Floristry tutor, Paula Pryke, honoured with OBE

We are thrilled to be able to announce that Paula has been honoured with an OBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours List, published at the weekend, for her services to the Floral Design Industry. The OBE is given in recognition of distinguished and valuable service. On receiving her Award Paula said: "I am delighted and humbled to be given an OBE for my contribution to the Floral Design Industry."

It has been such a joy to work with the beauty of flowers for nearly three decades and have the pleasure to work on so many varied activities.  I was completely swept away when I read the letter and it was certainly something that never crossed my mind when I left teaching history to pursue a career with flowers. Many creative geniuses such as Steve Jobs and the late Maya Angelou have advised people to do work that they love and I feel immensely grateful that I found my niche. I am honoured to think that my work has helped to improve the availability of well designed flowers by training lots of fine florists who have worked in my team here in London or who have attended The Paula Pryke Flower School from around the world. Many of these have also started their own business and I am very proud of them.

Working with the beauty of flowers but very conscious of their frailty has always demanded a committed and strong team as well, of course, as some amazingly loyal clients. I am grateful to all those who have supported me by their patronage or by working with me on many beautiful projects all over the world.