As part of the competitive trials, the top floral artists in the world, each representing their country, were asked to create a bridal bouquet. The floral artists were tasked with creating wedding bouquets as if having a party above the clouds.
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For a Wedding Above the Clouds: What Would You Make?
By Jill Brooke
The theme for Interflora World Cup 23 was connecting to nature with an emphasis on sustainability.
As part of the competitive trials, the top floral artists in the world, each representing their country, were asked to create a bridal bouquet. But this was not an ordinary bouquet. Of course not. Titled, “Our Clouds,” the floral artists were tasked with creating wedding bouquets as if having a party above the clouds. It was all part of the five different categories they had to produce to win this coveted honor in front of onlookers and judges.
Dallas-based Jenny Thomasson, representing the United States, explained that the celestial-themed concept was for a bouquet for the arm, wrist, or hand.
“I’m not going to make something normal and wanted something different so I made it for a ring,” she said.
What an interesting idea. Imagine walking down the aisle with a bouquet like this! It also is a form of jewelry art that can be made in a smaller version to make a fashion statement.
Using an epoxy ring base, she used silver tube beads and metallic silver embroidery to create a shimmering look. “I used stiff goldenrod because it looked like the condensation you would have in the clouds,” she says. “I used tweezers to build this so it was very intricate.” She also glued pussy willow buds on the lovely bouquet.
“It was both meticulous and meditative,” she reports.
Demark’s Katharina Albrechtsen made hers like a shield to protect one’s love. “I used chrysanthemums and orchids,” she says.
Hungary’s Attila Nemeth, internationally famous for his fantastic interpretations of pumpkins as vases, also used orchids. “I also had a jewelry designer make the base for me,” he reports of his futuristic design. And the jewelry designer was Jozsef Feher who also helped him in the competition. I particularly was charmed by the addition of the word love in his design. After all, love is eternal.
It’s always interesting to see how different artists interpret assignments. Let us know your favorite.
As far as who won the overall competition, where judges collectively assessed all five competitions, Germany’s Nicolaus Peters won first prize, which included his bouquet above.
While Peters took the first prize, Elisabeth Pålsson took second place for Norway, and the UK’s Lizzie Newcombe took third place.
The competitor’s tasks explained
A heavenly wedding
“Clouds are the imagination of the sky.” – Terri Guillemets
Abstract but magical, this task asked the competitors to imagine a wedding taking place way up in the sky, above the clouds. What flowers might we see? These were their creations.
Here is also a list of all the winners who competed since each one of these artists, as judge Deborah de la Flor told me, “are the best floral artists in the world.”
Canada: Lea Romanowski, Columbia: Ivan Moreno, Denmark: Katharina Albrechtsen, Finland: Saija Sitolahti, France: Stéphane Chanteloube, Germany: Nicolaus Peters, Hong Kong: Leong Solomon, Hungary: Attila Nemeth, Italy: Daniela Pighetti, Japan: Hironori Komatsu, Norway: Elisabeth Pålsson, Peru: Monica Patricia and Garcia Villegas, Portugal: Emanuela Araújo, Republic of Korea: Hyunghak Kim, Spain: Patricia Aguin, The Netherlands: Melissa Smedes, United Kingdom: Elizabeth Newcombe, USA: Jennifer Thomasson, Venezuela: Alejandro Figueira, Vietnam: Thanh Tran
Jill Brooke is a former CNN correspondent, Post columnist and editor-in-chief of Avenue and Travel Savvy magazine. She is an author and the editorial director of FPD and a contributor to Florists Review magazine.
