Flower power inspires a florist to gold medal success

Jews and gardening are two words not usually found in the same sentence. With, perhaps, the exception of the glamorous Rachel de Thame, we are not known for our contribution to the world of horticulture. Step forward then, 23-year-old Gaby Lebetkin, whose work at the recent Chelsea Flower Show has propelled her into the spotlight. She is a member of the award-winning Veevers Carter team behind the exhibit that attracted the most media attention: a giant 3D portrait of Her Majesty's head, rather like an oversized floral postage stamp. An image of the real Queen smiling in front of the display graced the covers of many of last week's national papers (not to mention the JC's news pages!).

It would be overstating things to say that Gaby has had green fingers since childhood, but she explains: "I've always had a connection to nature, and wanting to be outdoors. My grandparents have always been the type to be in the garden pottering around, and my granddad grew fruit and veg. I've always been that little girl, stuck in the back garden, rummaging and touching everything, but I never really found my feet with it until my first year of university, when I fell in love with everything I was doing."

That back garden - which she describes as "beautiful" - is in Stanmore, where she lives with her parents and two brothers. Before her degree in landscape architecture at Leeds Metropolitan University, she attended JFS, which she loved. "I still feel like I want to go back, and my friends from then are still my best friends now." She was a pupil under Dame Ruth Robins, with Jonathan Miller, who recently resigned, taking over as headteacher in Gaby's last year. She describes him as "really nice" and has nothing but praise for her teachers, crediting them with giving her plenty of guidance.

During her time at university, she took a part-time job in a florist's shop and also did an intensive course in floristry at the Covent Garden Academy of Flowers. But Gaby decided she wanted to do more than just work with flowers.

"I started looking at event companies, because, with my background, I felt I needed a bit more, things a little more design-based. So I found Event Concept [the sister company of Veevers Carter] and they were looking for an admin assistant."

It was not what Gaby had envisaged, but hard work saw swift promotion and within months, she was asked by managing director Ming Veevers Carter to be part of the small design team working on the Chelsea Flower Show.

It was a pivotal moment, enabling Gaby to combine her talents for design and floristry. Ming had been chosen by New Covent Garden Market to do a display as a tribute to the Queen for her 90th birthday and the theme was "Behind every great florist…" focusing on how the market supports so many florists. It was the first time New Covent Garden Market had exhibited at the show, so something extraordinary was called for.

"All in all, it took about six months to work out. I came up with the Queen idea," Gaby says. "The whole design was about the bond between the market and the florist. Being the Queen's 90th birthday, I thought, what if we do the Queen's head? And then the more we thought about it, it was, actually, it is a good idea!"

The reverse side of this now-famous image was a wall of plastic buckets filled with flowers, representing the bundles of blooms transported from abroad to the market on a daily basis. It was a mass of simple green and white foliage, making the contrast to the other side of the structure - the 3D Queen's head outlined in hot, vivid colours- all the more striking. The innovative design idea paid off, and the display earned the Veevers Carter team a prestigious gold medal and the New Design award.

The response from friends and family to last week's awards has been overwhelming. "Mum is amazing, she is the proudest mother ever," laughs Gaby. Her father is keen for her to start her own business, but that remains a dream for now.

"It is all about experience and where I am at the moment is the best place to get experience," she says. "Within five years I definitely want to have my own business, but not yet. I'm 23 and I'm not in a rush to go anywhere. I'm still learning."

Part of that learning involves working on those happiest of Jewish life-cycle events: weddings and barmitzvahs.

"They are completely up my street," says Gaby. "I love speaking to clients when they are so excited about their wedding, and they have an idea of what they want. That's probably one of the main reasons why I do what I do, because you have this journey with your client and when it comes to the actual event, you see how happy they are and how much it makes their day.

"It's the best job ever to make people happy."