A Visual Feast: Unicorn Blooms potluck with White Oak Flower Co. and Kenilworth Floral

Amira and Jordana, artists, teachers, flower buds forever.

Well I went to a potluck the other day, but it waren't like any kind of potluck I'd been to before.

Last Monday, a group of flower growers came from all around Southern Ontario to meet up at beautiful Country Cut Flowers and construct a large-scale, foam-free floral installation. 

When a dozen or so flower farmers bring their best blooms to the dinner table, this is the spread. It's really, really good.

Yup, foam-free! While those dusty, green blocks of floral foam are undeniably effective, their convenience comes at great cost to the environment. So, more and more of us are doing our best to move away from the stuff. Suffice it to say, if UK florist Phillippa Craddock can rig up a giant arch and multiple hedgerows for the recent royal wedding without using an ounce of foam, surely we can get there too. That was the thinking behind this workshop, anyway, as envisioned by the amazing Louise Warner from Unicorn Blooms and Wild Imagination Flower Co. and taught by flower mavens Jordana Masi and Amira Shabason.​

Once the water sources are in place, the bones are laid down. Big sweeping branches to give shape and movement.

Height, texture, depth, scent! That's a stalk of giant fennel in Jordana's hands.

The group joins in.

Filling in the design with little moments; colour-blocking and blending so the eye can find a spot to rest and enjoy before moving on.

Process.

And now for the final product.....................

Voila! It was impossible to fit the entire thing in one frame. Truly breathtaking in scale. This photo didn't do it justice.

It is incredibly exciting to be pushing forward together on such an important front. In general, foam-free design requires more labour and is therefore more expensive, but the hope is that we'll be able to use some of the techniques we learned to make our own installations during the upcoming inaugural Canadian Flowers Week, September 13-19, 2018. ​It is a VERY exciting time for flowers, folks.

Will I be doing something that week? Yup....... and I can't wait to tell you about it soon!

In the meantime, thanks forever to Louise, Amira, Jordana, and Janet for bringing us all together!!! I regret I was to shy too ask everyone to stand for a group photo - so let's just have one more of Amira and Jordana. 

Visionaries. Thank you!!!

Talk soon,