Every Christmas I decorate a client’s home for their annual Christmas Tree-Cutting Party. This year was their 25th and final year for this event. Because of Covid situation, it was determined that the outdoor courtyard would be tented and floored to accommodate a sit down dinner in a much bigger space. 16 – 72” round tables clothed white and silver with Christmas green napkins and silver Chiavari chairs with green and white Christmas Stocking used as chair backs. Client’s flower color request is white with natural Christmas greens and woodsy accessories + silver. The caterer and the client concluded that serving food family style would be the safest. This quickly determined that the centerpiece must have as small a footprint as possible to make way for the platters that will occupy the middle of the table. This job was on a very short notice so in most part I had to come up with ideas that did not require sourcing supplies that are difficult to locate. What I recommended was a Tall & slim Christmassy centerpiece lifted on a 12” Tall (4”dia.) heavyweight clear glass cylinders with river rock and water as anchor. Clear glass keeps the design looking light and lifted, and the mechanics used allows for precise placement of stems, into the water or free stemmed (without water source) which is possible when designing for a short term event. I offered the client 3 choices of centerpiece design to choose from. I suggested that it would be more interesting to have 2 styles of design – alternating tables for variation. One of the most important factor to consider was the production time, onsite. It was best to choose the designs which were quick to produce for 2 pros working on site.

Bridal Bouquet category in a competitive design contest requires more than designing pretty. The winning design must show good understanding of the Elements and Principles of Design, and show style and finesse technically, mechanically and creatively. In a very competitive field, the design need to be beyond pretty and lovely..., it must have creative and technical application with excellent workmanship.

My collection of dried botanicals have been waiting to be composed into a purposeful keeper art for some time. I wanted to approach these 3 compositions as assemblages, as stand alone permanent botanical wall art… or with add-on touches of fresh flowers and greens to complete them as an option.

It is such a pleasure to create compositions artfully, looking at the dried botanicals as textural medium with uniquely shaped forms and surfaces which occurred naturally to be highlighted. Exciting opportunity to compose with Nature’s Sculptures!!

My collection of dried botanicals have been waiting to be composed into a purposeful keeper art for some time. I wanted to approach these 3 compositions as assemblages, as stand alone permanent botanical wall art… or with add-on touches of fresh flowers and greens to complete them as an option.

It is such a pleasure to create compositions artfully, looking at the dried botanicals as textural medium with uniquely shaped forms and surfaces which occurred naturally to be highlighted. Exciting opportunity to compose with Nature’s Sculptures!!

For this edition of CREATIVE EDGE, I wanted to summarize the experience from the ‘ORGANICS’ Sostenible con Flores workshop just completed. To create a design that is100% Organic… so that the disposables are 100% home compostable and the base/container/structure, also created with organics that are reusable and does not harm the planet.

In this month’s design collection, I wanted to share 3 different ways you can use Paper as a source of inspiration, the focus Element of Inspiration. In designing each structure for flowering, using paper as the secondary medium of ART, these flower design becomes great examples of Hybrid Art. These designs marry the special attributes and ability of Paper with that of Botanicals to create a different approach to Art and Flowers. Creating combined story through varying contrasts of color, texture, line and form to produce exciting expression.

In all 3 designs, the use of flower is approached with restraint… this provide effective balance of visibility of the 2 medium, not to overtake the other – to portray near ideal proportion, one complementing the other effectively.

Arfully linear hand-tied bouquet is best created with a specially constructed foundational structure that was created with the final vision in mind. The building of this structure is the beginning of the design process… well before even touching flowers. While building, you are already dreaming of how the flowers will be placed… Once the structure is complete, the stem placement becomes automatic… you have created spots which will cradle your linear flow. The final flowering is a pure joy and is automatic…. you basically are fulfilling… completing your creative inspirational process!! You have visualized this design already while crafting your base structure.

My earlier passion in my favorite art-focused floral design was based on LINEAR DESIGNING. I enjoyed creating designs which were focused on LINE as the feature element in the composition. This generally creates a more transparent design where the stems and lines in general are more prominently visible. Linear design is fluid, possess visual flow, sense of growth, sense of direction…. Its dynamic!! never static.

Arfully linear hand-tied bouquet is best created with a specially constructed foundational structure that was created with the final vision in mind. The building of this structure is the beginning of the design process… well before even touching flowers. While building, you are already dreaming of how the flowers will be placed… Once the structure is complete, the stem placement becomes automatic… you have created spots which will cradle your linear flow. The final flowering is a pure joy and is automatic…. you basically are fulfilling… completing your creative inspirational process!! You have visualized this design already while crafting your base structure.

The design vibe in the recent years have revolved around garden style, showcasing the beautiful range of blooms from the garden. Interest in gardens in this decade is not unlike that of the Victorian era at the previous turn of the century… 1850-1900. At that point in the UK, gardening had become a national pastime for the middle-class, to uplift and be inspired from nature. This was followed by Gertrude Jekyll’s (1843-1932) Herbaceous Borders and colorful drift planting of perennials. Interest in Woodland Gardens, Water Gardens… painterly approach to the arrangement of the gardens and impressionistic color blending had become an obsession. So how can ART NOUVEAU be a flower design influencing style? It seems a natural evolution based on historical sequence of events in the past, in relation to today… In the past 10 years… Love and passion for Flowers have been trending… Inspired by Nature & Flower Farming and the new exciting varieties and color palettes... Designing with emphasis on exquisite flowers in a garden style defying the traditional forms… What’s next? Transitioning to designing with style that is less heavy…. with transparency… with linearity… ‘Less is more’ designs displaying Economy of Means… Art of maximum effect with less… Art Nouveau styling is an appealing direction for inspiration that suits the Spirit of our Times!! How to craft the Art Nouveau structure?

I have 2 reasons for designing and writing this particular article for this month.

First, its Earth month…Earth Day is April 22. It’s a month to bring more awareness about the Natural World and our planet Earth.

Second, to show flower design installed outdoors in a natural setting instead of in a commercial container. It enabled me to design in the spirit of nature.

The Inspiration for this article is the book ‘SHOE FLEUR’ published in 2008, authored by Michel Tcherevkoff, an accomplished commercial photographer with an incredible creative eye for important clients. It was a set of images which placed him in the world’s eye.

This book subtitled ‘A Footwear Fantasy’ came from the author’s first botanical encounter with a LEAF which looked like a shoe, which became the beginning of his Floral Fantasies which began dancing in his head. … playing with flowers….. the results were beyond anything I could have predicted. (M.Tcherevkoff)

Shoe Fleur is about INSPIRATION!!

February is a HEART month!! Valentine’s Day is symbolized by the Red Heart motif universally as an expression of LOVE. My article and the 3 designs this month is going to center around the Heart shape as the core inspiration.

I would like to start off the year 2021 committed to REDUCE, RECYCLE & REINVENT toward Sustainable Floristry.

I am excited to know that there are some exciting alternative environment-friendly products being tested and know that our industry will continue its quest toward more sustainable practices across the board… after all, we are working with Nature’s products.

I’m planning to continue my efforts, testing new methods and/or tweaking old methods to see if there’s some applicable ways to contribute to commercial floristry.

Whites and greys are Achromatic…. They are colorless. They are perfect quiet reflection of winter and its somber mood. The chilling frost and the blanket of snow, against the bare branches… the contrast is very stark in color and form. Winter is a much abstracted and reduced world, thus being devoid of color for this season makes good sense. Whites, greys, grey greens and organic color of tree trunk and twigs make perfect palette for winter wreaths.

Wreath is a decorative ring.

I chose 3 variations inspired by this foundational form.

I had fun this month with Cosplay – a portmanteau of the words costume play. It is a performance art whereby the costume wearer represent a specific character.

Flowering your pet… or Pet Dressup can be a fun distraction for social media posting!

Our special pets ultimately can garner more ‘LIKES’ modelling our flower creations with their cuteness!!

In creating flower costumes for our mini Australian Shepherd, SWARLEY, I wanted to come up with 3 different characters for him to cosplay. Different storyline for characterization was imagined, before working through the mechanics, techniques and flower choices to complete the costume.

I created 3 personalities this month for Swarley. Costume dressup is not limited to Halloween with pets…. We can dress them up any time of the year.

Tropical Flowers and I have history……

Tropicals were my CREATIVE EDGE - I used them as the difference maker in my early years in floristry especially in competition work. In this ‘Tropical Creative’ article, I decided to reintroduce some of my early favorite ideas and techniques blended with today’s methods and sensibility to bring to life a new evolved version that may have a place in today’s flower business.

Tropical flowers from Hawaii are not grown the same way as those grown elsewhere. They are grown with Aloha Spirit, ‘LOVE’… it defines a force that holds together existence. The energy that you feel in their flowers come from cultivating in clean and pure volcanic cinder. Hawaii claims 8 of the 14 world climate zones. This tropical island archipelago is one of the most ecologically diverse places in the world. It provides the ideal conditions to grow the most amazing range of species, varieties and cultivars of exotic flowers and plants.

For this month’s article, I created 3 hand-tied bouquets using 3 distinctively different armatures, with sustainability in mind.

It’s also the perfect time of the year to see what’s growing at local flower farms in your area! So, ALL of the flowers used in this month’s article were gathered from @FlowerFort in Langley, BC, @CharnwoodFarms in Chilliwack, BC, and also from my home garden on Bowen Island, BC.

Our Trend Summit 2020 Report (available as a free download at TrendSummit2020.com) suggested that a personalized floral headpiece which reflects a bride’s style may be a future direction for Tiny Weddings and Elopements.

Intimate & small weddings are best remembered, captured on film with memorable photo-op moments with lush personal flowers rather than lavish flower décor.

A Floral Headpiece is worn free-handed so they stay in the picture no matter what the bride is doing…. Kissing, hugging, dancing, etc. It becomes a significant visual record of the most important celebration through beautiful photographs. A Floral headpiece is flattering to every bride, plus there’s a suitable style to convey every personality!

In this month’s CREATIVE EDGE I want to share a COLOR challenge that helped me shift my narrow color preferences to a more holistic, inclusive palette.

Learning is experiencing new information

Learning is exploring areas previously unexplored

Learning is trying something outside the comfort zone

Learning is changing your innate habits

Sometimes a great design idea surfaces as a solution to a challenging problem…

Arranging 200+ glass bottles down the center of narrow banquet tables for a wedding can be very cumbersome and labor-intensive to design, set-up and take-down. The style of horizontal table design created for this Creative Edge June Article is a design solution for efficiency, an example of Economy of Means in every way, maximizing the use of minimal quantity of flowers.