Long before Paul Hawkins was a floral decorator. He was a child actor. When he was tan, he played the title role in a West End production of the musical Oliver.

Now, on the face of it, musical theater and floral decoration are very different art forms. But in practice, floral decoration is very much a production.

There's a beautiful hotel called the Mandan Oriental in Knightsbridge, which I do quite a few weddings at.

And the changeover, honestly, it's like mayhem, candelabras flying everywhere.

And it's like a scene from, I don't know, some, I don't know, Mad Max.

Yes, yes.

Meets Hello Dolly, you know.

And just like in the theater, every production eventually ends.

There's a wedding I did last week and on my Instagram is a large white arch outside the church

full of roses and it's just, well, I think it's really lovely, but that was there for two hours.

It went up and then that had to come down because of something else going on.

The flowers are for that moment, the marriage or the christening or the whatever.

It is about the moment.

There's something so beautiful about the fact that this is art that is fleeting.

You know, it's like a painting that dissolves after three or four days or something, you know, so it's experiential, which makes it somehow more precious.

Yes, like going on stage as an artist or an actor, you know, that moment has to be seized.

It's a performance and it's a bit like being an actor, I suppose. It's putting on a different character when I'm doing the flowers.

I'm Dan Heath, and this is what it's like to be. In every episode, we walk in the shoes of someone

from a different profession, a hairstylist, a veterinarian, a harbor pilot. We want to know what do

they do all day at work. Today we'll ask Paul Hawkins what it's like to be a floral decorator. We'll talk about why

you shouldn't mix red and white flowers, how many zeros are in some of the client budgets he works on,

and what it's like to design flowers for royalty. Stay with us.

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