
Madrid Flower School
Sylvia began working with flowers six years ago, as she moved to New York for her master's degree. She was in the middle of writing her thesis when she felt the need to do something with her hands, a need to create something immediate and tangible. So she looked into a pottery class she’d heard about.“I was born in Chile, but my family is Peruvian. Flowers have always been a part of my life. My mom, my aunts and my great aunt have been in garden clubs. Not me, for most of my life I have been a journalist. But when I got to New York and I took my first floral workshop. That was the beginning of everything.”

Sylvia Bustamante
What can you tell us about your passion for floral design? How has it helped you through difficult times?
During these times of introspection and reflection, of staying inside and adapting to an unusual environment, I realized, once again, that flowers changed my life. Literally. See, when I was doing my thesis, I was 47 years I arrived in New York with my husband and my four children to follow my dream: to become a writer. My professor suggested I write my thesis about a difficult time in my life. It was hard to look back. As I relived painful moments, I felt the need to do something with my hands. I will never forget my first day taking a course at the Botanical Garden. I still remember the feeling when I got home with my triangle-shaped arrangement and the pink mini carnations my teacher made me put in (which I didn’t love). I had such a smile on my face! Something happened to me. They got to my heart. I was fascinated. Flowers are beautiful just as they are, but when you learn how to design with them, what you can create is glory. I always had a high sense of aesthetics and back then, in the beginning, I knew I wasn’t that good. I needed practice. I started interviewing floral designers and I couldn’t help myself from taking one floral design class after the other. Working with flowers is working with beauty. It’s creating spectacular things that would otherwise not be possible. Creations with scent, color, depth, and style. Not long after, I attended the New York Flower School where I got a certificate and then went on to the London Flower School to continue learning. Flowers became my passion.
We absolutely love your work. Tell us how Madrid Flower School came about and guide us through to its latest transition.
Years passed and I moved to Madrid. I had to make a decision. Would I continue to write and work as a designer? I was trying to find a floral design school in the city and I soon realized there was nothing similar to what I was looking for. After years of taking courses and classes, I had a pretty good idea of what this would look like. This is how the Madrid Flower School was born!


Tell us a bit about España Florecerá (Spain Will Bloom) and Latinoamérica Florecerá (Latinamerica Will Bloom)…
When COVID hit, the floral industry (as well as many others) was going through a very hard time. After seeing the impact and the hardships, I was determined to invite flower growers, producers, florists, and suppliers, to join in the conversation. First, I started with Spain and we had 100 people at one virtual meeting. In a business that is sometimes divided, it was gratifying to see how we all got together to speak about our needs, our reality. Afterwards, these conversations also took place in Latin America. Peru was exceptional. Lili Rivera, director of Floral Trendy Flower School, thought Latinoamerica Florecerá was a great idea. She organized meetings with florists and really worked the extra mile, trying to reach the media and building a strong campaign. Peru’s harvest was affected by a frost not long ago, so COVID restrictions added new losses to the flower growers of the Andes. She organized the community, caught the attention of the television and the movement reached the Peruvian Government. Not long after, a special decree law was passed: cutting, gathering, transporting, and selling flowers was authorized during the confinement. Flowers markets opened and florists went back to work. It was a triumph. Today the movement has extended to other countries of Latin America. Argentina Florece, México Florece, Bolivia Florece and Peru Florece are some of them.