Latest Event
Saturday, 23rd Nov. 2019
Workshop led by Mrs Odile Carton from Paris, France.
The Themes of the workshop:
Morning session: Textbook 4 – 7, Fruiting Plant Material (実物).
Afternoon session: Textbook 4 – 4, Only One Kind of Material（一種いけ).
Venue: London Flower School (Nearest tube station: Kings cross): 16-20 Wharfdale Road, N1 9RY
(Click on an image to enlarge it)
We welcomed Mrs Odile Carton, who is from the Sogetsu Ikebana Paris branch. She is very experienced and was awarded the Komon degree.
Mrs Carton has a wealth of knowledge on all aspects of Ikebana in Sogetsu.
She has a passion for making flowers attractive using the techniques of Sogetsu; soegi-dome, jikadome, jumonji dome etc. She loves using the flowers or branches you can always see in the garden or neighbourhood, not always us special expensive materials.
Our theme for the workshop in the morning is “Fruiting plant material” and “Only one kind of material” in the afternoon.
She used crab apples and pyracanthas, with a vase which is an ordinary brown pottery colour but is blue inside. The top of the vase is horizontal but curved round. She told us that the combination of the colours was beautiful; red and blue. She also wore an apron which had blue and red patterns because she likes the colours.
We learnt that it is important to think of lines, colour and mass when we create arrangements. Contrasts between the colour of the materials and the shape are important. Her work was strong and vivid. For the second arrangement for this theme, she used holly with pretty red berries and pine with small pinecones. She showed us how to use unique shapes of branches with red berries effectively.
Another theme was “only one kind of material”. Mrs Carton used camellia which had a lot of buds but all of them closed up. She showed beautiful branch lines and added fresh leaves to make it attractive.
For the second arrangement for this theme, she used hazel. She told us that simple materials are interesting. You may need some techniques such as massed expression to make a beautiful contrast with materials. Using wire is helpful.
After each demonstration we got to do our own work and made our own arrangements based on these themes. All the attendees’ arrangements were magnificent, and her advice, such as removing branches or changing a shape made them more attractive. How magical!
We just have to thank Mrs Carton so much for the lovely workshops. The arrangements were all stunning and fantastic and visually inspiring to look at. Their artistry caught everyone’s attention. The points she gave us the exact effect we wanted.
The article – by Mrs Akiko Hartell
<updated by Ikuyo Morrison on December 21, at 21:25>