A celebration of all things bright and beautiful, historically our Flower Show marks the beginning of Spring.
The David Jones Flower Show is a spectacular event that has drawn thousands of visitors every year for the past 35 years. Horticulturalists, flower enthusiasts, bloggers, young and old have flocked to David Jones to wander through the floral arrangements instore, gaze at the floor to ceiling window installations, and delight in the new fragrance and scents of the season.
Where It All Began
The tradition began with a simple gesture — in the 1920s, staff would bring in flowers from their gardens, placing them on counters to celebrate the beginning of Spring. These charming beginnings grew into a more formalised event with the introduction of festivals – before officially becoming the annual David Jones Flower Show in 1985.
The Official Event
The David Jones Spring Flower Show became a major annual promotion in 1985. Every September since has seen the Elizabeth Street store abloom with specially designed window displays and installations. Prepared over the course of months, each spectacle supports growers from across the land and attracts visitors from hundreds of kilometres away.
“If we fill our stores with flowers after that dreary winter and you walk in and, bingo, there's this explosion of flowers, don't you feel uplifted?”
Harry Le Grand, Visual Merchandising Manager, 1980's
Reflections of 25 Years
The 25th anniversary called for extravagance. With a focus on 25 of the most beautiful flowers throughout the show’s history, 16 spectacular windows and over 300,000 blooms (including 10,000 Orchids, 5,000 Leucospermum and 500 Waratahs) showcased special moments from the past.
Highlights included a nod to 2003’s ‘Metamorphosis’ when 150 live butterflies fluttered in a window. While another display celebrated 2009’s ‘An Australian Perspective’ with a bold arrangement of Australian native flora.
The Enchanted Florence
In 2013, the show paid homage to the work of artist Florence Broadhurst with an explosion of colour, design and wondrous floral artistry.
Owner of Florence Broadhurst screen prints, David Lennie, curated the show, collaborating with David Jones’ visual merchandisers and florists.
Around 300,000 stems and flowers (including Vanda Orchids, Phalaenopsis Orchids, Gymea Lilies, Zinnias and more) were used to transform the store floor and all 16 windows with large-scale floral displays interspersed with designer eye candy.
Attraction
Dior - Miss Dior
Prada - Candy FloraleIn 2014, the show was a celebration of nature’s laws of attraction, the powerful sensory engagement of flowers and their very distinct scents.
For the first time, David Jones’ premium fragrance houses featured within the Spring Flower Show with luxury brands Chanel, Dior, Burberry, Prada, Estee Lauder, Marc Jacobs and Shay & Blue each creating their own brilliant window features. The brand’s unique designs each exemplified the notes within their fragrance, speaking to the overarching theme of ‘Attraction’.
“Brought to life with a wonderland of spring gardens, meadows, insects and colours, the awe-inspiring floral artistry featured a wide variety of 150,000 live flowers and stems and with over 10,000 hours of manpower put in.”
House of Spring
This magnificent floral exhibit reflected the essence of Spring with a modern neo classic twist, and incorporated an enormous Instagram-worthy lion sculpture sleeping under an abundance of pastel petals.
The show comprised of over 300,000 fresh flowers, 4,000 work hours and 15 experienced florists and horticulturalists lead by George Low of SEED Flora by George Low. It was this year that George celebrated his 30th year creatively collaborating with David Jones as the official flower show designer.
STREET VIEW
GROUND FLOOR“The annual Spring Flower Show is the largest public event for David Jones, and attracts over 500,000 people annually.”
Celebrating The Bee
With an 80-year history of bringing the joy of Spring to David Jones customers, the 2020 David Jones Flower Show celebrated the bee; the small but mighty mascot of Spring whose role in industry and environment span from their critical role in pollination through to the delicious honey enjoyed around the world.
The 2020 David Jones Flower Show also gave birth to a new addition to the flagship, with the introduction of a permanent rooftop apiary on the roof of the Elizabeth Street Flagship comprising five beehives and approximately 400,000 bees.
LOWER GROUND
Into The Future
We look forward to bringing back the Spring Flower Show in its full spectacular glory in 2022, in true David Jones style. Expect to experience the colour, fragrance and joy of our favourite season, Spring, brought to life at our Elizabeth Street Flagship Store.
George Low, of SEED Flora by George Low, who brings the show to life, has been David Jones’s official flower show designer for 32 years. George works closely with local and international growers, sourcing flowers, plants and greenery from as far away as Taiwan, Vietnam, Kenya, New Zealand and Columbia.
"We source locally where we can but if it's not in season, we have to get them overseas. The flower show takes 6 months to plan, 7 days to set up and 12 days to look after the flowers."
