Petal Pushers

Event designers Amit Lata and Karan Singh Parmar, the duo behind the company Twelve Tomatoes, have successfully transformed many clients’ fantasies into reality with their imaginative floral decor. A curious Zaral Shah gets some answers about how their profession has been altered by the ever-present influence, pressure even, of social media

- Zaral Shah

The event industry has evolved to a point where the emphasis appears to be on personalisation, by both clients and businesses. How has this affected your approach?

We definitely have seen clients asking for more bespoke options that cater to their specific tastes. We think a lot of it is due to wider exposure owing to travel and the internet. Moreover, there is always a drive to do something authentic. We, however, encourage our clients to personalise only where it will lead to a tangible improvement in their guests’ experience. Otherwise, it is very easy to get carried away and, say, slap your wedding logo or initials on everything, which makes it feel more like a corporate event and, at times, can even come across as a bit distasteful. For us, it’s the little details that matter the most.

What role do social media platforms, Instagram in particular, play in the planning stages?

Instagram is a major influence in design. The art of sharing has allowed people to virtually experience someone else’s reality almost in real time. But, we do covet the true experience of what we see on the screen – be it a pair of shoes someone owns, a restaurant where our favourite actor dined, or the flowers that someone’s loved one sent them. And we save these references on a secret page on Pinterest, or in a folder on Instagram until we have the opportunity to turn them into our realities. It’s good, in a way, that we are able to see what the clients respond to and understand their sensibilities. The only disadvantage is that this can sometimes lead to unreasonable requests.