MY EXPERIENCE : LONDON FLOWER SCHOOL
One month after the wedding, I visited London for studymoon trip. If you are wondering why I call it studymoon, it is because my husband came along with me to London for honeymoon yet I spent most of the days there taking floral classes. So yes, I left my husband and his laptop in the hotel to do classes.
In LFS, I took The Foundation course. It was 10 of us in the class, such a fun and memorable experience to get to know friends from across the world with the same passion.
From this course I got to know another fellow Indonesian florist, Monica of Bibury Flowers. We were not in the same class though, since she was doing career course (I envy her :( )
Within a week, the students get to learn many arrangements from hand-tied, vase arrangements, centerpieces, Ikebana and large scale installation.
What I like about LFS is that you get to learn both classic and contemporary style, so you don’t have to learn and stuck with specific style only. This really helps their students to discover and figure out what personal style they prefer to do.
My funny-looking dome shape arrangement
As I am more into anything unstructured and natural-looking arrangement, I struggled a lot in creating dome shape arrangements.
I just don’t know how to create the perfect dome. I remember that I was the last student to finish this arrangement. I took the longest time to create yet it is still looking somewhat funny. You can see how it looks like on the next picture.
Meanwhile, vase arrangement class is my favourite. Ammi, grasses, peppers, asclepias, by looking at the ingredients I just know that I would enjoy arranging this one.
Image credits Marcelo Deguchi
Before I started this course, I wonder why there should be one day class dedicated just for Ikebana. I remember we were only given pink chrysanthemums, agapanthus, and grasses.
I was like, “what should I do with these?”.
After further explanation about Ikebana by our tutor, Wagner, this class is such an eye-opener for me. With certain rules and limited ingredients, you need to be creative and thoughtful at placing your blooms. It is amazing to learn that with minimum ingredients you can create an impactful arrangement
On the last day, we worked on a large, well, more like ENORMOUS floral installation, the Flower Tornado. This installation was made with no floral foam, 100% chicken wire.
It was such an amazing experience to work on such huge installation with another 16 students.