I decided to start my cycle of articles about flower decorating by comparison of American and European flower decoration schools.
Historically American flower arranging evolved from European tradition. American style split appart from European school early in the ninetinth century. In the twentieth century, it was strongly influenced by Oriental (Japanese) tradition.
Traditionally it is thought that Oriental style of flower arrangement is characterized by a “line arrangement” (with emphasis on position of each flower) and European style can be considered as a “mass arrangement” with generally large, round or oval mass of flowers. Flower placement in mass arrangement is not rigidly dictated as in Oriental design.
Modern American flower design is somewhere in between. Most floral arrangement styles in North America are referred to as “line mass” and combine European and Oriental concepts. In particular, American flower arrangement is often built around linear patterns and uses more materials than the Oriental but far less than the European. For example, a popular style, Western Line, is a contemporary linear flower arrangement, which emphasizes line and visual movement.
However, modern European flower arranging deviated significantly from traditional mass arrangement (e.g. Cascade/Waterfall or Biedermeier- a design in which pavé techniques are used to create concentric rings of flowers arranged in a compact, rounded or slightly conical shape).
Contemporary European masters offer visually dazzling concepts: abstract, parallel, panel, naturalistic/botanical flower arrangements. They offer free form, free style designs that capture imagination. Every year more daring styles have been emerging, offering many creative possibilities, where flowers are used in a bizarre, unexpected way, i.e., upside down.
From that perspective, the American style is quite conservative. So, if you look for out of the box solution, consider hiring European-trained florists. They are more flexible, usually have broader skills and can offer nontraditional, visually stunning, stay-above-the-crowd designs.
In the next article I will talk about some tips for traditional American flower arrengement. To learn more about flower design visit my website Flower Decorations.
