 |
From the Publisher January 2008 |
|
Written by Sue Fredericks
|
A new year, a new look
Welcome to our first issue of the New Year, and our new look. Our
production design team has worked really hard to come up with this new
image. We think they’ve done a great job and are confident you will too. Of course, it would be boring to have a great new look and just
repackage everything the same as before, so we’ve added some new
content as well.
Somewhere around the back of the book, you’ll find Neville MacKay lying around with his new column On the Level with Neville. A native Hali-gonian (that means he’s from Halifax), Neville owns and operates My Mother’s Bloomers flower shop, appears regularly on Breakfast TV as their floral correspondent, travels extensively to give design workshops, and makes a “wicked good” floral arrangement. Neville has a way with words, so you can look forward to some inspirational floral reality, spiced with a bit of Maritime humour.
You can also look forward to our new Point of View column, where we will interview people from all segments of the industry and present their thoughts and comments for florists. This month we are featuring Jay Vanderhoeven, a rose grower from Rosa Flora Growers in Ontario. Jay shares some of the challenges growers face as they force production for the Valentine’s market.
And last, but not least, our associate editor, Amanda Ryder, launches her column, Amanda’s Top Ten. Amanda will come up with a list of 10 ideas, products, practices, trends or tips for each issue, and share them with you. Naturally she’s got Valentine’s Day tips for this issue, but she will be wracking her brain for good topics as we move into the year. Don’t be shy, send her some ideas!
I promised a year ago that we would redesign the magazine, and our website too. One down, one to go. Things are getting really exciting in our IT department (that translates as one web designer and one production artist). The template has been set and we are gathering the content for our new site. We expect to go live in early February, so watch for the next issue, or send us your e-mail address and we will notify you when we launch:
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
Many thanks to those of you who participated in our survey. Your thoughts and comments were invaluable as we considered what was important for our digital strategy.
As we go to press, my little elf has pointed out that for the second time in 14 years, I forgot to wish you all a happy and peaceful holiday season, despite her telling me to do so. Must have been the champagne. But, I can wish you a Happy and Prosperous New Year and assume that you survived the holidays because you’re reading this column.
Now get out there and make some awesome Valentine’s designs and keep all those other luxury and sundry retailers wishing they could capture a bit of this market!
|
