The Way To Real Floristry

Insight into History

NAT was born in Moscow in 1993 as a small family business proudly billed as National Arrangement Traditions. It placed its stake on the hotel sector, which turned out to be the right choice for winning a position in the Moscow floristry market. Deluxe hotels were just beginning to open in Moscow, and they all needed top European-quality services, including floral decoration. NAT was the first florist to offer the required level of standards and solutions, and in the space of a few years won florist contracts with five-star hotels, including the National, Grand Hotel Marriott, Marriott Aurora, Moscow Country Club and the Ararat Park Hyatt, followed by other premium hotels.

With this client portfolio, the Company had to maintain superior professionalism among its employees, who excelled at all floral design genres. The NAT team honed its skills at the best Russian schools and by studying the best European and global floral design trends. Company founder and artistic director Natalia Korneyeva also attended training seminars held by world’s foremost floral designers Elly Lin (Taiwan – U.S.) and Daniel Ost (Belgium), where she participated in major florist projects.

Successful work in hotels and word of mouth among business and wealthy individuals contributed to a broader clientele base for the Company. Along with corporate and maintenance services, NAT opened several hotel flower boutiques and started promoting retail sales, which increased each year. Plant maintenance and indoor and outdoor landscaping are new challenges that the Company is excited about.

After ten years in the market, the small atelier had grown into a weighty player in the Moscow floristry market. Stronger financials and revenue from sales and services prompted the Company to adopt a mandatory audit, which is a rare practice in the Russian floristry business. By 2008, NAT employed over 60 people, a record high for a florist company operating without a sales network. Annually, the Company supplies up to 300 regular and one-time clients with floral products and decorates at least 50 major events at first-rate stages and in Moscow’s best interiors.

Insight into the Present

In recent years, the Company has reached an entirely new level. Contracts with Ritz Carlton, Baltschug Kempinski, Pokrovka Suite Hotel and several others brought its share in Moscow’s deluxe hotel services market to 45%. NAT’s key clientele includes not only large private businesses (Lukoil Overseas Ltd., Nortgas, INTECO, Leo Bernet, and Acron), but also government offices like the State Duma, Moscow Regional Duma, the Financial and Economic Department of the Moscow Mayor’s office, the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Agriculture and the Emergency Response Ministry.

Today NAT enjoys high brand awareness and public recognition. NAT’s representatives are often invited by leading TV channels to appear as guest experts and florist masters. The Company is the official florist for more than 10 national prizes, contests and forums, including Russian Person of the Year, Russian Trade Olympus, Russian Business Elite, Trade Person, Golden Scales, Russian Government Quality Prize, and the Repute Prize by the All-Russian Mother’s Forum.

NAT’s florists made a confident showing at the national level when they won the 2009 Russian team championship in flower arranging and the Florists Union Cup in sport floral designs. On January 1, 2010 the Company shortened its official name to NAT.

Even during the recession, NAT’s professional reputation, goodwill and streamlined operations allowed the Company to maintain its market share. Today the Company offers a unique range of services and solutions to provide its clients with maximum convenience and guarantees. These include having skilled florists, landscapers, plant caretakers, graphic designers and drivers on duty 365 days a year from 9 am to 9 pm. Clients can place an order and receive a visual proposal and price quote any day of the week, including weekends and holidays. When necessary, orders can be delivered anywhere in Moscow within the hour.

The Company’s innovation is the creation of composition and design models (CDM) for floral interiors, objects and event decoration. NAT provides clients with print and electronic CDMs to vividly demonstrate style, design and technical solutions, together with their graphic visualisation, an architectural analysis, functional zoning, a dendrological plan, a description of accessories, plants and flowers, and cost estimate options.

NAT was the first florist to introduce the practice of case creation for the most popular floral designs (wedding and banquet decorations, bouquets and flower arrangements, etc.) and implemented projects, significantly assisting its clients to choose the scope and type of florist services and specific solutions they need).

NAT was also the pioneer in providing training seminars for the staff of state and private companies that purchase florist services and products and who are responsible for interior floral decoration.

The most popular section of NAT’s website is Florist on Duty, where florists answer visitors’ questions on a daily basis.

NAT buys its natural cut flowers and plants solely from top bona fide suppliers whose products are subject to mandatory phytosanitary control. This means that the bouquets and arrangements created by NAT florists will have a maximum life cycle and bring joy to clients for a long time.

This is also true for accessories, vases and cache-pots, which the company buys only from European and global brands. In addition, NAT offers regular clients and buyers considerable discounts (up to 20%) and free visits by its experts to perform initial surveying and photographing of the decoration site (office, interior, restaurant, household, event venue, etc.). These initiatives are a natural outgrowth of NAT’s key objective – to provide the best quality florist services in all price segments.

Insight into Practical Floristry

No matter what they say, florists are judged primarily by their work. Clients want the work to be done quickly and look lavish for a reasonable price. NAT views these client requirements as a standard that is absolutely fair and, most importantly, achievable.

NAT’s secret is the longstanding experience, professionalism and great potential of its flower shop specialists.

Florists at NAT have an average of five years of experience, and its leading florists have been in the business for at least ten years. Younger members of the NAT team are glad to have access to their experience. In fact, a few years ago NAT opened its own training school for florists, providing internships and training that can segue into job offers for talented senior students from the Moscow landscape design college.

NAT florists provide the entire spectrum of florist services – from making retail products (bouquets, arrangements, floral baskets, wreaths, garlands, etc.) to event designs (weddings, meetings, holidays, funerals). They enjoy the challenge of decorating any event, banquet, ceremony, show, presentation, or secular, religious or state holiday.

NAT’s arrangements are often unique and set the bar for others to reach. For example, NAT had the privilege of decorating the grand opening of the Ritz Carlton, Moscow’s most fashionable hotel. One of the installations was a 13-meter table candle arrangement.

NAT’s elegant floral decoration for the dinner to honour Naomi Campbell’s first visit to Russia made a great impression on the supermodel. For a high-society wedding hosted at one of Moscow’s most popular venues, NAT’s florists created a wedding arch styled as a 4-meter-diameter rainbow. At the wedding of Yulia Nachalova and Yevgeni Aldonin, flower arrangements created by NAT were the subject of much chatter among Moscow’s social elite. NAT also created the floral arrangements for McDonald’s anniversary of its Russian opening and dozens of other top events.

However, the Company’s major professional achievement is that it can offer high-quality florist services to meet the budget of any client, whether individual or corporate. Naturally, some flowers cost less than others, and the price difference is often significant. The hallmark of a true florist is when the beauty of the creation is defined not by the price tag but by the artistic and emotional effect the arrangement produces.

Insight into the Future

These insights will help you find the path to true floristry. Metaphorically speaking, all you have to do is knock on NAT’s door, or, more precisely, drop in one of our stores, call our main office or send us an email.

We will not keep you waiting and hope to stay with you for a long time.