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Trade 02

Flowers

Section 02 of eight. The four o'clock market and the cold room. Four entries: the four o'clock market, conditioning, the cold room and mechanics.

Hands stripping stems at a florist bench before dawn
Fig. 01Stripping comes before anything else — leaves left below the waterline rot, and that rot fouls every stem in the bucket.Photo: cottonbro studio / Pexels

Entries

4 in this trade
  • Vendors sell woven baskets and flowers outside a market storefront as a motorbike passes by

    The four o'clock market

    Cut flowers are bought in the dark, days ahead, for a peak that has to land on one afternoon. Everything after that is conditioning and cold — the arrangement is the quick part and the timing is the whole craft.

    Entry 2.1 · A long read
  • Buckets of roses, carnations and baby's breath displayed at a flower shop

    Conditioning

    Stripping, cutting under water and hours in deep water before anything is arranged.

    Entry 2.2 · A full entry
  • A woman opens a glass cooler door in a flower shop stocked with wrapped bouquets

    The cold room

    Holding a peak in place, and what happens to it in a warm marquee.

    Entry 2.3 · A short entry
  • Hand-drawn wiring diagrams surround a small wooden box with wire mesh, pliers, and glue nearby

    Mechanics

    Foam, wire, tape and frogs — the engineering nobody is meant to see.

    Entry 2.4 · A short entry

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