Hey Emma! Tell us about yourself and your background?

Hello! I started London Terrariums in 2014, over 8 years ago now which is crazy! I studied surface design at university but have always been interested in houseplants and gardening. I used to go to my grandparents in the summer holidays and have memories of my Nan giving me seed trays and helping me make miniature gardens in them, we would use small mirrors for ponds and make miniature scenes, so I guess not too much has changed there! I live in South London really close to the LT store, and have a scruffy little Miniature Schnauzer called Walnut Wiggins, who you will quite often see sitting in the LT shop window.

What inspired you to start London Terrariums, and why terrariums specifically?
London Terrariums started as a hobby, I had always loved houseplants and had heard of Terrariums from the Victorian times and the 1970’s but didn’t really know of anyone making them today, this was at the beginning of the Houseplant boom so when I started making terrariums, hardly anyone actually knew what they were! Terrariums are the perfect mix between a houseplant and a beautiful interior object which is why I think they took off so well, they are also completely self-sustaining and really help to connect people to nature that may not have access to a green space or garden. Slowly this hobby started taking over my evenings and weekends as well as my kitchen table. I decided it was time to quit my full time job and get a studio to make and teach people about these bottle gardens, next came a shop then some amazing staff to help me out and 8 years later here we are!

How can we get involved?

Our favourite part of the business is teaching people about these Miniature Ecosystems, we run regular workshops both in store and various locations around London teaching people about the history and science behind terrariums and then helping them to make their own to take away and watch grow, we also go into offices to hold team building Terrarium workshops and events which are always super fun! You can find all of our upcoming workshops listed on our website here.

What’s next for LT?

We have been in our New Cross store for over 5 years now and to say we have outgrown it is an understatement! Our next very exciting step is opening up a new store at the end of the summer, this will have a separate workshop space and making area to the store which will be a dream! We are also re-launching our at home Terrarium kits, we rushed these out during Covid so its been great to take the time and work on these properly, the kits allow us to spread our Terrariums nationwide which was actually a real positive thing to come out of lockdown for us.