Sarah's story
The story of Pressed Floral begins with founder and owner, Sarah.
Growing up, Sarah filled her days with performance, imagination, and crativity. She loved “dancing, dressing up, and telling stories.” Sarah was a driven writer and mused over thoughts of becoming a teacher or an author. Through her love of writing, Sarah found solace in sentimentality as she wrote pages in journals, scrapbooked, and kept meaningful notes.
“Even if somebody writes something nice to me on a sticky note, I keep it.”
Her curiosity for all things sparked early ambition and dreams to become an entrepreneur–her love of beauty and cultivating innovation solidified her desire to grow a creative, people-oriented business from the ground up.
Reflecting on those beginning days, Sarah says:
“I remember telling my dad one day… I can be successful by doing something creative that also really challenged my love for puzzles and math. I wanted to try to figure things out and grow something.”
Read more about Sarah's Story in her own words: here
Cue the spark of inspiration that was Pressed Floral.
the first frame
Like every mastered practice in life, there was immense trial and error before success. After she started taking extra flowers from friends' weddings and family’s gardens, Sarah started out educating herself in every method of pressing flowers. After trying several methods of pressing flowers from youtube videos and google searches, Sarah took matters into her own hands and began experimenting.
“I would put flowers between paper towels and iron them. I remember getting all of my mom's weights, sandwiching the flowers, and then putting the massive weights on top in a corner of my basement. I also remember trying to press things in the microwave. But everything molded, everything looked so bad.”
Although the art of floral and botanical preservation has been around for centuries, Sarah finally mastered her own art of natural preservation–trailblazing the Pressed Floral Frame
After creating her first successful frame from her sister’s wildflower wedding bouquet, clients asking for custom Pressed Floral frames started pouring in. With new clients, Sarah continued to encounter new challenges such as pressing botanicals with more depth, like cattails, and managing an exponential amount of orders. Ever adapting with new-found growth, Sarah never strayed from her value of personableness by working one on one with clients to make sure every piece was telling their story.
life in the shed
In 2019, with help from family and friends, Sarah had a lifetime shed built and placed it in her college dorm parking spot with an extension cord running all the way to her room. Sarah remembers:
“I loved my shed. I strung lights back there, I put little pictures on the front, and it was perfect for me! There was a seat in the corner for my friends and people who visited so they could come sit with me. I just have so many memories of pressing flowers and designing frames while friends of mine joined me in conversation”
Around that same time, Sarah started dating her now-husband, Jono, who became a huge supporter and catalyst of growth in Pressed Floral’s journey. Jono saw Pressed Floral for what it was intended to be: a business that tells the stories of its clients in a unique and meaningful way. There is significance behind every design and bloom, and Jono truly saw that.
“Jono walked in and his eyes were wide open with his jaw dropped. He said, 'Sarah, this is among top five coolest things I've ever seen in my entire life. You are so impressive.' It was so cute, and I could just cry thinking about it. He has been such a huge part of Pressed Floral and our growth story”
Provo Brick and Mortar
As 2020 came and went with COVID-19 on the rise, Sarah continued learning and growing her business. Eventually, Pressed Floral outgrew the shed, and Sarah opened the first Pressed Floral Brick and Mortar Shop. In 2021, Pressed Floral was growing at an exponential rate, and it was time to hire on a team of employees.
“I really value having a great culture and I always want us to have a positive atmosphere that is open to change and open to feedback. I just love our team members.
Opening a new store didn't come without a couple of hiccups. The biggest being a car crashing into the front of the store. Sarah took the accident as an opportunity to think about expanding to a bigger space. Luckily, she found a beautiful building in the heart of Orem, Utah. This was Pressed Floral's biggest expansion yet. Renovations began to not only create space for more employees and orders, but to create a beautified place where creativity, empathy, communication, and inspiration could thrive.
Although Sarah still runs every aspect of Pressed Floral, she now professionally creates and designs under Sarah Ebert Art for clients who want larger scale, more customized floral art.
For more information on Sarah Ebert art, visit her website:
sarahebertart.com
Although Sarah still runs every aspect of Pressed Floral, she now professionally creates and designs under Sarah Ebert Art for clients who want a larger scale, more customized floral art.
For more information on Sarah Ebert art, visit her website:
sarahebertart.com
Our current locations
Orem, Utah Location
Our team in Utah is made up of designers, preservation specialists, fullfillment specialists, and external content and public relations team members. We don't know how we got so lucky to have found the most talented, professional, genuine, and strong team members with a deep understanding of Pressed Floral's mission. Our Pressed Floral family is always growing, so be sure to check for updates on our career page.
Our current Pressed Floral location in Orem, Utah, was renovated and opened in September of 2022. Our space has an art gallery-style interior displaying our pieces so our clients can best feel out the sizes, designs, and frames they can choose from in their final art piece. Not only is our gallery space intentionally and beautifully designed, our work spaces reflect our value to stay organized and intentional when creating our clients' frames.
Orem, Utah Location
Atlanta, Georgia
Almost 4.5 years since the first frame was made, Pressed Floral is now expanding and opening a second shop in Georgia. The Georgia expansion became of significant importance as clientele grew in the east and flowers were being shipped from across the country. The Georgia location is closer to our East Coast and SouthEast clients, so their flowers can travel less of a distance, and our clients can save money on shipping in the end.
Most importantly, our expansion to Georgia allows us to grow a community where we can hear more of our clients stories and preserve them with the utmost care.
more Milestones
bloom boxes
Although Pressed Floral started with local flower drop-offs and final piece pick-ups in Utah, rapid growth brought in more orders from out of state. This means that clients would be shipping their flowers from across the country to be preserved in bespoke frames.
The logistics of Pressed Floral's clients shipping their sentimental flowers across the country was an ambitious obstacle to tackle in itself. Flowers are fragile, tempermental, and organic structures that steadily wither the longer they have gone from the soil. Although the withering away and fading of flowers is a beautiful, natural process, Pressed Floral always want to recieve flowers in a workable condition. So became the balancing act of how to educate clients and provide clients a way to have the best chance of their flowers making it the long journey away from home.
Pressed Floral worked one-on-one with clients across the country as well as worked hard to provide infographics and education on how to properly ship flowers. But the biggest problem wasn't flowers coming in unworkable conditions-- it was the price our clients were paying to ship their flowers. Some clients were paying over $300+ on shipping alone, and Pressed Floral quickly adapted a way to have more affordable, accessible shipping for all.
In 2023, Pressed Floral launched prepaid Bloom Boxes: a product that, when purchased, would save clients hundreds of dollars--as well as stress--when shipping.
Our golden birthday
Along the journey of growth, there have been so many stories of heartfelt love as well as sudden tragedies. It is Pressed Floral’s honor to work with clients from all walks of life to create pieces of art that hold significant meaning. Every flower deserves to be pressed and every story deserves to be told.
For Pressed Floral’s Golden Birthday, Brand Director, Ella Ballstaedt, dreamt up an event showcasing stories from clients in an art gallery setting. The importance of Pressed Floral’s clients and their stories are always the priority.
the pressed floral difference
Pressed Floral stands apart from other floral preservation companies because we pride ourselves in creating our unique frames with an all-natural process. We embrace and think fading flowers, textures and veins of original flowers and botanicals are beautiful and symbolize your memories in a way that altering or dying flowers would not.
“You can get paintings of your bouquet, and you can have photos of your arrangement, but to have the actual blooms with the real veins, the texture, the folds, the natural color-changing? To me is what we're all about. I believe it's more of preserving them the best that you can in the state that they are in and allowing them to be able to age in the most beautiful way.”- Sarah
Another way that Pressed Floral seeks to put our clients and their stories first is that we do not put a cap on the orders we accept. There is no waitlist or limited slots available. We have invested in resources and means to accept every bouquet and story. Whether that means pressing original flowers, designing shadow boxes, or recreating already faded blooms, we are founded on inclusivity and care for every unique flower that comes into our shop.
utah to georgia
Atlanta, Georgia
Almost 4.5 years since the first frame was made, Pressed Floral is now expanding and opening a second shop in Georgia. The Georgia expansion became of significant importance as clientele grew in the East and flowers were being shipped from across the country. The Georgia location is closer to our East Coast and SouthEast clients, so their flowers can travel less of a distance, and they can save money on shipping in the end.
more Milestones
bloom boxes
Although Pressed Floral started with local flower drop-offs and final piece pick-ups in Utah, rapid growth brought in more orders from out of state. This means that clients would be shipping their flowers from across the country to be preserved in bespoke frames.
The logistics of Pressed Floral's clients shipping their sentimental flowers across the country was an ambitious obstacle to tackle in itself. Flowers are fragile, tempermental, and organic structures that steadily wither the longer they have gone from the soil. Although the withering away and fading of flowers is a beautiful, natural process, Pressed Floral always want to recieve flowers in a workable condition. So became the balancing act of how to educate clients and provide clients a way to have the best chance of their flowers making it the long journey away from home.
Pressed Floral worked one-on-one with clients across the country as well as worked hard to provide infographics and education on how to properly ship flowers. But the biggest problem wasn't flowers coming in unworkable conditions-- it was the price our clients were paying to ship their flowers. Some clients were paying over $300+ on shipping alone, and Pressed Floral quickly adapted a way to have more affordable, accessible shipping for all.
In 2023, Pressed Floral launched prepaid Bloom Boxes: a product that, when purchased, would save clients hundreds of dollars--as well as stress--when shipping.
Our golden birthday
Along the journey of growth, there have been so many stories of heartfelt love as well as sudden tragedies. It is Pressed Floral’s honor to work with clients from all walks of life to create pieces of art that hold significant meaning. Every flower deserves to be pressed and every story deserves to be told.
For Pressed Floral’s Golden Birthday, Brand Director, Ella Ballstaedt, dreamt up an event showcasing stories from clients in an art gallery setting. The importance of Pressed Floral’s clients and their stories are always the priority.
the pressed floral difference
Pressed Floral stands apart from other floral preservation companies because we pride ourselves in creating our unique frames with an all-natural process. We embrace and think fading flowers, textures and veins of original flowers and botanicals are beautiful and symbolize your memories in a way that altering or dying flowers would not.
“You can get paintings of your bouquet, you can get photos of your arrangement, but to have the actual blooms with the real veins, the texture, the folds, the natural color-changing? To me is what we're all about. I believe it's more of preserving them the best that you can in the state that they are and allowing them to be able to age in the most beautiful way.”- Sarah
Another way that Pressed Floral seeks to put our clients and their stories first is that we do not put a cap on the orders we accept. There is no waitlist or limited slots available. We have invested in resources and means to accept every bouquet and story. Whether that means pressing original flowers, designing shadow boxes, or recreating already faded blooms, we are founded on inclusivity and care for every unique flower that comes into our shop.
