Elitonia were delighted to be featured in Cotswold Life in the June 2017 edition. Floral Couture, Design and Concept by Elitonia. Photography by Chris Boulton

1. Flowers and Headdress: Elitonia, www.elitonia.co.uk
Photography and Retouch: Chris Boulton, www.chrisboulton.co.uk
Horse: Bob, www.cotswoldrda.org.uk
Make-up and hair: Madiy Warner
Model: Sophie Organ
Video: Chris Ilston, COBA Digital, www.cobadigital.com
New York-born entrepreneur Toni Ryder has
brought her high-end floristry to the Cotswolds
flowering
THE
Elitonia
OF
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2. 210 cotswoldlife.co.uk 211
W
hen Toni Ryder left New
York in the ’90s to embark
on her career, little did
she know she would end
up in the Cotswolds.
For a small-town girl
from Upstate New York,
she rose to be head of her own IT and business
management consultancy and worked all over the
world for companies like Mobil Oil, BP and Burmah
Castrol. Such was the demand for Toni’s skillset
that she found herself being head-hunted for more
business recovery roles, helping failing companies
to turn around their fortunes and become thriving
and viable businesses.
Toni was working long hours under demanding
and stressful conditions and found that she was
starting to burn out. “I wanted my life back and
wanted to spend more time with my family,” she
says.
She came to the Cotswolds, initially due to work
commitments, but when she decided to leave the
management consultancy business, she looked at
where would be best to raise her family and then
choose to stay in the Cotswolds. “It has so much to
offer and is just a stunning place to live.”
Toni wanted to use the business skills that she
had learnt during her time with the large multi-
national companies and take them in a more
creative direction. Coming from a rural part of New
York State, Toni always loved nature, especially the
forest and the flowers where she lived. She was also
fascinated as to how flowers could be used to create
certain moods and change the décor for things like
movie sets, music events, elegant events and in the
home.
With this fascination in mind, Toni wanted to use
her skills and creativity to do something different,
so created Elitonia. She then brought in Ann Paisley,
a leading, award-winning master florist, to lead 4
COTSWOLD LIFE June 2017
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SEE
BEHIND
THE SCENES…
Chris Ilston from COBA Digital
filmed a great behind-the-scenes
video of the photo shoot. You
can see it here: https://
vimeo.com/208651550
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3. 212 cotswoldlife.co.uk
the team and develop the high-end creations that
could be used for the amazing events and parties,
movie sets, fashion photos, and interiors and society
weddings.
The team has now grown and has a presence in
New York and London, as well as launching in The
Cotswolds.
“It’s all about the art of floristry,” says Toni. “We
cater for those that want something different –
you’re only limited by your imagination.”
In preparation for the launch of Elitonia in the
Cotswolds, Toni partnered with Cotswold-based
advertising and editorial photographer Chris
Boulton to create a series of photo shoots using the
Cotswolds as a backdrop to the floral creations.
They based their first photo shoot on a character
from an old Russian fairy tale, called ‘The Snow
Maiden’. ‘Snegurka’ was the maiden made of snow
- she was ‘of the winter’ and also the daughter
of Spring (Becha-Kpacha). She yearned for the
companionship of mortal humans. Snegurka grew
to like a young shepherd named Lel, but her heart
was unable to know love. Her mother takes pity on
her and gives her the ability to feel emotion, but as
soon as she falls in love, her heart warms and she
melts. This version of the story was made into a play
The Snow Maiden by Aleksandr Ostrovsky, with
incidental music by Tchaikovsky in 1873.
Toni and Chris thought that the story dovetailed
nicely in with how the Cotswold landscape
transitions from winter to spring, and the first signs
of flora and fauna and colour.
Chris scouted the perfect location deep in the
heart of the Cotswolds and contacted a team of
people that he regularly works with. One of which
was the Cotswold RDA, who kindly agreed to let
them borrow their horse, Bob.
The day of the photo shoot was the coldest day
of the year, and when the team arrived on location
for the shoot, they quickly realised that they had a
very limited time frame to work with before it got
too cold, and model Sophie Organ started turning
blue. They managed to get a handful of shots before
it became impractical to carry on shooting, but the
team pulled together and did a wonderful job, as
you can see from the results here. w
‘Snegurka was the maiden
made of snow… she yearned
for the companionship of
mortal humans’
COTSWOLD R DA
The Cotswold RDA is an independent charity affiliated to the
national Riding for the Disabled Association. Launched in 1965,
the Cotswold RDA celebrated its 50th year in July 2015 with a
visitfromRidingfortheDisabledAssociationNationalPresident,
HRH The Princess Royal. Today the charity works with in excess
of 189 riders per week, supported by over 120 volunteers.
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