Just Bloom School opened recently in Old Worthington in the Kilbourne shops off High Street in the historic district. Founders and husband-and-wife duo Sarah Longrottia and Angus Fletcher opened the business as a school for creativity, “based in science and growing through flowers and art.” The business offers a variety of classes, workshops, and company retreats. We chatted with them about how the school came about and what they offer!

Q: How did the idea for Just Bloom School originate?
A: The idea evolved out of Angus’s work on the neuroscience of creativity and the creativity training that has developed from that, as well as Sarah’s experience teaching a combination of culinary, floral, and literary classes for the last 15 years.

On the heels of his recent book publications, Angus has been traveling and conducting creativity training over Zoom for the U.S. Army and various Fortune 50 companies. The research is really clear on the benefits this type of creativity training provides and we thought… why can’t we offer this to local businesses and, in a more subtle way, to individual people like us who are interested in creative pursuits?

What’s exciting to us is that it really opens the door to so many workshops.

Sarah oversees the general workshops and we work on the business retreats together.

Q: How is it different than a floral design studio?
A: We’re actually a creativity school! The “bloom” in Just Bloom School refers to your own blooming through creative practices. Creativity increases innovation and personal growth, psychological resilience, and general joy and engagement in life. It’s a wonder drug that makes life more dynamic for those who practice it. We create joyful opportunities to bring more of that power and resourcefulness into your daily life.

Each workshop starts with a short creativity primer: a five-minute exercise to set the tone and get your brain working in new ways.

In terms of business retreats, we have experience working with all kinds of companies from tech to finance to entertainment to medicine; the common denominator is a desire to grow top-line revenue.

Q: What are your current offerings?
A: We just finished up with vision boarding (which we’ll offer several times a year) and a focal flower workshop on dahlias, which gave us the opportunity to focus on one flower and the different ways it can be seen.

October is all about color. We have Day-of-the Dead and Heritage pumpkin workshops, both of which are opportunities to play with color and explore its possibilities.

Our November book club is Elizabeth’s Gilbert’s Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear, and we’re planning for a variety of non-fiction and fiction. Sarah’s also planning a 12-week workshop series based on Julia Cameron’s seminal creativity handbook, The Artist’s Way.

We’ll be announcing more winter workshops in mid-October, but keep an eye out for photography (specifically, how to use your manual setting), decoupage ornaments, mistletoe making, and gift-making with foraged and found treasures.

Business retreats will remain on-going and are specific to the businesses themselves.

Q: How did you land on Old Worthington as the location for it?
A: We live in this neighborhood and wanted to work here as well. There’s such a community of creativity, openness, and support here in Old Worthington and that’s what drew us here. And there’s something so special about being able to work in your own little village.

Q: How do you plan to grow Just Bloom School in the future?
A: We’re looking forward to having writing workshops, painting workshops, book events and readings, and meet-the-artist events. Kids classes are on the horizon (we’re waiting on vaccines for safety), and once those begin we’ll start a donation fund to bring in elementary classes on field trips.

We’d like to expand our portfolio of business clients to grow beyond big businesses outside Columbus and include more homegrown entrepreneurs here.

Q: Anything else you think we should know?
A: The space is also available to rent for private events or photo shoots.

Visit Just Bloom School in Old Worthington soon, and schedule a class or workshop through their site!