I remember it well. The first question I asked on the Flower Factor Facebook page: ‘How curious are you?’
And guess what? There seem to be many curious people out there. People who want to learn and discover. It’s a quality I use on a daily basis.
In this first blog post I’d like to take you on a journey around the world of flower arrangement and floral design. So join me, together we can discover, learn and grow!
This timeframe we live in demands a lot of creativity, askes us to look at things differently, to deal with materials in other ways. It is a daily exercise for me to stretch the possibilities, find the limits. So for now, let’s find the limits in using recycled materials.
Can we as a florist or designer increase the reuse or application of materials that otherwise would have been stamped as being garbage? Or can we reuse materials from other industries?
Walking on the street, of nosing on jumble sales can give you different insights. A bicycle shop, throwing away unrepairable inner tires, could provide an ultimate material for us to decorate a vase. For me an old couch I find on the street, ready to be disposed of, can be a little treasure.
It’s a natural motion that leads me to this couch, to cut loose the old weathered leather and reuse it for a new creation. Small daily happiness in a quest for material, that’s how I experience these things. These small happy moments can fill us with amazement as soon as we release our creativity at them.
An old vacuum cleaner can be a small treasure as well. The tube is an excellent thing to ‘play’ with. Cover it with leafs and moss, tie in some knots, present it on a nice glass bowl et voila: an intriguing base is born. Add some flowers and you’ve just discovered something new!
Pim van den Akker