Kim Epley, Chief Exec & Creative Director
Kim had her first cut flower garden at age 5.
She recently joined forces with Farmer Blue, leaving her corporate role as Chief Commercial Officer in the tech industry and now follow passions which express floral creativity and environment advocacy while helping clients visualize how they can use local, seasonal blooms in their floral recipes. She also runs The Studio at Farmer Blue which offers an array of end-to-end services to create floral designs for special events including custom grow calendars for that perfect wedding, shareholder meeting or product launch.
Kim has lived throughout the US, landing in the Lowcountry in late 2019, prior to COVID starting to impact our world. Throughout her corporate career, arranging flowers had always been a way to decompress after a long week of meetings and travel. Along the way, she studied interior and floral design at several certified design institutes. In addition, she has worked with mentors in event and daily florals.
Farmer Blue’s Studio is founded on the key principle of sustainability. We work to avoid single-use plastic or non-biodegradable floral foam. We share a belief that the luxury floristry industry is rooted in seasonality and strive to use as many flowers as possible in our own designs, sourced primarily from southeast US farms. Our services represent collaboration & partnership with other floral industry design experts who are top of their game! We’re passionate about delivering an exceptional client experience.
About Us
David Blue, Chief Grower, Product Innovation Officer & Founder
In 2017 David founded Farmer Blue with a desire to follow his passion for disciplined growing, leveraging by childhood experiences from the family farm in Canada. Heavily influenced by the ‘farm to table’ movement and its role in agricultural sustainability, the farm strives to foster economic and community growth.
Dave came to the Lowcountry in 2020 to fill the luxury flower gaps that existed with local farming. Farmer Blue expanded to include 12-acres of farmland outside of Beaufort. The original goal was to provide the floral professionals access to seasonally rich, American-grown flowers free from excessive chemical use. Initial focus was on the Charleston market.
With 80% of the flowers used by florist in southeast being imported from outside the US, using damaging chemicals to grow, transport and extend the life of the blooms.
Over the past four years, the property has turned into a high production flower farm what continues to specialize in bulk wholesale options but offers design services via The Studio at Farmer Blue. We offer subscription florals, event florals, commercial and conference solutions. Daily flowers also available by market.
The farm has joined forces with other premium South Carolina growers to form a flower co-op, building a stronger portfolio with extended growth seasons which benefit our customers. Dave is also involved in the local floral community, providing mentorship and training.
