On my online workbook this week: Loud the Clear

Dear

This week’s inspiration is how the container reflected the water… like a tiny (floral) mosaic mirror tile I thought….

My design note for you is all about… designing in some space. Traditionally the mechanics for creating pavé displays used to be floral foam. Which meant one of the main characteristics of this low paved design is that our plant material would touch… to conceal the ugly floral foam we used as mechanics in the first place. But what if there is no ugly foam to conceal?

I think the fun thing (and a great source of inspiration) about where we are now as an industry is how we need to revisit our industry's “good practices” and rules by looking at the intention of those rules. The key characteristic of a Pavé Designs is that the design will be low with all plant material cut short so that they sit directly at, or just above the rim of the container. As the name suggests: Pavé, named after the French word for “paved” or cobblestone. So we will add interest and dynamic dimension (still possible even if we do not use foam, see the Tutorial for this week’s design) by designing in micro-groupings and adjusting the stem lengths that create slight variation of height to prevent the design from looking completely flat.

Modern designs tend to be more airy by default. Maybe it is the price of flowers that drive the trend to add exaggerated space between design elements or maybe it is the oversized silhouettes that filter through all design forms. Can an update for traditional Pavé Designs be that we now have the opportunity to design in “space” just because we design out unsustainable mechanics? Surely it can be especially when we explore the intention and find that the rules (in this case designing a compact tapestry to conceal the flower foam) is obsolete? There is no foam to conceal. Surely we don’t just design like we always design because… that is what we have always done? By default we… create, right?

Flower buddy, I would love to hear what you think. Is a Pavé mostly flat-ish or do you feel it should still also be densely designed even though we removed the reason for the rule?

Enjoy!

Every good wish,

Christine