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Susie Reid Thomas (right), founder of Twilight Trees, with Lisa Griffith. All pictures: Kenekt, Daisy Harris Reid and Rob Lister.
Published: February 8, 2024 | Updated: 8th February 2024
It all started with a single light-up tree back in 2014, but Susie Reid Thomas always had big ambitions for Twilight Trees – her bespoke installation business.
“I would drive past the National History Museum and think, one day my trees will be in there.”
And four years later, they were… but not without a healthy dose of hard graft and creativity.
“I’d been renting out a small handful of LED cherry trees for about a year.
“It had been a real hustle and I was juggling two small children at the same time, but the name was getting out there.
“One day a call came in from Burlington Arcade and they commissioned a 30-tree installation with a multi-year contract.
“We decorated Mayfair’s eminent arcade that year and the phone hasn’t stopped ringing since. That was 9 years ago!”
Nowadays Susie and her husband Andrew run Twilight Trees from a series of units on Manor Farm just outside Winchester, where they moved in 2022.
It’s there that their team of 20 – including two new apprentices – work around the clock supplying artificial and LED trees for weddings, parties, retailers and workspaces.
They even began making high-end floral dividing screens after a savvy pivot during the pandemic, when the events and hospitality sectors suddenly ground to a halt.
As word got out the clients came flooding in, and Twilight Trees is now the preferred supplier for venues like The National Gallery, The Ned, Coworth Park and Kew Gardens.
Twilight Trees held their 10-year celebration this January
In the past they’ve also taken gigs at The National History Museum, Kensington Palace, the V&A and Balmoral Castle, while their corporate clients include Google, Amazon, Netflix and Disney.
And with almost 2,000 trees going out to more than 300 events every year, Susie and Andrew have been sure to keep a keen eye on their environmental impact.
“We’re a proudly carbon neutral company”, said Andrew.
“We audit and offset our carbon footprint across all of our events, travel, shipping and the running of our business.
“In 2023 we offset 68 tonnes of CO2 by supporting a global portfolio of verified carbon reduction projects, and we also plant trees monthly through TreeApp.”
And so, ten years on from the days of shipping containers stacked up in the garden and staff assembled around the kitchen table, the future is looking bright for Twilight Trees as they continue to build their team and client base.
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