Contemporary spring design - A study on texture

I'm currently enrolled in a "Creativity & Competition" floral class at Golden West College (Huntington Beach, CA) taught by the lovely Miriam Soamoano, AIFD. Every week we have a theme, so we have to come-up with a design that also includes a vessel. Being an avid lover of contemporary and European style, I like to challenge myself to create some interesting ...(at least to me!)... designs.

This week, the focus was on texture. I built a structure based on wool and ropes and attached some twig balls. Since daffodils are starting to appear at the flower market, I taught it would be a nice touch to add the delicate bloom to this composition. Like the crocus emerging from the snow, narcissus remind us that Spring is just around the corner.

{This design was inspired from a Baudouin Roelants creation showcased in Fusion Flower magazine, December/January 2011/12 issue. }

{My original project as presented in class }

Rustic Chic Wedding

I was fortunate last weekend to go to an AIFD Southwest chapter wedding show in San Bernadino, CA. I went on the day before to help designers prepare for the show as well as taking an Hands-On class with Carol Caggiano, AIFD. The class was based on traditional western style design, so it was good for me to revise the classic spiral hand-tied technique. Here is the wedding bouquet I did featuring a curly willow and ivy armature, and a little cascading effect.

Carol did a very good presentation during the show by talking about trends, and how the "Shabby Chic" has evolved today into the "Rustic Chic". Rustic Chic designs are characterized by a mix of woody elements and garden flowers, topped with chic flair. Apparently, the trend is here to stay for casual weddings...




I also did later on a simple hand-tied bouquet in a low vase that could be used as centerpiece or table decor. Nothing is more elegant to me, than a clean hand-tied bouquet with spiraling stems.

Spring tulip bouquet with equisetum armature

Spring is in the air... I was so pleased to see the gorgeous tulips and daffodils back at the flower market. Their cheerful colors just had a strong power of attraction on me. Resistance was futile... . So I bought some, as well as 2 bunches of equisetum. I created an armature with the snake grass, and just placed the gorgeous blooms in it. The result was, to me, pretty nice.

{Thank you to the great Pim van ven Akker, master florist in Netherlands, who greatly inspired this design.}