New Zealand Flowers Week returns this year from 11-17 November. The theme for this year’s event, The Power Of Flowers, will transcend throughout the week and be celebrated by five freshly picked floristry experts, who have been charged with creating a bespoke floral installation reflective of the event’s theme.
The chosen florists for 2019 represent the floral talent that stretches the country and the varying styles that stem from some of NZ’s key regions. The five florists are: Chikako Shiraki from White Tree Floral (Auckland), Kerri Murphy from The Twisted Willow (Wellington), Kath Parkes from Mrs Bottomley’s Flowers (Christchurch), Samantha Trott from Samantha Rose Flowers (Christchurch) and Linda McKenzie from Fallow and Fox (Dunedin).
Rebecca Jones, NZ Flowers Week Group Marketing Manager says, “We’re fortunate New Zealand has such a deep, diverse range of florists. Our homegrown experts are global leaders in their craft. It does however make choosing the five who represent the event incredibly difficult. This year’s florists have gone above-and-beyond and we’re so grateful to be working with such long-standing, world-class women for 2019’s event.”
To effectively portray the theme for NZ Flowers Week 2019, each florist is assigned an emotion that feeds into ‘The Power of Flowers’ concept continues Jones. “The florists were tasked with creating an arrangement that reflects their awarded emotion and the overarching theme. It was amazing watching the selected florists assimilate their given emotion and conceptually grow idiosyncratic arrangements. Each florist has her own special narrative, which is beautifully transcended as they worked to produce a broad range of vibrant designs.”
Auckland’s Chikako spoke of her emotion, joy: “As a florist, seeing the joy that people experience when they receive flowers and the emotion associated with giving flowers, ; makes me feel that we provide an important service to our community. The combination of colour and design in my installation hopefully demonstrates the power that flowers have in creating and changing emotions instantly.”
Wellington’s Kerri spoke of her emotion, sorrow: “The concept I decided to base my creation on was mental health and the sadness it evokes in many of us. My three rings represent the mind and its journey from darkness to light when we are in a depressive state. I personally suffer from depression and know many others who suffer that are close to me. I hope that this concept helps people understand and relate to mental health on a different level.”
Christchurch’s Kath spoke of her emotion, nostalgia: “So often someone will say how a flower reminds them of a special person in their life – often a grandparent. Sometimes it’s the scent, which is very powerful at evoking memories and transporting us back to a place or time, but sometimes it’s the flower itself and remembering it growing in the garden. My installation is a garden that triggers positive associations with the past – with gardens of the past, or with the people who created those gardens.”
Christchurch’s Samantha spoke to her emotion, love: “I have named my concept ‘The Proposal’, the semi-circle of flowers around the ottoman has an engagement ring on it. The woman is slipping into a bath to admire her new ring. The floral back drop and colours have been selected to represent her feeling all the ‘love’.”
Dunedin’s Linda spoke to her emotion, gratitude: “My emotion is gratitude and thankfulness. Using the language of flowers, these emotions are represented by flowers such as roses, sweet peas, poppies and the colour pink. I decided to utilise these flowers and other fabulous NZ-grown stems to showcase a lush and bountiful installation; which best represents the feeling of gratitude and thankfulness.”
The installations by the five chosen florists are created in the lead up to Flowers Week, with captured content of each design revealed between 11-17 November.
For more information:
New Zealand Flowers Week
09 573 2317
nfpg@ufg.co.nz
nzflowersweek.co.nz