Meet The Maker: Saskia’s Flower Essences

Who are you, where are you from and what do you make?

‘Who are you?’ that’s one of those questions I dread at parties – I’m still trying to find that one out and it changes daily as I grow and let go of who I no longer am….My name is Saskia Marjoram, originally from Stroud in the Cotswolds where I lived for more than 40 years. Now I live in Wincanton, Somerset and I have been making flower essences (like the Bach Flower Remedies) for the last eighteen years. More recently I have been distilling plants to make hydrosols which I am getting deeper and deeper into.

What inspires you?

Flowers (genuinely!) ….. they are so incredible, so resilient, so powerful but delicate, so varied, so wise……and they never fail to lift my spirits or give me insights.

What is your workshop luxury?

I don’t actually have a workshop but I do have a shop/office/consulting room. My ‘luxury’ is a device that changes the electrical impulse of plants into sound so I can listen to the plants ‘sing’ all day.

Your favourite studio lunch?

I’m a bit rubbish at lunch… I usually just snack and have a meal in the early evening. Luckily my shop is next to a whole-food shop and fruit and veg shop so the snacks are pretty healthy… I’ve been on the fresh cherries lately.

Best spot in the British Isles?

That’s hard – we live on such a stunning and geographically varied island… there are still so many places I haven’t been. I’ve travelled quite a bit around the world but nearly everywhere I went I thought that there were places in the UK more beautiful. I love being by the sea and as a child spent a lot of time on the Cornish coast.

What do you find challenging about being a creative?

My main challenge is believing that it is actually ‘me’ being creative. Mostly when I reach that point of deep connection which occurs when things just flow, it never feels like it is ‘me’ but rather I have tapped into ‘source’ and am working as part of something soooo much bigger.

I worked as a florist for a long time and this feeling would most often occur when making funeral tributes or bridal bouquets. I would suddenly look down and the piece would be finished but part of me had gone somewhere else whilst it was happening. This feeling occurs now when I dowse for people’s personal combinations – it never really feels like it’s me doing it but more like I am able to go to the place of creation and it just happens.

What would you like to learn next?

I’d like to learn how to use a bookkeeping programme – I’m rubbish at keeping accounts and every year I swear I’ll learn something to make it easier…Getting on top of them would make my life A LOT easier – alternatively learn to keep enough money aside to pay someone else to do it #lifegoals

How do you let your hair down? 

I love to dance but don’t make the effort to do it often enough but when I do it makes me feel so good.

What are you listening to at the moment?

The wind in the trees and the rooks bickering in the big old beech tree… (although you probably didn’t mean that ;))

What makes you feel well chuffed?

Knowing that what I do really makes a difference to how people live their lives. That by taking my essences people have been able to sleep, now have the courage to stand up and speak in public for the first time, they’ve stopped worrying about things they can’t control, they’ve walked to the end of the street without having a panic attack, they’ve asked someone out on a date, they have been more confident in a job interview, ended an abusive relationship etc etc etc.

Seeing the essences going further and further out into the world definitely make me ‘Well Chuffed’