Two creative businesses from Wiltshire, Young Blooms and Second Mountain Comms, have collected top prizes at Bath’s annual showcase of creativity.
The 2022 Creative Bath Awards, held at Bath’s Queen Square last week, shined the spotlight on creatively-driven companies that successfully weathered the storms of the pandemic and have emerged out of the other side stronger.
Grace Farrimond, owner of Wiltshire-based independent floristry business Young Blooms, was awarded the highly sought-after ‘Founder & Entrepreneur of the Year’ award at the event in recognition of her business acumen and entrepreneurial drive during challenging times. The win marked Farrimond’s second consecutive award at the annual event, after being named ‘Maker of the Year’ in 2021.
Young Blooms, which celebrates 15 years in business in 2022, creates eco-friendly and bespoke floral designs and luxury bouquets for a range of occasions. Over the past two years, Grace has diversified Young Blooms’ offering in a number of directions, with the business expanding into postal flower subscriptions, creative workshops, one-to-one tuition and an online floristry school, the latter of which proved particularly popular on YouTube during the national lockdowns.
The Creative Bath judges said:
“Grace is an experienced, energetic florist and in 15 years has nurtured Young Blooms into a powerful flower hub. 50% more weddings delivered and over 250,000 views of her online tutorials.”
Grace Farrimond, principal florist and founder of Young Blooms, comments:
“Winning Creative Bath’s founder and entrepreneur award is a real privilege and honour; awards like this affirm all of the hard work and effort that you plough into your business. Being an entrepreneur is really at the heart of what I do; I’m always looking for ways to refresh and reinvent my floristry services as well as support and encourage others within my industry.”
Wiltshire-based Second Mountain Comms was also amongst the winners at the 2022 Creative Bath Awards. The purpose-driven comms consultancy, which operates from the Glove Factory Studios in Holt, collected the ‘Start Up of the Year’ prize.
Established in the wake of the first lockdown in 2020, Second Mountain Comms specialises in providing charities and purpose-led companies with meaningful communications support, consultancy and creative services. Proudly part of the Business against Poverty ethical community, the Creative Bath award win follows on from Second Mountain being named a finalist for ‘best social enterprise’ at the national Small Awards earlier this year.
The Creative Bath judges said:
“Birthed from pandemic challenges, this social good PR organisation provided vital content support to charities and built up a 15-strong client base, regionally and internationally.”
Ben Veal, founder and director of Second Mountain Comms, adds:
“To be named Start Up of the Year really is incredible; from very humble beginnings during the must surreal of circumstances, Second Mountain’s mission to help good people do good has really resonated with audiences and is already well on course to being realised. This is just the beginning of the purpose-driven journey that’s to come.”
The Creative Bath Awards showcase Bath’s brilliant creative and tech businesses and individuals. Tightly contested and greatly prized, the awards highlight that Bath is a leading creative city.