Natalia Shustova, also known @shoestova, launched her unique floral concept Goshá only four months ago, but in the time, her growth has been radical. Right away, orders started flooding in, and Goshá began partnering with luxury brands like Prada and Gucci to be their regional floral provider. Franchise requests also reached Goshá from all corners of the world when the concept was only four weeks old. Swift success owes credit to three elements: Natalia’s highly developed aesthetic sense and business acumen, and the incredible talent of its eponymous florist Goshá.
The two met because Natalia frequented the floral shop where he worked, and a friendship blossomed from there. After her life was struck by tragedy, it was Goshá’s bereavement bouquet that pierced her veil of grief and gave her path a new direction. The story of Goshá is an emotional journey, one that started out with compassion and empathy and ended being a vehicle for compassion and empathy for others. Goshá’s bouquets are so poetic and so unexpected that they have the power to touch hearts, to become a central character in important milestone moments from weddings and receptions to proposals and promotions.
From one success to another, Natalia now finds herself at a pivotal moment. With the new Harvey Nichols x Goshá pop-up open, adjacent to Gucci on the store floor, she sees a full circle moment come to fruition. Not only is Goshá the ultimate compliment to the new Spring/Summer 2021 collections at Harvey Nichols, but it also has adjusted its business model to include a tailored everlasting flower concept that is both perfect for this moment and a brilliant solution to home decor.
Is this the peak or is she just getting started? Read on to find out more.
I want to start at the beginning because knowing you, your passions are music, fashion, and interiors, and many other creative pursuits. I was wondering why flowers?
First of all, I’ve always seen flowers as a medium. Some say it’s material for everything that leads to art, music, and creative processes. Most importantly poetry. A side of me which people don’t know is I’m very into poetry. When we first started Goshá, I thought about how to differentiate exactly what we do. Our bouquets for example are never repeated, which means every single one of them is its own poem, right? We put ingredients together — same as words — we are putting them together and there is a poem. It’s the same with flowers, we’re putting different flowers together and they create completely different combinations. Something unexpected, something that inspires, something very beautiful, something very dreamy. Something that can release your emotion.
Why did you start Goshá?
My partnership began with a designer called Goshá, who is a very well-known florist who used to work in London, Moscow, and in Dubai for the past four years. It was his idea, actually! He was working as the head florist at one of the local flower shops, and I would shop for flowers at his studio very often. He once came to my house and said, “Natalia, we need to start something together because we have the same aesthetic vision, and you work in fashion. This is what I want to do. I want to do fashion flowers, designer arrangements.”
After that, for six months he was trying to convince me that that’s what I needed to do. Last year, my dad passed away and I came back home from Russia, I looked around my house and there were massive flower arrangements from friends everywhere. I was in such a state of mind that I didn’t really see any of it. And then I saw one small bouquet which Goshá did and they completely blew my mind. They were black orchids which he hand painted himself; he put tears on them, and they looked like they were crying. It was beautiful, and it was what I was feeling. I said to myself that I need to give this guy a chance because it’s absolutely impressive what he can do with his talent.
Goshá was born as a collaboration between me with my artistic vision, creative direction, and knowledge of business, and his incredible talent. The brand is named after him, for exactly the same reason as why Dior is Dior and Chanel is Chanel and YSL is YSL.
First, I’d like to say that I’m sorry to hear about your father passing. It sounds like what Goshá created for you really captured that time that you were in. I think that that really speaks to the power of the arrangements. I received one for your Harvey Nichols pop-up and the two words that came to my mind when I saw the arrangement were “poetry” and “soul”. I can feel that from the arrangements.
Thank you! That’s why every time you receive flowers from our studio, at the back of our packaging you’re always going to find a poem, you can also send a poem inside of our flowers as well. We’ll be releasing new cards which will come with your arrangement which will have a small poetry book with it as well. We’re trying to show people the beauty of flowers in a very different way. Often if you place an order with us we ask, who is this for? Can you describe them as a person? Who is this person’s favorite designer? What is their hair color? What is he or she celebrating? It’s always addressed to the person. They’re not just flowers; it’s a moment of happiness which we want to bring to everyone.
It was very sudden when my dad passed away in his sleep. Goshá was my way of coping with that. I was just doing flowers. That’s it, I was just doing flowers. We were delivering flowers to people, seeing them writing us back saying, “Oh my God, she said ‘yes’! Thank you guys for being part of this moment,” or “My mom is not well, I’m sending these to the hospital to make her smile.” Dealing with that is honestly not a business; we are sharing very beautiful emotions everyday.
I never though that this was going to be my life, but now I feel that I’m never at work. I’m completely lost in a world of flowers and the beautiful moments of people’s lives. We are part of something very intimate and very beautifil everyday.
CREDIT the Source: Goshá, Dubai’s Most Popular New Florist, Partners with Harvey Nichols