I was honored to get to hold a workshop at my dear friend Hank's shop in Silver Lake, The Plant Provocateur a few weekends back. We transformed his beautiful plant shop into a flower studio that looked like it could have been in an alleyway in Kyoto! The inspiration for the class was movement and how movement can inform our arrangements. I wanted to see energized flower creations with motion and energy - a deliberate break from the standard triangular arrangements that look like they are from a dutch still life (which I too find extremely beautiful of course). I wanted students to explore something deeper for their inspirations - I wanted them to fish deep within themselves to see what they could pull out and run with that as their guides as opposed to a notion of what their arrangements should look like. Lo and behold I was astonished: such extremely unique and dynamic floral arrangements were indeed manifested! It was such a success and the students joy with their creations was just as infectious.
I am always pleasantly delighted at the beginning of a class when students are timid and unsure of what they are capable of creating, and being able to lead them to a confident floral designer by the end of a class with just a few simple instructions and more than anything else, encouragement for them to keep on pushing and going with their vision(s). That is the gift for me. That is my return.
To my awesome students: thank you for showing up and keeping me inspired.
