It feels inadequate to refer to Hattie Molloy as simply a florist.

“I find it hard to figure out what I want to call myself, because I’m not a florist in the traditional sense,” says Hattie. One look at her sprawling floral installations and unpredictable arrangements and you can see her challenge with labels – Hattie’s are not your average bunch of flowers.

Instead, the 28-year-old’s uniquely architectural creations feel closer to the work of an artist than the traditional idea of floristry. It’s a conceptual approach that has earned Hattie a reputation as one of Australia’s most in-demand floral artists in a relatively short period of time. It was, after all, just four years ago that she gave up a 9-to-5 corporate role to pursue her love of flowers.

Hattie has championed her own style from day one, filling her first Collingwood shopfront with a mass of soil, much to the bemusement and intrigue of passersby who had just about seen it all in the creative heartland of Melbourne’s trendy inner north. It was a bold debut that the neighbourhood still talks about, and one that would set the tone for the large-scale installations that have become her trademark.

“I always want to show people what I’m capable of, instead of waiting for the perfect opportunity to come along,” she says. “When you’re starting out, you’ve got to show people what you want to do, what you want to be known for, what your style is – and put that out into the world. Now I get paid to put mounds of soil in other people’s stores. Nobody would have ever let me do that unless I did it for myself first.”

After countless floral arrangements and installations, from runway centrepieces for fashion shows to public art pieces, Hattie’s most recent creation was commissioned exclusively for Mercedes-Benz. In celebration of Valentine's Day, Hattie took inspiration from the E-Class Cabriolet to construct a stunning floral celebration of romance.

“As an installation it’s really about shape, movement, and how your eye travels through it. I wanted it to be spilling out like liquid – bursting out, almost like the sea. And I wanted it to have some romance,” explains Hattie.

The piece incorporates hydrangeas, panicled hydrangeas, and baby's breath in a range of colours from soft baby blues and pinks, to natural green and striking white. All of the flowers are arranged in a sculptural way so that you don’t immediately see the individual flowers, but their combined effect. 

“I wanted it to be quite soft and billowy at the top,” she says. “And to use the colours to create this sea of blue that almost looks like it’s a mass growing out of the ground and into the vehicle. It’s Valentine’s Day without being too obvious. There’s a romance, whimsy, character, and pizazz to it.”