Meet Brianna Gordon of Kae Floral in Colorado Springs

Today we’d like to introduce you to Brianna Gordon.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Brianna. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
Hi there! My name is Brianna and I am your lead designer and the working hands behind Kae Floral Co. My husband Justin and I met in Seattle, WA and we now reside in Colorado Springs, CO with our beautiful daughter Claire and our border-Aussie Samson!

My love for flowers began at an early age. I remember my siblings and I spent the majority of our time outside playing in the dirt, making mud pies, “cooking” leaf soup, exploring the different sights & smells. I remember planting marigolds and working in the little garden my grandfather had. Those were such liberal times for us. It was our way of escaping our home life and creating a different world for ourselves. Eventually, I grew up as most children tend to do. I moved into a city, got a job. Did real people things. Worked hard. Worked a lot. I eventually ended up in variations of business administration and consulting. Working for startups or temping in different offices. After we got married, we moved to Colorado to be closer to my family and a few years later, we found out we were having a baby.

It’s true what they say, having a kid changes everything. I remember sitting at my desk, working full time, hugely pregnant, thinking how in the world are we supposed to raise this kid. I knew I had to figure something else out. So I started looking into becoming like a real-life florist. I read articles, blog posts, started practicing with grocery store flowers. My designs really weren’t very good at first. The summer after our daughter was born, we went back to Seattle for my husband’s work. I decided to take a few floral workshops while I was there. My very first arrangement was made with peonies. From that point on, I was set. I knew it was what I wanted to do fully 100%. From that point on I’ve never really looked back.

The brand itself is built around our core values of honesty + trust + commitment which are symbolized in the three water ripples below the sailboat in our logo. The sailboat itself was actually inspired by the memories we have of our days spent walking alongside Shilshole Bay Marina in Seattle. It represents balance and strength, two enduring qualities we hope to always embody as a business and design team. Kae is actually my middle name and is Hawaiian for ‘sea.’ I guess you could say it was meant to be.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
So far, things have taken off better than we could have ever imagined. We started gaining interest and support right off the bat. For being a very young business, I’ve been blown away by the amount of inquiries and orders we’ve received. We are learning new things each and every day and I know that when struggles do come our way, we will approach them with strength and creativity.

We’d love to hear more about your business.
As a floral design company stemming from the Pacific Northwest (pun totally intended), I think we bring that west coast modernism and design mindset here to the Midwest. Colorado Springs is an interesting demographic. It can be very conservative at times and styles and trends seem to creep there way over here a little slower than other places. My mentors in floral education are individuals who have pushed past the traditional elements of designing and I feel that we strive to bring that mentality to our local community here as well.

As a person of many paradoxes, I find myself drawn to mixing unlikely elements when creating freely. I like mixing soft with edgy, calm with bold, elegant with casual, and so on. I don’t believe in making an arrangement aesthetically perfect because perfection is so subjective. Instead, I focus more on letting each element shine through in its own individual way and strive to embrace the personality it takes on. When designing for clients, I start with the overall concept and color theme. From there, I work in the details and tweak as I go. We enjoy working with clients who appreciate the talent and work that goes into crafting one- of- a- kind designs and who are open to the creative process involved in hand-selecting our products.

Our goal is to eventually work closely with some of the local flower farmers here in Colorado and really start building awareness in the industry so that it can continue to grow and succeed the way it deserves to.

What were you like growing up?
I was a shy extravert! I loved making people laugh, coming up with silly jokes or wild ideas. Full of imagination and creativity. I was tall and awkward for my age. Braces, glasses, you name it. We didn’t have a lot growing up but we made up for it with our own inventions and resourcefulness. I always wanted to be an actress or a writer. I’d make pretend commercials and podcasts, all sorts of goofy things as a kid. Honestly tho, not much has changed 🙂

Contact Info:

• Website: www.kaefloralco.com
• Phone: 719-357-9012
• Email: kaefloralco@gmail.com
• Instagram: @kaefloralco

Image Credit:
Miguel Casis, Sara Plett Photo, Becky Schwartz Photography, Brooke Taylor Photography

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