Be Your Weekend Self with Flora from Parrot London
In the second interview of our "Be Your Weekend Self' series, we spoke with Flora Edward, the founder and director of PARROT London, on all things dog-walking, routine joy, and Flora's passion for jewellery.
PARROT London are the home of interchangeable demi-fine charm hoop earrings are all dreamt up in London by Flora, a jewellery lover and designer who is all about switching up her style everyday. Be sure to take a look at PARROT London's website and fall just as in love with Flora's creative designs as we have.
Enjoy our interview with Flora below.
How do you start every day?
"Hi Newt! Thanks for having me! I am very lucky to start everyday with a dog walk around Regents Park with my boyfriend and our toy poodle, Percy. It’s the best set up - we grab a coffee on the way (mine’s an extra hot skinny latte with one shot of caramel!) and have a lovely walk while the sun comes up."
What do you do to make sure you enjoy the week as much as the weekend?
"I try to find something to look forward to every day. It might be wearing a new hair accessory, trying a different recipe for supper, or catching up with a friend. I don’t want to be a broken record but I do get a huge amount of pleasure from having a dog (lock down cliche, though it was!) and so every day has joy with him around, weekend or not!"
Who or what inspires you the most to live out your day to the fullest?
"I am constantly reminded how lucky I am to be here; in London, safe and healthy (touch wood), and so that hugely inspires me to live as well as I can, and make the most of what I have. I feel as though if you told 15 year old me that I’d live in London with the cutest dog, happy relationship and a job in jewellery, I’d have thought that sounded like my dream life and so that inspires me to keep going, and keep growing."
How do your clothes impact your mood?
"Clothes hugely impact my mood! I plan my outfits in a Note in my phone and knowing I want to try a new combination can get me out of bed with a spring in my step. I have definitely found I am a better and happier version of myself if I like what I am wearing; I think that’s probably just called ‘confidence’ though!"
What’s your go-to weekend recipe or tipple?
"I really love cooking - the Mattar Paneer recipe in the Dishoom cookbook is my current favourite."
What Newt item(s) of clothing would you pick out for a fun-filled day?
"I adore the stretch flares! The pink/teal zebra striped flares are fully on my wish list at the moment! With a bit of stretch you know they’ll be comfy and could easily take you from a coffee date, to a wander around Borough Market, to dinner out!"
Quickfire round!
Ice cream or jammie dodgers? Ice cream - I think I eat it every day...Cluedo or Monopoly? Monopoly
Climbing trees or making sandcastles? Sandcastles!
Blow bubbles or make a daisy chain? Blow bubbles
Camp outside or build a den inside? Den inside, can’t be a cosy indoor fort!
Can you tell us about what you do and why you love it?
"I have my own small jewellery business - PARROT London. I currently work full time for another jewellery brand too so it’s safe to say I love sparkly things! I think most of all I love having something that’s all mine. I’m quite autonomous and independent and I love the freedom that comes with doing my own thing."
Can you tell us a bit about your journey and how you got into what you're doing now?
"How long have you got… I feel like I left uni without a clue what I wanted to do and so fell into a PR role. From there, I dabbled with being an estate agent, working in tech, and finally found my feet in jewellery sales. I love it, but am keen to work entirely for myself one day in the future.
I got into PARROT London and running my own business because during a really uncreative job, I needed to find an outlet to do something for me. I started a jewellery blog (Jewellery for Breakfast) and from there, I met all sorts of people who helped me learn that I could totally run my own business too with enough drive and passion to do so. Two and a half years of PARROT later and I haven’t looked back!"
If you enjoyed this interview with Flora, be sure to follow the PARROT London Instagram @parrotlondon, and be sure to follow us over on Instagram too @newt.london for more of our Be Your Weekend Self series.
We're offering a 10% discount across both PARROT London and our site until midnight BST on Sunday Oct 24th 2021, so be sure to take a look at their gorgeous jewellery! You can shop our accessories to match your mix-and-match jewellery looks too. Be sure to use the code NEWTPARROT10 - valid at both checkouts.