Seasonal Design Highlight: Finding Inspiration from Ancient Traditions
In this Team Flower Seasonal Design Highlight, we're featuring an arbor design by Intentional Flowers, a wedding and event florist who specializes in joining flowers and spirituality. Intentional Flowers can be found online or on social media @intentional_flowers.
Wisdom and Balance Bouquet for the Holiday of Purim
Ingredients:
Orange Parrot Tulips
Orange Ranunculus
Purple Anemones
Sweet Smelling Dark Willow Branches
Looking to get support from ancient wisdom, I turned to the story of the holiday about Queen Esther, who had to make decisions under uncertainty. Purple was chosen since it represents wisdom. Sparks of intuition and orange were chosen to resemble balance and the ability to always bounce back to the center.
Ancient traditions fascinate me and carry so much meaning. Wherever you are, you always come from somewhere, from a story bigger than you. I always look to infuse my arrangements with meaning. In this arrangement, I drew from the Jewish tradition of Kabbalah. This tradition describes the creative process—how the material world comes to be from a “thin” divine energy. It describes this emergence process by using a rich image of ten qualities that unfold one into the other. Every one of these qualities has a color that resembles it. I use these associated colors to “catch” the quality I want to invite to the event (e.g. Gratitude, Glory, Wisdom, Active, Graceful, etc.). This arrangement was made in March 2021 in honor of the Jewish holiday of Purim. The tradition is to give gifts to friends, to the poor, and to yourself. The traditional Mishloach—literally, a delivery, is composed of food. I decided to add some color to it. It was especially appropriate to replace food with flowers since it was the height of Covid, and food gifts were less desired. I decided to create the gift as a bouquet you can hold as a token of connection in times of dire isolation.
Doing this project, I learned again how flowers can mean so much! It is really an art. I also learned how my tradition could be reflected in my flowers, and that they can give me the feeling of belonging in times of uncertainty. I hope you, too, can find belonging in your work with flowers.
Photographer: Hagit Caspi
