Meet The Sisters Behind Flower Duet By Writer and Contributor Emily McGinn
Casey Schwartz became thoroughly acquainted with flowers during her time working on cruise ships after she graduated college. During her cruise ship career, one of her responsibilities was to care for the flowers brought on board by local florists. Every week, she would see new arrangements come on board, and it was her duty to keep them alive.
“This happened all over the world, and it was incredible because I got to see every single week a new arrangement and new flowers,” Schwartz recalls. “It was intriguing. It wasn't really my job, but I knew how to handle the flowers.”
When she returned to Los Angeles, Schwartz’s sister was preparing for her own wedding and asked Schwartz to do the flowers. When the flower arrangements for the wedding were a success, their friends began asking them for help with flower arrangements for their own events. A longtime hobby for Schwartz turned into a potential business and Flower Duet was born.
She and her sister Kit Wertz have now been operating their floral design business since 1999 and have become preferred floral vendors at a variety of local venues, including La Venta Inn, Rolling Hills Country Club, Palos Verdes Golf Club and Los Verdes Golf Course.
“We started with teaching [our friends] for fun, and then we started doing weddings and events,” Schwartz said. “Here we are, 25 years later, and we're still doing the same thing.”
Over the past two and a half decades, Schwartz and Wertz have had to ride the waves of an ever-changing industry. The flower business sees fluctuations in trends and flower availability, and it can be heavily impacted by national and international events, which makes adaptability crucial.
“If you're ordering pink hydrangea from Holland, and then Iceland has a volcano that erupts, and all air travel stops, then you won't get those flowers,” Schwartz says.
The sisters have navigated disasters like the 9/11 tragedy, which halted air travel and affected flower orders, and the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to many wedding and event cancellations, impacting their floral design business.
Schwartz says they have managed to thrive despite the unpredictability by focusing on building relationships with trusted flower vendors and by relying on their own knowledge about their products. Their work has paid off — they have managed to land on about 15 venue lists as preferred vendors, which can serve as a huge boost to businesses.
“You have to earn your way on the list and prove that you are responsible, and you're on time, and your product is lovely, and you're nice to work with, and you don't yell at your crew and you provide a really good product,” Schwartz says.
Schwartz also notes that having a business partner like her sister is key. They each have their own strengths to bring to the table — Wertz handles the marketing, and Schwartz focuses on sales.
Though the floral industry can be unpredictable, it is also timeless. Flowers have been part of celebrations for centuries across many cultures, and they have even been found to make people happy, according to a 10-month study conducted by Rutgers University in 2000.
“Flowers are appropriate for every occasion,” Schwartz says. “When someone is born and you get a call saying someone's just delivered a baby, you can send flowers to the hospital. Or someone passes away, and someone orders flowers for the funeral. And every celebration in between, it's always appropriate to have flowers there.”
Schwartz and Wertz enjoy bringing joy in the form of flowers to various events, but they especially enjoy teaching flower arranging classes, which they have been doing for years at their own design studio and at The Huntington Library. They also teach groups and do corporate workshops.
“I think that teaching somebody a skill that they didn't ever think they would have or need or want, and to have them come back to classes again and again or or tell you just how amazing the experience was, that's probably one of the most rewarding things,” Schwartz says. “I have taught little girls as young as five years old. I taught a Brownie troop from Girl Scouts, and then most recently, there was a woman that came to a class who was 94. She was proof that you can still learn things at any age.”
Moving forward, Schwartz said they are hoping to continue to serve the Los Angeles area with their floral designs and classes.
“When you walk into a room with flowers, no one looks away from you. Everybody will smile at you,” she says. “It is the best thing, because it makes everything very light-hearted and you know how people are going to respond. When you walk in with flowers, they smile.”
Bio:
Emily McGinn is a journalist based in the Los Angeles area. She enjoys reporting on and writing about a variety of topics from lifestyle to news, especially in her areas of specialty, environmental science and political science.
