Hannah Roberts prides herself on her funky floral designs. You won’t see carnations or baby’s breath in her arrangements, but hydrangeas and ornamental kale are not uncommon, especially during the fall wedding season.
And although Roberts, 29, is planning to close down her Sorella Flower Co. retail space in Contoocook, fans need not fear: Roberts will continue to provide local floral services, but instead of operating at 905 Main St., she will be working from a floral studio at home.
And if you’re looking to grab a pre-made arrangement, you can head to Der Markt at Marklin in Contoocook, just across the Contoocook River at 28 Riverside Drive.
Roberts said she is making the change because she would like to focus on wedding floral services, not because of a lack of traffic to her store. “This town is really supportive of its local businesses,” she said Wednesday. “For me, it’s about focusing on my passion instead of being all over the place.”
Indeed, Roberts’s life is rooted in plants: She started out landscaping in Nantucket during her teenage summers, and she later got a job at a florist on the island and started doing weddings. She has a degree in ornamental horticulture from the Thompson School at the University of New Hampshire, and has been designing floral wedding arrangements on her own since 2010. She started her retail space in 2013 with her sister Sara.
Roberts said she handpicks her flowers at least once a week, often driving down to the Boston Flower Exchange or a local wholesale vendor to choose her pieces. She tries to have her product be as local as possible and is buying a home in Hopkinton, where she will store her flowers and build arrangements.
“I want to stress that I’ll still be local and available for deliveries, because that’s really important to me, because I love this community so much,” she said.
Roberts anticipates that Sorella will be operating until the week after Christmas, when she will hold a closeout sale. She’s already looking to get rid of what she can; even the furniture in the store is on sale. She expects to have flowers available at Der Markt by mid-January.