Meet Kristin Kaufman | Florist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Kristin Kaufman and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Kristin, why did you decide to pursue a creative path?
I began my career as a hair stylist because I loved working with clients to bring a smile to their face. One of my favorite memories from hair dressing school was putting roller set after roller set into women from a local retirement community. It was so fun getting to know them and hearing their stories. This interaction is one of the best parts of a creative career.

I get to carry that same concept, learning about people and what they love, to my business, Florajoy. Its amazing how well you can get to know someone when working with a bride-to-be to plan a wedding, a husband planning a retirement dinner for his beautiful wife, or parents planning a little flower making session for their daughter’s birthday party. I thrive on this interaction.

And so my career has really centered on bringing beauty into the world while meeting and interacting with new people. I fell in love with flowers in the same way that most people do – completely captivated by their intensity and range of colors, shapes, and smells. I have spent years in this pursuit in a way that I found very therapeutic, and very personal. Now I am able to share those feelings through Florajoy.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Florajoy is a boutique, individually curated floral business. We don’t have a storefront with pre-wrapped bouquets and I don’t do a standard dozen red roses on Valentine’s Day. Florajoy is about what’s fresh, what’s bright, and what’s unique. I start every week at the flower market looking for bold, looking for big, looking for anything that moves me. Those mornings shape my Designer Choice bouquets, which we sell throughout the week. I love big fall flowers like Celosias, Amaranthus, Dahlias.

My professional growth started out of work I did with a local interior designer who is now a good friend of mine. It was her push that took Florajoy from a hobby into a business. I have found success and growth through the help of so many people – friends who have helped me set up social media accounts and websites, acquaintances who became friends who have invited me to pop-up shops in their stores, and of course the people in my community who have trusted me to bring beauty to their events.

Florajoy has not been easy, but it has been filled with joy and more importantly lots of love from my community. That makes the hard work not feel at all like work.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
My best friend IS visiting the area and I can’t wait!!!

We are going to start with daily hikes at Ramapo Reservation, in Ramapo, New Jersey and Eagle Rock Reserve in West Orange. I love Fall hikes in New Jersey with the changing leaves!

We love long breakfast and lunch sessions with cup after cup of coffee – I’ll be taking her to Agora in Bloomfield, Le Salbuen Cafe in Montclair, and The Corner in Montclair.

I plan to take her to Hyssop Beauty Apothecary – for my favorite skin care oil and undereye cream.

If we have time, we’ll head out to the Pocono Mountains in Pennsylvania for a night to be peacefully surrounded by nothing.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
My love of flowers and really the concept of floral design as a career was nurtured by my Aunt Tahnya, who was a florist in the Boston area for many years. I have great memories of what she designed when I was growing up, and she was there for me with incredible arrangements through to my wedding day.

My good friend, Noel Gatts, is a local interior designer out of Bloomfield, NJ where I live, who trusted me to bring greens and florals to her clients’ homes. She is the one who really pushed me to take a hobby into a career. I owe the start of Florajoy in many ways to her – both her active pushing of me personally, but also her modeling of a young mother becoming a successful business owner.

My loving husband has been my biggest fan, my support, and at times, my favorite delivery driver. Florajoy couldn’t succeed without him, or the many friends and family in the area. They are my biggest boosters and my main support.

Website: www.florajoyflowers.com

Instagram: @florajoy_flowers

Image Credits
Photographers Ava Martinez @avamartenzphotography and Jaine Juzdan @janinej.photography