|      Fashion. No Fucks Given.    |   Pretty. Not Polite.     |      Pretty. Practical. Profanity.  

ABOUT THE OWNER/ARTIST/CREATOR/ ONLY EMPLOYEE: 

Chillin on the beach wearing Flowers & Fuck Off Shirt & Hoodie

Hi, I’m Cassandra. And Flowers & Fuck Off is my first foray into the world of online stores and trying to sell my art.

But WHO AM I REALLY? Honestly, 3 years of therapy and I still struggle with this question. I’m a freak/weird/coordinator/photographer/artist/digital creator/film maker strange combination of practical and whimsical. Humour has always been my main coping mechanism, and I am just enough of a brat to find swearing to be both practical and whimsical (much to the despair of my parents.) Tee-Hee. 😛

I learned photography at a young age from my father, and have always been drawn heavily to visual arts, but was never led to believe that I could make anything of my art or projects. For the longest time it was a hobby I would pick up and then drop, like so many other hobbies over the years. But during the pandemic, like so many people, I started to reconsider everything, and with the encouragement of my most inspiring friend (who sadly lives too far away) and the support of her small business, That Zap Girl, https://thatzapgirl.com/, (check it out) I finally got the confidence and connectivity to get this started. And started seeing my art, photography, and surface pattern design as something worthy I wanted to put out into the world.  But despite that, and wanting to be seen for my creations, I have been terrified about being judged, failing, or even attacked for trying to put myself out there.  Combine that with a healthy dose of PTSD, Workplace Trauma and (until recently undiagnosed) ADHD, it took me a while to come up with a theme I could confidently run with. And then a hell of a lot longer to make anything from it.

Playing with Reflections and Flowers.

So, WHY FLOWERS AND FUCK OFF? I have always had trouble setting boundaries for myself. The ability to say no, or even Fuck Off was trained out of me as a child. I always wanted to be helpful and always put other people’s needs above my own. Which has not helped me in the long run. I was so desperate to be useful and nice, I burnt out dedicating all my energy to other people’s projects because I couldn’t justify saving time for myself. The name not only makes me laugh every time I say it, it reminds me of the purpose behind it. Self-empowerment, setting boundaries, realizing you don’t owe anyone, self-actualization, blunt honesty and even mental health awareness are common struggles that, thanks to the internet, I know can realize are more universal than just me. It seemed a good place to start. Something I am doing for me, that might also be useful to other people has been a way of tricking me to keep the volume of my doubts at bay.

But why Flowers? I have never considered myself a flowery person (I refused to wear anything flowery when I was younger, much to my mother’s chagrin). I hated that they were presented as “Oh so cute and girly.” Yeah. Seriously, not really my vibe. So, I have been resistant to flowery patterns/images ever since.  But then I moved to BC, and how could I not fall in love with taking photos of the flowers that are EVERYWHERE. Seriously, I started taking walks just to look at people’s garden’s and take pictures and amassed a giant collection of photos. (Not to mention the 100000 other photos I took and then never did anything with over the years.)

So, when I was coming up with a theme for this first online store project, I really wanted to utilize those photos. But I resisted that for the longest time. Then, one day, when my partner asked WHY I didn’t want to do flower theme, I commented that it would be my vibe if I could do Flowers & Fuck off. Then it clicked. Why COULDN’T I do Flowers & Fuck Off? (Well, other than the government telling me that it might be offensive to some customers, which is why Flowers & Fuck Off is a part of the official Flowers & Flock Off.)

Tribal Glow Pattern

So, by naming my first online store Flowers & Fuck Off is a statement to myself. To own what I have and to be comfortable setting boundaries, even if it comes down to some gentle swearing to get the point across.

WHY PATTERNS AND DESIGNS FOR CLOTHING?  I have always been plus sized. And I have always had trouble finding cool, fun, quirky patterns I liked on clothes I actually wanted to wear. So, Print-on-Demand clothing is my first step into the marketplace. I will continue to look for more print shops to work with, and hopefully in the future license my designs to other plus sized clothing shops in the future. I also love to go to festivals and raves, and I am always enthralled by the bright, bold patterns and designs I see everywhere. It’s hard not to be inspired and dream of contributing to the good vibes with my own art.

   |      Fashion. No Fucks Given.    |   Pretty. Not Polite.     |      Pretty. Practical. Profanity.  

A BIG FUCKING THANK YOU TO THE FOLLOWING COMPANIES FOR MAKING FLOWERS & FUCK OFF POSSIBLE:

ThatZapGirl: https://thatzapgirl.com/,

Raincoast Digital:  https://raincoastdigital.com/

Art of Where: – https://artofwhere.com/

Systems Business Coach:  https://www.systemsbusinesscoach.com/about/

Community Futures: https://www.communityfutures.ca/edp

WE-BC: https://we-bc.ca/