If you ask Bermudian Carolyn O’Connor how she stumbled into a career in floral design, she’ll tell you: “It was a happy accident of geography.”

Ms O’Connor had been looking for a creative outlet for some time and just happened to live around the corner from one of the best floral design schools in London. “It seemed insane not to try,” she said.

Now the 29-year-old has had the rare chance of seeing her floral design work appear in the British online version of Vogue.

The fashion website, which has an average monthly online audience of 1.6 million people, was featuring emerging designer Malene Oddershede Bach’s recent collection shown at London Fashion Week — and Ms O’Connor’s impressive flower creations were selected to be shown in the background of that shoot.

The opportunity ‘blossomed’ thanks to Bermudian Sasha Ternent, an e-commerce entrepreneur in London, who put the two designer’s in touch.

Ms O’Connor had only just started launching her career after a year-long postgraduate course and said she was “thrilled at this early highlight”.

“It was a really fun job, and what’s exciting about working with flowers is that it intersects with other creative industries.

“Malene is very talented and I think her designs will find a large audience. I’m building my portfolio in hopes of finding more opportunities like this when Fall Fashion Week comes around.”

Ms O’Connor is a florist and offers everything a typical florist does, but can also tackle jobs that involve a greater design element.

“I can also take commissions that have a stronger conceptual basis or demand a greater design element — everything from theatrical props to retail displays, and of course, traditional weddings, too,” she said.

The budding floral designer said growing up in Bermuda she was also interested in nature and fascinated by the variety of plants around her.

Creative work was always something she wanted to do, however she never imagined she’d have any talent with flowers.

“My mother [Michele O’Connor} is a great natural talent, and growing up around her beautiful arrangements was a real advantage,” she said. “It’s creatively satisfying work, and I love learning more about plants all the time.”

Although her original university degree was in the humanities, Ms O’Connor decided to take the short course in floral design “for fun”.

The work came easily to her, so she went on to complete a postgraduate course in classic floral design at the Covent Garden Academy of Flowers.

“Many florists learn on the job, but the course was so valuable for the chance to experiment freely. It’s given me enough confidence to approach every job with a sense of fun,” she said.

One of her the best parts of the job is being able to transform simple spaces by using flowers and plants, she said.

She dreams of one day creating large-scale living displays for commercial and private spaces; and offering floral gifts that are “a bit more fun than the usual indifferent, scarily expensive bouquet”.

She also thinks it would be wonderful to open up her own shop in Bermuda one day.

In the meantime, she’s found that working with flowers and plants has an unexpected side effect -that of boosting her mood.

“Working with them is doing something profound to my brain, and I get to use the plants to try to communicate that to other brains. When I feel like I’ve communicated well, there’s nothing better,” she said.

“It’s totally worth the back pain and early-morning missions to the market.”

Right now the budding designer is fielding freelance offers and continuing to work with the academy where she trained. But she said she was open to any opportunities in the Greater London area — and always especially happy to hear from Bermuda expats.

Ms O’Conner can be reached through e-mail: carolyndoconnor@gmail.com.