How Stefi Koukounaras turned grief into a blooming business

2 weeks ago 46

When Stefi Koukounaras’ begetter Apostolos died aft a brave conflict with cancer, she felt arsenic if the crushed beneath her was pulled away.

Having worked arsenic a selling manager for heaps of advertisement agencies, worked successful spot development, and successful Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) she was used to having power of things.

Now the lone happening she could control, to an extent, was his funeral. But adjacent the ceremonial itself, being done by ceremonial directors, sure you get to take the casket and where it is, but it’s still not successful your control.

Having ever had a emotion for flowers – it was her puerility imagination to beryllium a florist – that is where Stefi took the wheel.

“The flowers were something that I thought, you cognize what, we tin take that retired of the scope of the ceremonial manager and I tin make the flowers for dada and truly bring his property to beingness done the flowers,” she tells Neos Kosmos.

“It was something that I truly sunk my teeth into and I felt similar I could make something truly beauteous that represented my dad.

“Being capable to power that portion of it was something that brought maine a batch of peace.”

Having lived the firm manner she thinks it’s rather casual to get caught up successful that so when her dada passed, it brought this caller perspective.

“I felt rather grounded astatine the thought of being capable to assistance radical by supporting them, whether it’s a memorial oregon a wedding, similar being there for radical successful their times of need,” the 36-year-old says.

And that is what Stefi has acceptable retired to bash by launching House of Lulu, a floral and lawsuit styling marque created successful representation of her father.

House of Lulu blooms successful Melbourne

She describes Apostolos arsenic a antheral who profoundly loved gathering family, celebrating milestones and bringing radical together astir a table. She wants to beryllium portion of these moments.

“My dada would crook implicit backwards for anyone,” she says.

“He used to beryllium a soccer manager and helium would take underprivileged kids and he’d springiness them rides due to the fact that their parents didn’t person cars oregon they couldn’t take them. He’d spell prime them up and take them to the game.

“He had filotimo. He conscionable did truly beauteous things for people. Not due to the fact that helium had to, but due to the fact that helium wanted to, and that conscionable truly came done for me.

“I thought, you cognize what, this is not something I’m doing for the money. This is something I’m doing due to the fact that I consciousness strongly astir being capable to support people.”

She says she wants to connection much than her flowers and will assistance you with whatever it is that you’re creating/hosting from proposals, engagements, christenings and weddings to events similar publication and merchandise launches.

Recently, she styled the Opa publication motorboat astatine Bahari successful Richmond, supporting erstwhile My Kitchen Rules contestants Helena and Vikki Moursellas and collaborated with Greek restaurent Ela successful Torquay for a Valentine’s Day celebration.

But she is staying distant from bouquets.

“A batch of florists you tin spell online and beryllium capable to bid a bouquet for an event, but what I didn’t similar astir that was you go detached from the buyer,” Stefi says.

She doesn’t similar someone conscionable filling retired an online signifier and that’s it.

“You’ve got nary transportation with that person. No relationship. It’s a transaction. So I wanted excavation to beryllium overmuch much than a transaction. It’s each astir connection.”

She’s besides truly keen to get into the ceremonial space arsenic well and thinks radical aren’t alert that you tin take flowers retired of a ceremonial bundle and bash something custom.

“So that’s something that I’m truly looking guardant to doing too, due to the fact that it’s evidently rather adjacent to my bosom with dad,” she says.

“Everyone deals with grief very differently. For me, I went into process mode of trying to power due to the fact that I thought this is my way to link with my dad.”

On the different hand, she says, her sisters were very overmuch into the thick of their grief and it would person been much achy for them to bash that.

“If I tin take that from someone, if I tin clasp their manus done that process, get to understand who their loved 1 was, whether it’s a kid oregon an aged person. If I tin assistance them done that grief, but besides present something truly beauteous that they tin astatine slightest consciousness similar they’ve had some ταξινόμηση of input into, I think that would beryllium really, truly special.”

Louloudia and legacy

The sanction “Lulu” comes from louloudia, the Greek word for flowers — a motion to Stefi’s Greek practice and the taste value of celebration, household and hospitality.

Stefi’s grandparents had gardens, so she grew up astir the plot each the time, so her emotion of flowers whitethorn person travel from there.

“Both sets of my grandparents are alive. I’m very lucky,” she says.

Her dad’s parents are 91 and 89, with her yiayia Stavroula from the village of Kandila, Tripoli, and pappou Vangeli from Heraklion, Crete.

Stefi’s existent sanction Stavroula and she is named aft her yiayia.

On her mum’s side, her pappou Konstantinos Marinakis, from Argos, is 92 this year, and her yiayia Konstantina, from Tripoli, is 87 oregon 88.

Stefi finds it comic due to the fact that her grandparents are rather the other of each other.

“So my dad’s household were much astir apt connected the κοινωνικά side. They’d emotion to propulsion parties and each of that, whereas my mum’s broadside were concern people,” she says.

“My gramps built businesses, helium would flip them. He was very astute, commercially minded. He knew helium wanted to larn English, helium tin speak English, whereas my dad’s dada doesn’t truly cognize however to speak English.”

With 1 pappou she is downing shots of whiskey and playing tavli, while with the different she’s talking businesses and what she’s doing for work.

“I consciousness similar they’ve fixed maine tastes of some and present I consciousness similar I’m a spot of a hybrid. I emotion the socialising of Greek culture, but then I besides understand however to bash business.”

So present with House of Lulu she’s bringing successful what she’s learned from some sets of grandparents.

When asked however arrogant her grandparents are, Stefi says successful truth she is much arrogant of them having flooded challenges and adversity to physique a beingness successful Australia.

“I’m grateful for the work ethic they each installed successful me. And I’m truly blessed to person such a beautiful, kind, caring and loving household who has not lone fixed maine a beauteous life, but has besides supported my passions and has present been the inspiration for this adjacent chapter,” she says.

Lastly successful a tearful effect to what her dada would accidental if helium could spot her now, Stefi thinks helium would conscionable accidental ‘bravo’.

“That’s conscionable the archetypal word that comes to caput and helium did this happening where he’d drawback maine astir the limb and conscionable buss maine connected the forehead. Like that’s conscionable what comes to mind.”

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