Flower Styles

Since I embarked in this flower journey I discovered different flower styles and developed my own flower philosophy.

My wish is that you share the same joy I felt as I learned from floral designers around the world and from books about contemporary flower style and all others. Then create your own flower arrangements.

The first floral designer to influence and "awake" my inner creativity is Kenneth Turner, London foremost floral decorator back in the mid eighties.

Reading his book "Flower Style" opened a new world for me. He conquered the English world and beyond with his never seen innovative flower designs.

Traditional Flower Design

Constance Spry

Reading about Constance Spry contribution as a florist, author and social reformer truly impressed and inspired me.

Constance Spry's democratized home-making in mid-20th century Britain by teaching millions of people that - with a little imagination - they could beautify their homes with flowers plucked from hedgerows and scraps of wasteland.

Few people have had such a powerful influence over the way we decorate our homes as Constance Spry.

First as a teacher and social reformer, then as a society florist and best-selling author, Spry (1886-1960) taught mid-20th century Britons how to beautify their homes with such unassuming materials as berries, vegetable leaves, twigs, ferns and weeds displayed in a motley assortment of containers from gravy boats and bird cages, to tureen lids and baking trays.

In an era when millions of people were decorating their homes to their own taste for the first time, Constance Spry helped them to do so with flair and for very little money.

Believing that everyone had the right to beautify their home and that the means of doing so could be found in woods, hedgerows, vegetable patches or scraps of wasteland, Spry popularized her democratizing and essentially bohemians style of home-making by dispensing no-nonsense advice in books, articles and radio broadcasts all over the world.

"I do feel strongly," she once wrote, "that flowers should be a means of self-expression for everyone." her influence as a home-maker and social reformer has endured in the do-it-yourself creative spirit of such diverse institutions as art schools and the Women's Institute.

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Oriental Flower Style

Oriental flower design is the general term used to refer to Chinese or Japanese styles, where the focus is mainly on the appearance of the arrangement.

The linear style of Oriental flower arrangements emphasize the negative spaces, floral forms and the textures used in the arrangement.

Japanese flower arrangement, also known as Ikebana, focus on the line of the twigs and leaves, rather than on the flowers themselves like in Western designs.

The line of the twigs or leaves is combined with a small number of blooms and the design is complemented by the style of the container which is also a key element in the Ikebana style.

For more on oriental design style please check my: Ikebana Story and philosophy

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Free Style Floral Design

There might be a thousands rules on how to design with flowers, then there are those who do not want to be constrained by.

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Flower Design Notes

My personal notes.

Flower design is an act of creativity.

To play with God's creation; flowers, grasses and fruits. The rocks and the glass. Colors, texture, fragrance. Then to ignite all with the "spark" of your vision feelings and intuition.

Peace is essential. Total concentration.

Allow your spirit to float above, observe as never before.

Humble heart is a must. Look at the wonder of a parrot tulip flower, a little rock, a blade of grass.

I forgot, you must be a little crazy to go on the floral path, but do what you love.

Find more floral arrangement ideas.