About the Businesswoman Behind the Blooms: Kristyn of Karma Floral & Event Design

Building Neighborhoods is more than the SILVERMAN tagline—it defines the company’s mission, values, architectural aesthetic, and business model for 40 years. One of the ways we live our tagline out loud is through partnering with fellow members of the Jersey City community who have a shared mission in building our neighborhoods. 

We are so happy to highlight some of these very partners – the dynamic business owners that live and breathe life into SILVERMAN buildings. We believe the community that fills the places we build are part of what make our neighborhoods great. We are humbled to work with such wonderful individual entrepreneurs and teams hard at work creating jobs, building establishments, and providing value to our neighbors in Jersey City through the space we’ve provided.

This month, we’re excited to share more about a flourishing floral business that moved into a SILVERMAN studio in 2018. Read on to learn a little bit more about Karma Floral & Event Design and the businesswoman behind the blooms.

About the Budding Business 

Karma Flowers is a boutique floral and event design company. To their team, flowers are one piece to the overall design of an event, activation, or experience. They take pride in telling their client’s story when crafting floral and decorative arrangements. 

From everyday bouquets to magnificent marital arrangements, Karma Flowers does it all and does it well. Their work can be seen in national wedding blogs such as Style Me Pretty, Wedding Chicks, Green Wedding Shoes and Carats and Cake, as well as on HGTV and Hearth Magazine blogs, and in print magazines such as The Knot, Well Wed, New Jersey Bride, Contemporary Bride, and 201 Bride.

Entrepreneurial Roots

Kristyn Lobo comes from a family of entrepreneurs. Both her mother and father had their own companies when she was growing up. But, her path wasn’t always set in the direction of entrepreneurship. For many years, Kristyn’s heart was set on working with children. She spent years in school for teaching and has a Masters of Education. While pursuing her graduate degree, Kristyn worked for her family children’s fitness business. 

It wasn’t until she took a floral arranging class at Smith & Chang (now O’Kafe) in the Hamilton Square building that Kristyn realized her true calling. Kristyn, who says “[her] life took a turn after that class,” met her passion at a SILVERMAN property! It was here and then that she was introduced to an opportunity to jump in as an extra set of hands during wedding season. 

Kristyn officially started as a designer for Karma Flowers in 2014, which was founded by a Jersey City couple in 2012. In about a year’s time, she was asked to be the third business partner. In 2016, Kristyn took over the floral division and became the sole owner of Karma Floral & Event Design (slight name change). Kristyn is entering her fifth year as the sole owner and couldn’t be happier. She shares,

“Working for yourself has its own challenges, mainly being that everything comes down to you and preserving the quality and reputation of your name, and you have to wear all the hats in a small business. I wouldn’t change this for the world and am constantly learning, pushing myself, and making plenty of mistakes and accomplishments along the way.” 

Community Connections 

Kristyn always loved a good party, and loves getting to help plan them even more now. Being a part of the Jersey City wedding community has been a joy to her. “Floral design came natural to me and I fell in love with the artistic process and creative world,” she gushes. Kristyn loves nothing more than crafting beautiful designs in collaboration with local businesses and entrepreneurs – whether photographers, videographers, event planners, jewelry designers, wedding dress designers, cake artists, calligraphy artists, venues or otherwise. Karma Floral & Event Design has produced events in almost every event space (&co included!) in Jersey City and have become preferred vendors at Battello, Maritime Parc, and Liberty House.

Kristyn’s direct team is local, too. She works with a handful of freelance designers who help her with the preparation and execution of events. 

A (SILVERMAN) Floral Studio

How did Kristyn come to be a part of the SILVERMAN community? “Eric Silverman actually spotted me lugging flower baskets from a small artist studio I had on the fifth floor of the Hamilton Park Montessori school and asked if I was looking for a studio space.” Kristyn said yes, of course. The SILVERMAN team outfitted a custom studio for Kristyn at Two Ten (210 9th Street) and the rest is history. She uses the space as a personal workshop to build beautiful creations for the local community and her clients. 

Kristyn is so grateful for the dedication and care each individual SILVERMAN employee shows their small business partners. “Whether Vanessa is connecting me to a pop up shop opportunity, Paul is going out of his way to say hello, or Eric is introducing me and my business to someone new, I am so appreciative.” 

Looking Ahead 

When asked what events or initiatives she’s looking forward to, Kristyn was excited to spill some details about her plans to expand Karma Flowers’ partnership with New City Kids. While they currently donate 15% of their weekly and holiday sales to the program, Kristyn is hoping to do some in person volunteering, classes, or even “Karma internships” with the kids when COVID is not as much of a concern. 

The team is also looking forward to the Spring season, Mother’s Day, and (hopefully) the reintroduction of wedding showcases. Kristyn is also looking forward to weddings getting safely back into full swing. The team has been producing smaller weddings over the past eight months, with precaution, but is feeling hopeful for larger weddings (and thus increased floral needs) with the rollout of the vaccine and the nice weather on the horizon. Kristyn tell us, “people are back to planning weddings and celebrating love!” 

Needless to say, if you’re in need of some flowers, give Karma Floral & Event Design a call. You can fill out a form on their website, email [email protected] or call 732-735-9033 to get in touch.

Thank you, Kristyn, for being such a wonderful, creative member of our SILVERMAN community!