Brand Client Feature | Campanula Design Studio | Seattle, WA

If you’ve been following me and my work, you know that I’ve immersed myself in the floral industry for the past few years thanks to my client and friend, Tammy Myers. Tammy is a florist and was the owner and lead designer of First & Bloom and is now steering the ship of her newest and genius idea, which is an online floral marketplace website and app, called, LORA Bloom. More to come on Tammy and LORA Bloom later.

With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, I wanted to take a moment to highlight the early adopters/partners of the LORA Bloom marketplace. It’s truly inspiring to see women supporting women, especially in business! Over the next week, I’d like to introduce you to some of the most talented, soulful, and all-around amazing women I have met and share their stunning work with you in hopes that this Valentine’s day - and really any special occasion in your life that calls for flowers – you take a moment to consider supporting LORA Bloom and one of your local florists.

So, without further ado, I’d like you to meet Melissa Mercado-Denke of Campanula Design Studio. Campanula Design Studio is based in Magnolia but servicing the Greater Seattle area including all of Seattle, Bellevue, Kirkland, Mercer Island Renton, north to Lynnwood, and south to Normandy Park.

They recently opened their doors in the fall of 2019, but Melissa is a seasoned pro. Her story of creating Campanula Design Studio reminds me a little of my own. It all started last Valentine’s Day 2019. You see, family is super important to Melissa and while she always told herself to put family first, one day she found herself putting her family lower on the priority list in favor of her job, and she missed her niece’s beautiful traditional Hindu wedding because of it. After some soul searching, she realized she didn’t like who she had allowed herself to become thanks to her job and decided to resign.

She mentioned she had no plans after her resignation and wasn’t even planning on staying in the floral industry, let alone start her own floral business. But one day, one of her closest friends mentioned some fruit baskets she had seen years ago. Her friend passed along the idea and a picture of the fruit baskets to Melissa and that was when a seed of inspiration was planted and what grew from that was the Campanula Design Studio signature gift baskets!

The gift baskets are nothing short of fantastic if you ask me! They have a little bit of everything and what makes them extra special is that the wooden baskets are handmade by her husband using primarily reclaimed wood and low-odor water-based stain. I had the opportunity to capture some product photography of her signature gift baskets and they would be quite the treat for someone to receive. From local wines, to fresh local strawberries with Fran’s chocolate dipping sauce, to local artisan cheese, crackers and fruit, and of course seasonal florals arranged oh-so-beautifully in the basket – one can’t go wrong. Plus, the basket is so unique and a gift in and of itself! The marketer in me is so happy to see that she has found a niche with this product.

Aside, from her one-of-a-kind baskets, she also creates soft and romantic arrangements with inspiration coming from her peers in the floral world or sometimes just a single flower from the wholesale market that she can’t pass up buying because it’s too gorgeous to not!

Melissa describes herself as a traditionalist when it comes to her favorite flowers – she loves working with peonies, garden roses, dahlias, ranunculus, but she especially loves flowers that change or fade as they age. For example, watching a Coral Charm peony go from a bright coral to a faded creamy pink. And she is partial to anything deep purple or burgundy and said she is anxiously awaiting Midnight hellebores and Fritillaria Persica. -Not going to lie, I thought I had never heard of this last one until I Googled it. This is what I love about working with florists. Not only do I get to take in all the colors they bring, I get to learn about color, texture, and all these crazy flower names that my mom brain will probably fail to remember, but it’s fun!

Speaking of fun, Campanula Design Studio has some upcoming events that I must share with you!

First and foremost, Campanula Design Studio is offering a Valentine’s Day promo!! You can score $15 off Valentine’s day orders over $100 with code “Valentine” at checkout. This special is only good for pre-orders through this Sunday, February 9th and is valid for deliveries on the 13th and 14th.
She is also collaborating with Sugar Flora (another LORA Bloom florist) for Valentine’s Day and expanding her delivery to include Sammamish, Issaquah, and Redmond!
And last, but not least, she is teaming up with the other florists of LORA Bloom pop-up market stall at the Northwest Flower and Garden Show on Friday, February 28th in Pacific Place!

As we head into the weekend, and almost 1 week out from Valentine’s day, I’d like to leave you with some tips about Valentine’s Day flowers that Melissa shared with me;

“Cut flowers in the winter can be a little tricky. Make sure to keep them away from any heating vents or walls that have a vent along them as the dry warm air will shorten their vase life.
Branch out and order something besides red roses. They are more expensive at Valentine's Day due to the overwhelming demand.
And order early - it's not uncommon for florists to reach capacity or sell out a few days ahead of time.”

Campanula Design Studio doesn’t have a cut-off date and time to get your Valentine’s Day order in as they will be taking orders and delivering until they sell out, but as she said in tip number three above – there is always that chance that they sell out early, so plan ahead!

Lastly, I’d like to thank Melissa for booking a branding session with me. She was one of my last shoots of the day and her calming energy and sense of humor really helped me to rally through a busy day of shooting. I know she will laugh when she reads this because she said she doesn’t feel like she has a calming energy, but to me she totally does!