Flourish Sydney 2019 was incredible: our two day intensive floristry workshop weekend, focussing in on wedding and event floral design skills. Garden inspired, modern floral techniques with our signature 'flourish', with a focus on foam free design techniques.
We spent a substantial amount of our time applying theory during practical design demonstrations, as we find this more useful in showcasing how we create. It bridges the dry theory with the hands-on application, which we find more effective and powerful. For example, when demonstrating creating a wedding bouquet, we talk through each aspect of our design as we create it (in a thinking out loud type of way), so that students can have an authentically raw experience of hearing and seeing how we design a bouquet from start to finish.
After demos, students have the time to try it and put to practise what they've learnt! Throughout their design time, we help provide feedback, tweaks and design guidance for each student. Once everyone’s completed their bouquet, we helped style a shot of it for their portfolio, with our photographer Captured Frames. The two bouquet photos below, for example, are designs by the students!
In the afternoon of day one, we spent time discussing eco-friendly and foam free design techniques, whilst also preparing mechanics for the following day’s session so we can dive straight into design the following day. The following morning, we kicked things off with a foam-free table arrangement design demonstration, followed by time for students to put into practice what they’ve learned. We always emphasis context when it comes to vase arrangements, as it’s so important to consider factors such as height and size based on the type of table and the event style that we’re designing for.
Team work is vital for wedding and event floristry, so we focussed on a larger scale installation after lunch. After we demonstrated a design in unison, the group was divided into two to work on their own group installations. The second day ended with an open Q&A session, talking all things about business, pricing, marketing, client communication and on the day logistics - whatever the students wanted to discuss. This is such an incredible opportunity for the group to ask any burning questions. We loved this part, as it’s such a fantastic way to connect the two days of practical design to the more realistic, business side of things.
We’re super grateful for the group of students that attended Flourish in 2019! It’s such an honour to be able to teach and share, and receiving such incredibly positive feedback after the closing of the two days is truly humbling.
Here’s a heartwarming testimonial & a couple of photos from student Della, of her own work several months after completing Flourish:
“I did my first wedding yesterday, and it went super well! ...thank you for the amazing insights you shared at Flourish last year, I definitely couldn’t have pulled this off without some of the techniques you taught! So thank you and for being so inspiring!” - Della, Flourish 2019 student
Interested in reading more about Flourish? You can read about the 2020 edition here.
