Floral arranging = décor = tool of design (but not the whole tool kit.)

Today the office where I work had an Open House. The Principals of the firm hold them every one to two years to show our appreciation for our clients and consultants. They entail a lot of food, music and socializing. It takes quite a bit of time to plan and coordinate all the efforts that go into one. Dare I say the invitation process is the most difficult? It takes months for all the leaders in the firm to pass around the invitation list and update it.

My role to play for a number of years has been floral arranging for the event.  I don’t quite know how I was assigned that task, but it has been one that I have come to enjoy. It really breaks up the monotony of my work loads and allows me to be creative in a different way. I know residential designers can spend a lot of time in it, but for commercial Interior Designers that are always trying to educate the public that we do more than pillows and decor, it isn’t something we do much. Larger architectural plants, yes, but LIVE flowers, No.

As today approached I haven’t had much time to think through really what I wanted to do. On Monday of this week I went to the flower wholesaler with some photos on my tablet for inspiration and started to think through what I possibly could do. (I have a brother who is a professional caterer and floral arranger in California who had given me some pointers on what is trending right now. I was happy to know my ideas were right in line with some of the images he sent. )

I unfortunately arrived too late on Monday to put in a flower order for the open house, so I had to rely on what floral goods would arrive today. I was extremely nervous arriving at the wholesaler. I haven’t been so unprepared for a number of years. At first I was worried as I looked around the plant cooler because the colors of plants I had planned for weren’t quite in line with the current stock. However as all good designers do – I improvised!

It took the morning to get everything picked up and all the vase and arranging tables prepared. After that It took me about 3 hours to get them all sorted and cut and arranged.

My idea was to do “color blocking” with the individual arranged vases; all different plants with different textures and forms, but in similar colors. And then, have one center piece that would pull all the colors into one. I was a bit nervous about the idea, because as I work for an Architectural firm we usually are pretty modern and simplistic in both design and form. This arrangement would be more flowery than I have done in the past, and could come across as more traditional. But I gave it a go.

Here are some images from the event:

One little hiccup along the way (well, actually this is about the 3^rd if I counted honestly,) the table count I had been given went up 2 tables and I had to improvise by breaking up my groupings of three vases for each table and go to one vase a table. I think it weakened the color blocking concept, but you do what you have to do.

I don’t think most people in our firm know I arrange the flowers – I usually keep it on the down-low, and try to work in a an area not trafficked by most employees. But I received some positive feedback from those that did know. However, I usually live by the equation that 50% will hate you (or it), 25% will love it (or you) and 25% could careless either way. I find that this is usually true – and if not, I am pleasantly surprised when more people like the ideas (or me!)