The countdown to Mother’s Day (May 13) has begun. Now is the time to think about surprising someone special with a bouquet of flowers.
Birkenhead Blooms is the latest South African book to be launched on contemporary floral art.
Written by talented Cape floral artist, Alyson Kessel, it is a superb window into the world of floral art for the home. Not only is it a great gift idea for a mother this Mother’s Day, but it is also a step-by-step guide to decorating your own home with flowers, or creating an arrangement of flowers.
One of the most fascinating aspects of Alyson’s book is that each chapter is devoted to differently shaped vases and containers.
The results are spectacular. Some arrangements are bountiful and complex, while others use as few as two or three blooms, making it easy to achieve a stunning effect, no matter what the available budget.
A highlight of Alyson’s creativity is the many examples of how to use clusters, or groups of a single species, in floral arrangements, as well as how to develop tiered structures and how to use repeats of one simple arrangement effectively in a room.
Artistic ideas of how to use flowers in a contemporary fashion are cutting-edge. Alyson sees flowers as the finishing touches for special occasions.
Why are her floral arrangements so eye-catching?
She says: “The freedom of choice in the combinations, both of flowers and colour schemes, makes floral art so much more accessible and appealing to everyone.
“Also a new trend to mass the same variety and colour of blooms together in one vase, with stems that are usually cut very short, is very stylish.”
What are her favourite flowers?
“My favourite flowers are the ones with a very short season like tulips, poppies and ranunculus.
“I also love hydrangeas and I adore big fat roses, soft lisianthus and St Joseph lilies,” she adds.
Although her favourite flowers are largely exotics, her use of local plant material in the book makes this a thoroughly South African publication. She is also passionate about the usefulness of vines, which she uses regularly to make support frames, like nests.
What are Alyson’s floral art tips for your home in the run-up to Mother’s Day?
* Work with blooms you really like and make sure they are good quality without soft, smelly stems and bruised petals.
* Never be afraid to use unorthodox colour combinations if you like them that way, or to use only one colour, or shades of one colour.
* Buy flowers to match the vase you want to use, not the other way around.
* Remember that a series of vases with one stunning bloom in each can create maximum effect at minimal cost.
* Be inspired by the best floral artists in the world. Trawl the internet and read books. - Saturday Star
* Birkenhead Blooms: The floral art of Alyson Kessel by Alyson Kessel. Hardcover. Published by Struik Lifestyle (an imprint of Random House Struik), 2011. www.randomstruik.co.za