A letter from Nell
From a little girl pressing flowers with her Nana to becoming an award-winning pressed flower artist and the founder of Pressed Flowers by Nell, flowers have been part of my life for as long as I can remember.
My love for pressing flowers began with my Nana, Nancy Lawless. She taught me how to press flowers when I was just eight years old. What started as something special that we spent time doing together stayed with me and, little did I know then, would eventually become something I would dedicate my life to.
My Nana was a florist and the owner of Lawless Flowers, which she opened in 1984. She was an incredible businesswoman with an amazing eye for colour, flowers and creativity, but most of all, she was the best Nana in the world. I know my love of flowers comes from being lucky enough to have spent so much time with her.
Growing up, I was always drawn to creative things. School was difficult for me, particularly because I’m dyslexic, but art was something I always connected with. I loved making things with my hands, experimenting with colour and creating something beautiful from natural materials.
When I was around nine or ten, I became fascinated by pressing flowers. I started making pressed flower cards and bookmarks in my bedroom and, before long, I set up my mum’s ironing board outside our house and created my very first little “shop”.
My Grandad sat with me every day and most days we had one or two customers – including him! Looking back now, I realise that little ironing-board shop was probably the beginning of my entrepreneurial journey.
After school, I trained as a florist and fell in love with working with wedding flowers. I was fascinated by the connection between a bride and her flowers – the thought that a bride might choose certain flowers to honour someone she loved, to remember a family member or simply because they made her feel something.
As a hopeless romantic and a very sentimental person, I kept thinking: how can I make sure brides have these flowers forever?
I could see how much emotion was attached to them. These flowers had been chosen so carefully, carried down the aisle, photographed, held onto and loved – and then, eventually, they would wilt.
I knew I wanted to find a way to give those flowers another life.
In 2014, I pressed my first wedding bouquet for my cousin. Around two years later, I created my first pressed flower piece for a customer, and that was when I began to realise that this could become something much bigger.
I started sharing my work on social media, and little by little, people began getting in touch asking if I could press their flowers too. What began as something I was creating from home slowly grew into the dream of having my own business.
I trained as a florist at 18 years of age, which gave me a whole new understanding of flowers, design and working with wedding flowers. I went on to specialise in preserving wedding bouquets and creating artwork for couples who wanted to keep the flowers from one of the most important days of their lives.
In October 2019, I opened my first studio and shop on Roches Street in Limerick City.
Opening those doors was a huge moment for me. I had gone from pressing flowers in my bedroom to having my own dreamy studio where people could come in, meet me, see my work and talk to me about preserving something incredibly personal to them.
Then came Covid.
Like so many small businesses, we had to adapt, change direction and keep going. It was a challenging time, but it also made me realise just how special this business had become. Even when people couldn’t visit us in person, they were still trusting me with flowers that held huge meaning for them.
Since then, Pressed Flowers by Nell has continued to grow in ways I could never have imagined.
We launched our first website, developed our collection of pressed flower artwork and gifts, attended wedding fairs and showcases around Ireland, and began working with beautiful independent retailers and cafés.
Our retail collection has grown from a small collection of handmade pieces into a much wider range of artwork, gifts and keepsakes, all inspired by my love of flowers.
We’ve also had the incredible opportunity to bring Pressed Flowers by Nell into some of Ireland’s best-known retail spaces, including Arnotts and Brown Thomas, while continuing to create our pressed flower artwork by hand from our studio in Limerick.
Along the way, I’ve been incredibly lucky to receive recognition for both the business and my work as an artist, including awards and finalist positions that I’m hugely proud of.
But underneath all the awards, milestones and growth, the reason I still love what I do has never changed.
I love flowers.
I love creating.
And I love knowing that something I make can become part of someone’s story.
Every bouquet I preserve has a story behind it. A wedding day. A person. A family. A special occasion. A memory that someone doesn’t want to lose.
That is what inspires me every day.
No two pieces are ever the same, and that is one of my favourite things about what I do. I get to work with different flowers, different colours, different stories and different people every single day.
As the third-generation pressed flower artist in my family, I feel incredibly lucky to be carrying something forward that began with my Nana all those years ago, while creating something that is completely my own. My Nana Nancy loved watching my business grow for the first 6 years and we celebrated every milestone together. I am sure she is smiling down on us now as we continue to reach new heights.
Today, Pressed Flowers by Nell is a small but mighty, female-led business, supported by an incredible team and a growing community of customers, retailers and supporters.
I work with my mum each day – Helen. She is the kindest most loving person and we all feel so lucky to get to work along side her.
And while the business has grown far beyond that little bedroom where I first started pressing flowers, the heart of what I do is still exactly the same.
Flowers. Creativity. Memories. And a love of making something beautiful that can be kept forever.
Nell