University Place florist takes her garage business to HBO Max’s ‘Full Bloom’
For most people, birthday presents are wrapped in a box or placed in a gift bag. Kiara Hancock’s birthday present this year was the first episode of “Full Bloom,” which aired June 10 on HBO Max.
“I’ve never been on television,” said Hancock, 40. “That’s wild in and of itself.”
Hancock, owner of K. Hancock Events, is a florist from University Place who competed in Season 2 of “Full Bloom.” The show consists of 10 contestants who must put their creativity to the test through solo and team challenges for a grand prize of $100,000.
Hancock said a casting producer reached out to her last year to ask if she was interested in being a contestant. COVID-19 put the casting process at a standstill, so she did not hear back from the producer until six months later.
Hancock said she had to go through a rigorous interview process and flew to Los Angeles in March to shoot the episodes. The whole production was a “buzz,” she said.
“There’s cameras everywhere, there’s producers everywhere, there’s people asking you questions while you’re working and while you’re in these challenges,” Hancock said. “It’s crazy.”
One of Hancock’s favorite challenges was in Episode 2 when they had to piece together a giant painting made out of flowers. She said her team had to recreate a piece from Pablo Picasso.
“It was amazing because it was just such a large scale (and there were) so many flowers,” Hancock said. “They get really technical with trying to recreate what’s on the canvas.”
Hancock cannot say who won the grand prize. If it is her, she said, she would use the money to purchase a studio for her business. Hancock works out of her garage, which she said she loves but can get crowded.
K. Hancock Events specializes in wedding design and floral design, among other things. Hancock said she loves being able to express her creativity while executing her clients’ needs at the same time.
“I love meeting a client and listening to them … and being able to translate that into something … that you can see, touch and feel on a wedding day,” Hancock said. “It’s such a beautiful thing.”
Hancock moved to Tacoma from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, when she was 9 years old. She attended Bothell High School, became a Seattle Seahawks cheerleader and the rest was history, she said.
After Hancock got married in 2014, her interest in wedding planning grew apparent, she said. It was not until the following year when she started to develop an interest in floral design.
Hancock got to attend a floral design workshop in 2015 through a scholarship from Sinclair & Moore, an event design and planning team in Seattle. Hancock said she developed a love for flowers when she attended the workshop.
“I found the joy in it and was really able to understand the beauty of working with flowers and the science behind it, too,” Hancock said. “I was able to realize that this was something I wanted to do.”
Steve Moore, co-owner of Sinclair & Moore, said Hancock was one of the first recipients of the scholarship as it was his first year offering it to the public. It was a unanimous decision to offer her the scholarship, he said.
“I just had a gut feeling,” Moore said. “There was something different about her, something special about her — giving her that opportunity was a no-brainer.”
The judges in the show include well-known florists like Simon Lycett, Elizabeth Cronin and Maurice Harris. Season 2 will have eight episodes with each lasting about an hour. The next episode of “Full Bloom” will broadcast Thursday, June 24 on HBO Max.
This story was originally published June 22, 2021 at 11:54 AM.
