What an amazing 3 days of our eagerly awaited EFS
This advanced floristry workshop is always a highlight in our BFA calendar and it was held in the beautiful grounds of Moreton Morrell College. Inspirational days of designing, creating and networking with our Design tutors and attendees.
Pirjo Koppi, Tomasz Max Kuczynski and Tor Gundersen were all so generous with their knowledge and expertise. The glorious weather was an added bonus and the quality of the flower shone though lasting in the heat and still going strong!
Our designers for the weekend were:
Pirjo Koppi from Finland
Pirjo class was jam packed with lots of demonstrations and design ideas that left everyone with ideas for their own businesses, from bridal frames to head dresses, corsages and floral jewellery techniques. The workshop then focused on a necklace design which allowed each attendee to master the mechanics for themselves.
ABOUT PIRJO:
Pirjo is a passionate spokesperson for floristry and, having graduated as a florist in 1995, her bespoke designs have delighted clients and floral fans the world over for more than 25 years now.
She took her Master Florist Exam in 2000 and became a teacher of floristry for the Finnish Florists’ Association in 2005. Pirjo is rightly lauded in her home country and was awarded the FFA Gold Medal of Honour in 2016 and also became Master of the Year for the Master Guild of Helsinki in 2017.
Whilst shop work is time-consuming, Pirjo is a seasoned competitor too having entered her very first competition back in 1996, and she has achieved numerous first places as well as other top rankings, including third place in the World Cup in 2015 (Berlin) and third place in the Europa Cup in 2016 (Genoa). As she says; “Competing is very important to learn more… not just about floristry but also about yourself and how to work under pressure.” And she readily admits that clinching that third place in the World Cup truly changed her life and opened up so many new avenues.
For Pirjo, floristry is not just a job, it’s her whole life and her warmth and energy spills into demonstrations and workshops too. Not only does she hold these at home but also in other European countries including Belgium, Italy and Spain, as well as further afield like Canada, USA, Australia, Singapore and South Korea.
As far as Pirlo is concerned, flowers and floristry are positive things and the pandemic really showed the healing properties of them and the joy they bring. And she practises what she preaches filling her own home with flowers in every room, including the bedroom, to simply let them do their magic.
Tomasz Max Kuczyński from Poland
Tomasz class was loaded with reusable construction frames, demonstrations using challenging materials and interesting techniques. Making sure that our decorative aspects of design always relate to the flowers we use. Armed with plenty of inspiration the class was then lead to make either a bouquet or tree construction of your choice… Both if you were fast enough!
ABOUT TOMASZ: As a boy Tomasz Max decided that flowers would be the major part of his private and professional life. He completed the first course in floristry when he was 16 and ever since that time has been seriously involved with floristry.
Tomasz studied fine arts and interior decoration and having taken part in many competitions and organized many exhibitions he continues to be enthusiastic about teaching good floristry techniques. He has done many courses and demonstrations all over the world, which gives a lot of pleasure and satisfaction. Now Tomasz is the CEO of International Institute of Floral Design in Poland.
He said ”Now the most important thing for me is to show my school -International Institute of floral design and my students to the floral world. I devote most of my time to do demos, courses, and workshops. I am inspired by many artists. I like to watch interesting forms, colour combinations, new techniques but I never copy… I want to present my own vision of floristry!”
Tor Gundersen from Norway
Tor took the class through his philosophy with design and flower materials. The emphasis was on shape, form, line and connecting with colour. Combining the correct techniques to emphasise the character of the flower was a strong theme. Tor carefully guided the attendees though demo designs for events, retail and funerals which all helped to inform learning for the wedding bouquet design which was created by everyone in the afternoon.
ABOUT TOR: Tor has a wealth of experience and after he couldn’t make it in 2022 due to a Covid infection days before his flight, how could we not ask him again. Tor has participated in numerous national and international competitions and is the winner of 20 medals in Norway.
5 times Oslo champion, Tor also represented Norway in the World-cup, Tokyo, then again in Japan in 1995 achieving European champion.
His work involves head-designer of the Royal wedding, Crown Prince Haakon of Norway. He is involved in the Norwegian product-development, is a showroom designer, international teacher, judge and instructor and has just recently opened his garden so that we can all admire his skills with design and construction.
And finally…….
Thank you to all the amazing people behind the scenes without whom the event could not happen:
- Tracy Tomlinson: Main organisation on behalf of the BFA
- Jane Benefield: Organiser and Moreton Morrell tutor
- Heather Marshall: Catering and Moreton Morrell technician
- Frank Tomlinson: Photographer
- Lizzie Newcombe: Assistant and Model
- Heather Hume: Assistant
- Hannah Friel: Assistant
- Kirsty Noble: Assistant
Thanks to our Sponsors:
Florismartdirect, Marginpar and Just Chrys who sponsored and provided our flower for this event. They provided excellent quality flowers as we are sure the attendees will agree.
We cant wait for our next EFS! and don’t just take our word for it that it’s a great experience…….
“This incredible experience challenged our technical skills and pushed us to open our minds to designs and materials in their truest forms” – Anja Norris of Norris Floristry, Glossop
“This was an inspirational experience, I am feeling rejuvenated and ready to create beautiful flowers for my July weddings” – Ashley from Ashtree Floral Designs
Class of 2024
We hope to see you all next time!!!
All Images by Frank Tomlinson photography
