deb Karpfinger stands behind many flowers last week in her Wauwatosa shop, The Flower Lady. Photo By John Williams
Aug. 25, 2010 | 2 comments
Five large memorial wreaths, 220 table centerpieces and 45 corsages are just some of the flower arrangements required by the American Legion for its national convention that will bring 10,000 people to downtown Milwaukee this week.
The task of providing all of the flowers falls onto the shoulders of The Flower Lady, a business in Wauwatosa's Village.
Owner Deb Karpfinger has been working since March to figure out how to blend trendy and traditional in floral designs that will be seen from people around the country, including dignitaries like Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates.
American Legion officials were impressed by Karpfinger's idea to donate the flowers to the Clement J. Zablocki VA Medical Center following the convention, said Marti Wooden, Legion travel administrator.
"When you think of hard work, the money that was spent and the beauty of the flowers, you hate to see it go to waste," Karpfinger said.
This project is the latest and largest undertaking from The Flower Lady's Community Enhancement Program.
The Flower Lady will pick up fresh flowers after a corporate or private event and redistribute them to the sponsor's local charity of choice. When the flowers have wilted, the business again picks up the arrangements for composting and containers are reused or recycled.
Karpfinger earned a degree in graphic design from Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design and had a successful career. But she felt "very limited being stuck in my cubicle" so she looked to flower design as another vehicle to express her creativity.
She started bringing arrangements to the green market and built up a list of loyal customers.
"People would come and clean me out," she said.
Eventually she opened the shop on Underwood Avenue and success led her to double the space three years ago. She now employs eight people and caters to everyone from brides to corporate clients like the Brewers to the little boy who wants to buy his mom flowers with a pocket full of change.
Karpfinger admits her mind tends to work in overdrive as evidenced by the constantly changing displays throughout her store. She purchases all of the gift and decorative products and displays them in an artistic way.
"People make an assumption that it's just a flower store," she said. "When they finally come in they are blown away."
JUST THE FACTS
BUSINESS: The Flower Lady
ADDRESS: 1460 Underwood Ave.
PHONE: (414) 259-0999
OWNER: Deb Karpfinger
OPENED: 1994
DEB'S PEARLS OF WISDOM: "It's key to hear what are brides are saying. They are planning the biggest party of their lives. I want them to know that as far as flowers go, that's one thing they don't have to worry about."
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Deb did my daughter's wedding May, 2011. We did as she suggested - didn't worry about the flowers since she promised to listen to the bride. However, Deb took it upon herself to choose a different color other than what my daughter wanted. She said shw made a judgement call.
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Hello! The burning hot summer arrived, this is the demonstration stature
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Back to topmotherofbride - Jun 11, 2011 9:57 AM - Report Abuse
We gave her a swatch of the pink we wanted her to use, but she delivered
all flowere in (dark fuschia- which appeared red). I believe in one of her posts she states that she listens to the bride and the one thing you don't have to worry about is the flowers. Our flowers were a disaster. Bouqets were red and white-not pink. Center pieces were red and overpriced. Ceremony flowers were suppose to be white, pink and purple, they were red, white and green-- so was the uniity candle flowers. When they moved the ceremony flowers, they fell apart as they were pieced together. Nothing about our floweres were pretty -they were very cheaply done. Awe were shocked when flowers were delivered. She did refund 1/3 of our money, and apoligized, but I would not recommend her at all. Free would have been too much !
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