Bouquets to Art 2012

I know this is a late post about Bouquets to Art because it already started for a week.  Tomorrow will be the last day to view all the beautiful floral art exhibition at deYoung Museum in San Francisco.  Actually I wasn't planning on writing this post because I don't feel comfortable tooting my own horns.  Also I've been so busy lately with wedding work and planning my kids summer schedule (yes, I am a full time working mom!). 

But I was with a couple of my vendor friends today, and Beverly from Especially Yours Chair Covers, one of my best friends in the industry, highly encouraged me to blog about it.  And later this evening when I went back to the museum to refresh my arrangement to get ready for tomorrow's Bouquets to Art "Finale", I heard a lot of compliments from viewers and many told me that this is one of their favorites.  All these kind words highly encouraged me.  So, here it is, below is my floral piece, an inspiraton of the Tea & Coffee Service by August Tiessenlinck.  Hope you all like it.  Enjoy a full platters of floral desserts!

Valentine's Day Elopement

Happy Valentine's Day! As I spent most of my day delivering flowers all over the city, I am exausted. But what a sweet surprise to find that a recent styled shoot I partnered with Frances Liu from Charmed Events Group got published on Green Wedding Shoes Blog today, on Valentine's Day!

Below are some images from the photo shoot to share with you all. It was a very fun day spent at Nimitz Mansion on Treasure Island (What a hidden gem!). Photographer Gladys Jem captured the most romantic moments from, what it is called - A Valentine's Day Elopement. Yes, Valentine's Day, the love day, what a perfect day to elope!!

Enjoy.
 
Not having enough? Check out the blog post from Green Wedding Shoes for more images.

Planner - Frances Liu from Charmed Events Group
Floral Decor - Poppy's Petalworks
Photographer - Gladys Jem Photography
Makeup - The Make Up Dolls
Catering - Monica Hobbs Catering
Desserts - Sweet Luna Desserts
Rentals - Hartmann Studio
Venue - Nimitz Mansion, Treasure Island

2012 Wedding Faire & Symposium

Happy New Year to you all! I started my new year with a wonderful project being the featured designer for Preston Bailey's book signing at the 2012 Wedding Faire & Symposium at the Santa Clara Convention Center, which goes from 1/6-1/8.

Preston Bailey is an extremely successful celebrity event & wedding designer whose specialized in transforming spaces into spectular party scenes that's beyond imagination. He is one of my most admired American event designers. So you can imagine how excited I felt when I was asked to design an arrangement for his book signing. I chose to re-create one of his most famous signature art piece as my salute to the "flower god" of my heart - the floral peacock.

Below is my interpretation of the floral peacock. I had much fun making it, hope you all like it.

Long Time No Blog!!

Hello hello! I apologize for not posting for so long. Many brides asked for my updates and wanted to see more recent wedding images.

This summer has been a very exciting time for me. Other than all the beautiful summer weddings, I attended the American Institute of Floral Designers (AIFD) national symposium in Kansas City in July, again got myself soaked in all the inspirational educational programs, and met new flower friends from all over the world. AIFD is "the floral industry's leading non-profit organization dedicated to establishing, maintaining and recognizing the highest standard of professional floral design." It is a place where a group of floral professionals gather in the effort of "advancement of the the professional floral design through education and leadership." There were many talented floral artists, all best of the best international designers from the floral industry.

Another special thing I did during my visit to Kansas City was that I took the AIFD Accreditation Evaluation Session (AES) hoping to become an accredited AIFD member. So I had been practicing the entire June (yes, on top of my busy weekly wedding schedule!) because I knew AIFD has very high standards. There were two parts of the evaluation process. We first had to pass a written exam, then a floral design exam which was 4 hours long. Within those 4 hours, each candidate got the exact same amount of flowers and materials to create 5 designs in different categories - sympathy design, wedding, arrangement, flowers to wear and designer's choice. We didn't know what exactly we would be asked to make for each category until 2 hours before the actual exam during orientation. For this year's AES, we needed to make a casket spray for sympathy design, a bride's bouquet for wedding, an art gallery opening design for arrangement, a groom's boutonniere for flowers to wear and we could do anything for designer's choice. On average, we had approximately 48 minutes per design. It was not as easy as it sounds because a candidate needs to obtain at least 20 out of 25 points in order to be approved for the AIFD accreditation, with no single category below 3.75 points. The highest score for each category is 5 points, the lowest score is 1 point. There were 7 judges from different parts of the country so each judge may have a different eye for good designs. And they were certainly not looking for anything ordinary or sellable, but designs that demonstrated solid design principles and extraordinary creativity. To be honest, I've been stressed out all summer - before the exam, practicing every week and studying all the design principles based on which the judges would evaluate; and after the exam, awaiting the results, wondering how I did.

It was truthfully a great relief last Saturday when I received the evaluation results. I am thrilled that I am approved for the AIFD accreditation, and I also obtained my Certified Floral Designer certificate!

I shared my thoughts with some of you during this process but did not write about this in the blog because I wasn't sure how things would turn out. I sincerely thank my family, friends and clients for all the kind encouragement and affirmation. Your support gave me much courage to carry on pursuing my goal and dream to become a floral artist. Thank you very much!

Here's my table.
My Art Gallery Opening Arrangement on the left - horsetail bamboo "cage' with flowers interlocking. My intension was to create a constrained form for an abstract splash of colorful flowers, just like paints on a canvas. My bridal "bouquet"which is a floral purse on the right.My Designer's Choice design which is a floral hair piece on the left & my boutonniere design on the right. Me wearing the Designer's Choice floral hair piece & the sympathy casket spray (an inspiration from Yin-Yang opposites).
Note: Starting 2010, AIFD is transitioning its accreditation process to PFDE (Professional Floral Design Evaluation) which is similar to AES. If you are a floral designer and wish to obtain your accreditation or to become a certified floral designer, please visit AIFD's website for more details.

My Poppy's Life

I am trying to be a better blogger and post messages more frequently, but my busy schedule is hindering me...I know you must think, yeah whatever, excuses.

So this morning I want to tell you a little bit about my life and things I've been working on.

If you read the about section of my website(by the way, I've been working on a new website, it's been months since last December, again I was busy so it won't be ready until a bit later...), you know a little about my background. But let me elaborate more here.

Being an only child in the family, my mom invested alot of money and time helping me to define my interest at a young age. She sent me to private art courses since I was little and I learnt oil painting, watercolor, pastels, charcoals, pencil sketching, sculpture, and Chinese brush painting. When I was in elementary school I won some drawing awards; and my high school student work was once displayed at the old de Young Museum and the Dublin Gallery. At that point, I thought I would become an artist for life. My high school art teacher encouraged me to move forward and challenged me with more competitions and I began taking some courses at Academy of Art and California College of Arts & Craft (today's CCA). But my Dad had a traditional thinking that it is difficult for full time artist to make a living, so he "redirected" me to the field of architecture. To be honest, it was not my first choice but I wanted to please my Dad and with a 3 year scholarship from the American Architectural Foundation, I went to Berkeley majoring in architecture.

When I was at Cal, I studied abroad to France. I stayed with a French family and studied architecture in Lyon for 6 months. Immediately after graduation, I worked at a prominent architectural firm in San Francisco, building hospitals. My first assignment was the replacement project of the Laguna Honda Hospital. Soon after I started this job, I knew it was not what I wanted to do for life. In 2003, I discovered another interest outside of architecture. My best friend asked me to do her wedding flowers and decor. It awakened my resting creative genes! I had so much fun and had decided to explore more about this new hobby. I began taking floral design classes at the City College of San Francisco and interned under other local floral designers. Meanwhile, more friends and family asked me to help out at weddings with floral decor. I started building a floral portfolio and by all means, it was much more interesting than my architectural portfolio!

Then I got married and had my first child in 2006. During my maternity leave, my boss urged me to get back to work, that's when I made a very important decision of my life - I quitted and decided to launch a floral design business of my own. It was not an easy decision but with all the encourgement from my husband and friends, assuring that I will do well in this field with my passion and sense for creative designs. And that was the official launching of Poppy's Petalworks. My husband picked this name for my business because Icelandtic poppy is my all time favorite blossom. I love its papery texture as well as its vibrant colors. Have you seen how an Icelandtic poppy bursts out of its shell within a short period of time? And just like the Forrest Gump chocolate theory, you never know what (Poppy color) you are going to get. That's what life and Poppy's Petalworks is about - come unexpected, filled with colorful surprises.

You think it wraps the story? Not yet. In 2008, I attended the American Institute of Floral Designers' (AIFD) national symposium in Chicago for the first time and it was truly an amazing experience. Came back fully inspired, I had a much clearer direction of what I want to become - a floral artist! I am a big adirmer of international floral masters such as Moniek Vanden Berghe, Geert Pattyn, Daniel Ost & Elly Lin. This may be the farthest dream, but they are my career goal. One day I want to have a floral gallery of my own with weekly exhibitions, host some workshops and teach some lectures.

With this well defined goal, I am working hard to follow my dream. This year, I will challenge myself to pursue the AIFD floral design accreditation in July. Meanwhile I am working on submission of my floral art work to an international floral art publication in September. I am also interested in participating at the inspiring Bouquets to Art again next year. Of course, I will continue to keep up with the latest American and international wedding trends as well as my floral design skills so I can provide my clients the best quality of service.

Personal life wise, I am a full time mom (well, when there are no weddings) so my 3 year old keeps me busy most of the time. He will be starting preschool this fall and we may move back to the city for convenience. Once my little one starts school, I will have more time in my hands and I will try to write more blog posts and share more exciting news with you all. For now, stay tune for our new website image which should launch soon. Hopefully. haha.

de Young Museum's Bouquets to Art Opening Gala 3/16

I had a wonderful time at de Young Museum's Bouquets to Art Opening Night Gala on Monday. I bumped into many great friends - my former floral instructors, old pals from school and friends from the industry.

At the Opening Night Gala, there were approximately 20+ floral gowns made to reflect the current Yves Saint Laurent's fashion exhibition at de Young.

I made a floral dress inspired by an evening gown from the YSL couture collection. The original was a black lace dress. I crafted mine with hard glue embellished with natural skeleton leaves to create the look of transparency(for the presentation, my model wore a silk underdress). The floral gown was finished with white phalaenopsis orchids, wax flowers, and a pair of red rose petal bows on the side. I purposely reversed my dress to white because I want my gown to be an inspirational piece not a straight replica. I want to translate the YSL fashion style into a petal language. To my surprise, together with matching headpiece and glove, my floral dress turned out very much like a wedding gown!

A matching headpiece

Me and my model Susanna

I really like the glove I made to match the dress. This can be a nice floral accessory for brides to wear.

There were many other dresses I like by other talented designers. Unfortunately the museum was too packed without enough room for mannequins...it is a pity that we can't show off our floral costumes during the Bouquets to Art week. So I can only show you pictures of what were presented at the Opening Night Gala.

Models at the backstage -

Of course you can still visit the museum for its current exhibtion of floral art. Bouquets to Art ends this Saturday at 5:15pm, don't miss it!

Have a peak at some extraordinary designs from Bouquets to Art...

The gorgeous bark dress on the right is by my friend Leila Simms. You can see how it relates to the painting behind.

My floral design instructor, Jenny Tabarracci, created the beautiful succulent urn on the right.

Bouquets to Art 2009

de Young Museum's annual Bouquets to Art week is going to be next week (March 17th-21st)!!! I am very excited about this special floral event - this year is their 25th anniversary and there will be 150 floral designers from all over the bay area, each will create a floral art piece to complement an assigned painting or sculpture. The museum will be turned into a heaven of flowers!

I am creating a floral dress for the opening night gala. Unfortunately the museum will be too packed with too many floral pieces and will not have enough space for extra mannequins for the rest of the week. You won't be able to see my floral couture dress unless you are coming to the gala. But for sure I'll take pictures and share with you all what I have been working on for weeks!!

See you at de Young!

In Love with Floral Art

I just got back from the AIFD (American Institute of Floral Designers) National Symposium in Chicago, where hundreds of floral designers & artists from around the world gathered to share ideas, trade secrets, new trends and inspirations. It was certainly a life changing experience to me! Now I have a different perspective for what I should be doing in the next ten, twenty, and perhaps thirty years. I am constantly searching within myself trying to find my own nitch in life. And I think I have just found it! I want to merge my passions together - architecture, fine arts and floral arts.

Above: Trump Tower & John Hancock building.

There were many talented best-of-the-best designers from Europe, Asia and the US at the Symposium and the shows they put together were simply phenomenal! Each show had a specific theme intergrating culture, fashion, architecture, fine arts and cinema with floral art. I was stunned by their talents and passion for floral design. And I had the greatest opportunity to work with prominent Belgian designers Ivan Poelman and Moniek Vanden Berghe to prepare for their shows and demonstration workshops. The experience was extremely valuable and I got to see how the art pieces were put together before they went on stage.

Japanese Canadian Floral designer, lecturer & author, Hitomi Gilliam AIFD, was there at the Symposium too. Here's Koko and I with Hitomi.

Ivan Poelman's show was about fashion and floral art. Here are some images from the show. I helped with the orchid shawl on the right directly below and the rose hat. Holly, my mentor and adviser, was wearing the shawl we made at the fashion show. :)

Here are some beautiful floral art pieces by Japanese Floral Master Yutaka Jimbo AIFD. Patterns on the traditional kimono (Japanese dress) were all petalworks!!

I also got 60 pounds of books! Fabulous books by European designers that I simply could not resist!!! I hope these wonderful designs will lead me to more inspirations that will eventually benefit my clients.

Highlight of the Symposium is that I was also there with several other former floral design schoolmates to join for the SAIFD design competition. I won a small award for my Napkin Ring Decor. But I am thrilled and extremely proud of my dear friend and roommate Kokoro Akaya, for she won the 1st place for the overall competition!! Go Koko!!

Here's my table. The one on the left below is my Bridal Bouquet design, the one on the right is my Sweet Heart Table design.

My friends and I had the time to squeeze in some site-seeing. Here we were at the Taste Chicago Food Festival at the Buckingham Fountain.

Overall this Symposium was a remarkable and unforgettable experience to me. I am sure it was to all of us there. Everyone was so eager to learn and to share ideas. The goal of the AIFD committee was to provide educational programs to floral design professionals in the industry so that we are not just good, but be the best in what we are doing. Special thanks to those who make this Symposium possible!

Below is my favoriate show of all, by David Marsteller AIFD. He did a magnificient job intergrating architecture & sculpture with floral art.

Lastly, I would like to share with you two quotes I picked up from the Symposium -

Newly awarded Fellow of AIFD, Richard Salvaggio AIFD, said at the award ceremony, "An idea is no good if you don't teach it to someone else."

and Mark Twain wrote,

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails."