Jamila Maute, 31, founded the shop “Münchner Blumenmadl’n” together with her husband Philipp (35). According to the company, it is the first shop in the city that only sells dried flowers. They started in Brunnthal and have been in St.-Bonifatius-Strasse on Nockherberg for four months. As a trained hotel manager, Jamila Maute was involved in events and decoration in her previous job. Then came the pandemic, and “everything went down the drain,” says the native of Munich. But only for a short time, because she had a business idea.
How did you come up with the idea of the dried flowers?
To prepare for our wedding celebration in September 2020, my husband and I looked for dried flowers and found that they are hard to come by and above all there is no shop where you can buy them. Everywhere we asked, we heard: No, we only have pampas grass.
The plants retain their color when freeze-dried.
(Photo: Alessandra Schellnegger)
And then you opened your own shop?
Exactly. That was almost three years ago. At that time, the hype surrounding dried flowers was also gaining momentum. I had to persuade my husband to start the shop with me. At first we thought it might just be a short trend, but it’s growing. Our customers come from Rosenheim, Ingolstadt, Augsburg.
Where is the trend coming from? In the past, dried flowers were often rustic and did not suit modern facilities.
You mean bouquets of spices and things like that. The selection is now much larger. We have more than 700 different types of flowers, grasses and branches. An olive or eucalyptus branch in a beautiful vase, for example, goes great with the simple Scandinavian style that many people like. The plants are freeze-dried, which is also possible with sensitive plants. Fern leaves, for example, will turn brown and fall off if you just dry them. In general, the flowers remain much more beautiful and colorful after the freeze-drying process.
You are not a trained florist.
You don’t always have to be a specialist. But I took on a florist at the beginning and learned a lot from her. How to arrange flowers, what goes well together and things like that. She became a mother and now unfortunately has moved to another city. It’s important to have fun and stand behind what you do.
If you don’t want to buy, you can also rent bouquets – and return them.
(Photo: Alessandra Schellnegger)
What fascinates people about dried flowers?
That you get something out of it for so long, and of course the aspect of sustainability. But maybe also that you get a decoration that you don’t have to worry about, like a bouquet of fresh flowers.
What is most in demand?
Pampas grass is the bestseller, but rabbit tails, which are grasses with such bushy bobbles, also work well. For weddings, of course, roses are in demand, and proteas. Meadow and straw flowers are also very popular.
Where do you get your flowers from, do you dry them yourself?
No, we don’t have space to dry. We get 80 percent from Holland, ten percent from Italy and France and ten percent are from my aunt’s garden. She grows poppy pods and pampas grass. You don’t have to do anything further.
You can also rent bouquets and arrangements. In what condition do they come back?
Mostly in a surprisingly good way. People don’t touch flowers at weddings or in restaurants as much as we initially thought. And if a vase falls, it’s already included in the rental price.