More Than a Flower Seller: What It Really Means to Be a Florist

5 hours ago

3 min read

Written by Liza Latif, founder & owner of The Bali Florist

Before I ever ran a flower shop, I trained as a hotel and digital marketing professional, which isn't exactly the path you'd expect. But I grew up as the daughter of a florist in Jakarta, and that early subconscious exposure to flowers never really left me. When my husband's work brought our family to Bali in 2013, we chose to slow down and build a more back-to-basics life, and that is where The Bali Florist eventually took shape. So when people ask what qualifies me to talk about what it means to be a florist, the honest answer is that I have been circling this world my whole life, first as a daughter watching my mother work, and now as someone running a shop of my own.

Smiling woman leaning over a colorful bouquet of white and pink flowers with greenery against a rustic painted wood backdrop

Here in Indonesia, the word for florist is tukang bunga. Literally, it means flower labourer. And look, it is not exactly wrong. It is just incomplete, the same way calling a chef a rice stirrer is technically accurate and also completely misses the point of what that person actually does all day.

So I have been thinking about it. What does it actually mean to be a florist? And why do those of us doing this work keep insisting there is an art to it, when to some people we are just the person who sells you a bunch of roses on your way to dinner?

From Market Stall to Studio

The dictionary version is simple enough. A florist grows or sells flowers, or runs the shop where that happens. The word comes from the French floriste, which comes from flore, meaning flora, and it first appeared in 1623. Back then, that was genuinely the whole job. You grew the flowers, or you sold them. End of story.

Four hundred years later, that story has a lot more chapters. A florist today spends as much time designing as selling, building pieces for weddings and funerals and the completely ordinary Tuesday when someone wants to say thank you and does not quite know how. It is part storefront, part online shop, and increasingly it is shaped by sustainability, event styling, subscriptions, and a customer placing an order from their phone at midnight because they just remembered it is someone's birthday tomorrow. The old definition was about moving flowers from one place to another. The current one is about building an experience around them, and honestly, that is the part of the job I actually love.

Collage of four colorful flower bouquets in vases and wraps, with roses, gerberas, and greenery against white and dark backgrounds

What We Actually Do, Day to Day

At The Bali Florist, I do not really think of us as flower sellers. I think of us as gift curators, whether that sounds a little grand or not. Every arrangement we put together is built around a specific person, a specific occasion, and a feeling someone is trying to express but can't quite put into words, so they send flowers instead. We love it when people walk into the shop, but if I am being honest, most of our business happens online now.

That does not make it any less personal. We remember what people like. We remember who ordered white orchids for their mother last year and check back in around the same time this year. We celebrate with the same customers again and again, and that is genuinely the best part of the job, seeing the same names come back.

Five smiling staff pose outside The Bali Florist café under green awning; chalkboard says Coffee for any day.

On Pricing, Honestly

Now, about pricing, because people ask. Walk into our shop, or order from us online, and you'll quickly notice we are not the cheapest florist in Bali. We are not going to pretend otherwise or dress it up.

What you are actually paying for is not just stems in a vase; it is the thinking behind the pairing, the hours that go into the craft, and a team that sources good flowers, a lot of it sustainably, because we care what the arrangement looks like three days later, not just the moment it leaves our hands. If the only question you are asking is how cheap, there are other options down the road. But if you want flowers that actually carry the meaning you were going for, we would love to be your florist.

Bright flower shop filled with yellow tulips, sunflowers, dried arrangements, and woven baskets on wooden shelves.

To me, being a florist was never really about moving product from bucket to bouquet. It is about being part artisan, part storyteller, and honestly part joy giver, someone who treats flowers as an experience instead of an item on a shelf. And if people still want to call me tukang bunga, that is fine; I will take it. I will keep showing up, turning stems and colour into something someone will actually remember.