Weez & Merl
Winner of Interflora's Most Sustainable Floristry Innovation Award 2024!
Who are Weez & Merl?
We are Louise and Merl, Swedish sisters who have lived in the UK since we were little. We’ve always loved making things, and from a young age were taught to be resourceful, and to love and respect our environment.
Louise started experimenting with waste plastic in 2012 whilst at Brighton University, and started her studio in 2015, a year after graduating. She then spent two and a half years refining the processes and working on commissions, culminating in designing and building a large hydraulic press capable of producing sheets of recycled plastic for larger applications of the material.
Merl joined in 2017 after a huge tabletop project was undertaken - with her also having an artistic background as well as working in interiors it couldn’t have been a better pairing.
Everything we have learnt over the years has been through trial and error - there’s never been a rulebook to follow with what we do
What was the inspiration?
From a young age, Louise & Merl have been conscious of utilising waste. When learning about sustainable design at University, Louise began experimenting with single-use plastic, and applied her woodworking skills to carve it. Merl's background in interiors has allowed her to express her passions through marbling and colour design.
How is it innovative?
By recycling waste LDPE plastic directly from the floristry industry and transforming it into hand crafted vases, they are providing fully circular products for the industry that can help mop up some of the waste associated with the flowers they are made to hold.
Plastic waste is all around us and prevalentthrough every modern day industry, including floristry. The common practice of delivering flowers on pallets means that pallet wrap plastic is currently being discarded on an epic scale. Weez & Merl work with florists, diverting this waste away
from landfills, incinerators and oceans.
What is the possible impact it can have in the industry?
Weez & Merl are aiming to recycle more and more waste plastic from the floristry industry by expanding their plastic collection service, and also expanding their range of vases in order to provide lots of beautiful sustainable vase options for florists as well as to the public.
What is your ambition for the future of floristry?
Whilst they would love to see the world of floristry plastic free in the future, in the meantime Weez & Merl is creating a closed-loop system, utilising waste from the industry to create sustainable products for the industry: a cycle mimicking nature, where there's no such thing as waste.
Weez & Merl wants to challenge throwaway culture by showing
how beautiful plastic can be.