Laura Leong secure her place to represent the UK at the Interflora World Cup.
Congratulations Laura!
Laura Leong pumped the air as the scores were announced, she had beating off stiff competition will now go forward to represent the UK at the Interflora World Cup at the Philadelphia Flower Show in 2019.
The finals, which took place in front of a live audience, were held at RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show. There were 5 finalist each having to test their talents and creativity with four floral designs. Take a closer look at Laura’s below.
Inspired by an English country garden, Laura’s designs incorporated natural textures and the pastel hues of blousy summer blooms, intricately woven together with perfect precision.
A floral picnic basket, was made in advance and brought to the competition.
Laura was awarded top marks for both her picnic basket and parasol and the judges praised her exquisie workmanship, eye for detail and choice of colour palette, describing the parasol as “magical” and a “stand-out design”.
The first of the three designs created on the day. 90 minutes were allocated to create the design of a Floral Parasol.
Weeks of planning and preparation went into the designs – the frame for the parasol was handmade from aluminium and steel and then coated with a wax finish to look like bark and Laura sewed dozens of ‘leaves’ from cotton thread.
The second design created on the day was a table decoration, again this design had to be completed in 90 minutes
The final design was a surprise item – the brief for which was only unveiled on the day. This was a gift arrangement including a bottle!
Talking about the competition Laura explained “When I read the brief I was drawn to the idea of a country garden and this is what’s inspired my pieces – those lazy, hazy days of summer. I’m delighted to have won. I wanted to come here and prove to myself that I could take the title of Florist of the Year and I couldn’t be happier to have done it. There was some really tough competition to beat though, it wasn’t an easy win by any means.”
Judge Sarah Hills-Ingyon added, “Laura has great ambition to be the best and this shows in the quality of her work and how she presents it. Every last detail of her creations has been carefully planned and perfectly executed.”
Interflora Director Nick Priest said, “Florist of the Year is about celebrating creativity, passion, flair and design skills in floristry and these five have certainly demonstrated they have plenty of those things. Laura’s creations are truly spectacular and are a great example of the level to which our florists work but every finalist should be truly proud of what they’ve achieved here today.”
The finished designs remained on display in the Floral Design Marquee at the RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show . Floral demonstrations by Interflora’s expert florists will also take place daily. RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show is the world’s largest annual flower show, stretching over 34 acres and flanking both sides of the Long Water at Hampton Court Palace so an excellent venue to showcase talented Florists.
