Christine de Beer - effortless floral craftsman
I'll Go First
- 21 February 2024
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Even though I was mindful of making the most of the after Christmas, winter design season I must say it is wonderful to look forward to all the fresh growth of Spring. My first seeds are sown and happily germinating... but before I tell you about all the fun and floral things I have planned for this year let's look back to where it all began.
In the latest issue of
Flora Magazine- The Creative World of Floral Design
you will find an introduction article about my floral journey written by the editor, Nina Tucknott. There are so many new names saying hi each week and I realized that that many of us have not yet properly met. So I am also posting the article here on the My Creative Workbook website this week, with my design for the magazine's Spring/Easter edition in the hopes that you will also introduce yourself to me. I would love to hear more about your floral journey and what kind of floral designer you consider yourself to be. Whether you design for profit or passion... or profit and passion, for example.
“If you have learned a skill, teach someone else to do it. If you meet a designer who has perfected a skill, learn from them. This keeps our design skills alive and cross pollinate expertise between craft and art forms creating a stronger skill set that ensures floral art stays relevant and continues to thrive. We can buy flowers anywhere, it is a skilled floral artist that translates flowers into emotions. It is our skills that sets us apart.” from The Effortless Floral Craftsman by Christine de Beer
In this issue, our editor caught up with Canadian experimental floral designer Christine de Beer , who is an accredited Advanced/Master Florist and whose floral design work spans sustainable floral design skills and technique development, teaching, writing about craftsmanship, and taking part in design shows.
As a little girl Christine used to play with flowers building fairytales from twigs and petals and later followed all the training paths giving her an unique insight into what it takes to master your craft of flower arranging. She still uses a lot of the techniques she made up as a child in her work today. She also has two college certificates in Floristry, one in Flower Arranging and one in Floristry Business Management. And after her studies she continued her journey, first as an apprentice designer then as an intermediate designer, and was awarded her Advanced Accreditation in 2010.
Inspired by a passion for the floral industry, crafting with nature, and with an eye for creative potential Christine has represented Canada in some of the best known floral shows in the world and won awards (including two innovation awards) for her designs on a National and International level including The World Association of Flower Arrangers Show, Boston (USA) Canada Blooms, Toronto (Canada) The South African Flower Union Show, Cape Town (South Africa) and The Chelsea Flower Show, Chelsea London (UK) and was a columnist for The Canadian Florist Magazine and DIY Wedding Magazine for a few years before writing her book.
It was her experience competing at the Chelsea Flower Show that sparked Christine’s idea of what became her first book, The Effortless Floral Craftsman (IngramSpark 2019), which expands on her articles and designs on The My Creative Workbook website (christinedebeer.ca).
Christine explains “I have always wanted to participate in the Chelsea Flower Show. I mean it is The Chelsea Flower Show! So when I received the invitation to enter there was absolutely no way I was saying no. But making that decision was the only thing that was easy about taking part. Being an international competitor in a design show always comes with unique challenges and this time was no different.
After a lot of stressful days of preparations and complications, my flight was delayed to the last possible moment. Which meant I arrived from Canada at Heathrow Airport just in time to condition my flowers.
Fortunately the only supplier willing and able to help delivered the flowers to my hotel room earlier in the day, but, unfortunately they were all flat packed in cardboard boxes, no water source at all. I then took a quick shower and rushed to the hall to stage the design overnight.
I was exhausted, stressed and struggling.
My design space was also right by the door where the floor was nothing more than a wooden platform which meant that every time someone walked in or out of the hall my entire design wobbled alarmingly.
At one point, about 2 in the morning, I walked out to get some fresh air. I was now really struggling. My husband Marius was out there. He waited around just in case I needed something. He gave me one look and simply said: “Trust your talent”
I marched myself straight back in and finished the design. I won a silver medal. But even more valuable: “Trust your talent”. Words I now design by.
The Chelsea Show was everything I hoped it would be and more though. The feeling of being part of such an enormous group of creative people who are all there with the same goal- to create something so beautiful- is indescribable. It is that feeling that, after all is said and done, makes us wish to one day be back in the Great Pavilion”.
Across her creative floral endeavors, she is driven by her belief that it is AFTER you learn how to design that your real work starts. It is up to you to relearn how only you can design and make what you have learned truly unique. In addition to continuously improving your skills you need to learn how to trust your talent. And that part of our journey is what her book is about.
The Effortless Floral Craftsman received the highest Independent Book publishing honour- An Independent Press Award- for outstanding quality. And in 2020, her book was included in the permanent collection of Library and Archives Canada.
The handcrafted craftsmanship edition of the book sold out before Christine had shared any pictures of it, and later in the year it debuted as a Number 1 bestseller on Amazon Canada’s Flower Arranging list and Number 3 on the prestigious Amazon Best Sellers list. It is both a beautiful coffee table book, and an all-you-need guide to crafting with flowers to keep in your design room- skillfully bound to craft the best quality book possible.
These days, most of Christine’s creative energy goes towards creating a valuable online space where she can connect on a one-to-one basis with the designers who have assembled around her "My Creative Workbook" website and book. The website started as a place for her to capture her own floral design research and experimental work, and like minded designers started to notice who in turn, and they told their friends and they told their friends. The website grew into a creative design resource used by talented designers from all over the world who are dedicated to creating truly remarkable work- the kind that comes only from developing and nurturing your own creative spark.
Christine has been adding an original new design with its tutorials to her website every single week for 681 weeks straight- not a single week missed! Her design style immediately resonated with floral artists and crafters, with hundreds of her designs and tutorials shared on social media. The weekly designs have repeatedly found viral status online and as a result the dried floral supplier Flowers Across Australia included her on their list of “most influential designers in the world”.
In addition to sharing her weekly designs and tutorials, Christine also invites floral designers, floral artists, floral sculptors and passionate floral crafters into her virtual design room by joining the email conversation about creative processes, what inspires us and how we navigate setting up our environment so that we can flourish to create floral designs that are increasingly better than we ever thought possible.
Also, you can top up your creative knowledge by browsing the most extensive tutorial library and design examples available online from a single designer and then, when you are ready, sign up to join her one on one email subscribers "Level Up" conversation. The weekly style and creative process discussion is specially created for dynamic creatives to explore their own creative potential, places yet to grow, how we navigate creative roadblocks, discover our own effortless style and create our work.
Christine lives in Vancouver, beautiful British Columbia, Canada with her husband Marius and her 12 year old Ceropegia Woodii vine.
Huge thank you to Nina Tucknott for the generous article. You can page through the digital edition or purchase the magazine on the Flora Magazine- The Creative World of Floral Design website or view more pictures on their Facebook page.
okay... your turn! I can't wait to hear about your floral journeys.
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Tutorials
Long, long, long lasting display that will even root in place with a few adjustments.
For my design I wanted the wreath to look wind blown so I added a few loosely woven twigs into the weave. I also wanted to emphasize the autumn colours so I added a twirling...
Most stems, twigs and even sturdier branches can be bend into shapes. It takes practice and more than a bit of patience. The main idea is to slowly manipulate the branch without...
It's sometimes difficult to place a tiny crystal or bead exactly where you want it.
Cut and bend flat wire (or any other wire you choose) into a “U” shape to follow the shape of your head. Similar to an Alice band
Cover a mask shape with moss and succulents for a long wearing mask
Great way to use all the autumn leaves you collect on walks during the season. Slowly build up the leaf rosette and let the leaves dry before adding a few more.
An armature to display a lovely surprise orchid that developed on the long spike just after the other flowers started to fade.
This looks spectacular but it is the easiest composite flower to make
Split (but don't cut) a few gladiolus flowers to spiral in a vase
The trick of this Tutorial is to create a flat top platform to display Spring blossom twigs- the way it would look on moss in a forest.
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This orchid developed at the very end of a long stem... right as the rest of the flowers started to die back so I made a special armature to display the cut stem.
My article and Japanese paper flower armature design featured in the March issue of The Academy Leader- Academy of Floral Design, published by the The Floral Art Society of New...
An early Spring design with a twist on using an old favourite: composite flowers.