FLOWERS ON FILM is a digital library of unique, flower-focused videos and online courses filmed and produced AESME STUDIO.

Flower imagery has always been part of our studio’s practice - collating an evocative portfolio of work, documenting seasonal changes in the garden, keeping mementos of places visited. How to take impactful images of arrangements is a key skill that we teach in our School as we know how perfectly photography complements the art of arranging. But it wasn’t until the 2020 pandemic that we discovered the joy of filming flowers. Filming allows for total immersion. For a short time, you are totally transported - finding yourself amongst dew-drenched leaves, watching the wind ripple through backlit grasses, a hand carefully selecting stems.

Our passion is for creating well researched and beautifully edited films for a community of flower lovers and inquisitive minds.

It may seem at odds with the tactile nature of flower arranging to transpose it digitally, but we have no intention of contributing to an online world dominated by comparison, addiction and distraction. Our films are inspirational, educational, meditative and joyful. Some are organised into academic courses, carefully curated around a single subject such as bouquets, installations or seasonal arranging, others are for peaceful escapism, a chance to simply enjoy the beauty of flowers.

GARDEN TO VASE

Written and filmed across a year in our cutting garden and studio, in this course you’ll discover a rich and holistic way of working with flowers and the deeply joyful connection of arranging your own grown produce.

"As deep midwinter recedes, the first tentative flowers of the year seem impossibly fragile as they appear from the frozen earth. Dainty snowdrops, scented Narcissi, tiny flecks of blossom on spindling branches. Flower arrangements at this time of the year strive to capture that cautious sense of emergence..." Winter to Spring Cutting List

ELEMENTS OF DESIGN

Having a basic knowledge of each of the seven elements of design is invaluable. Without this, it can be all too easy to over work flower arrangements, or feel overwhelmed in knowing where to start!

"Understanding how to achieve certain shapes in a vase begins with looking at natural materials and really assessing how the whole plant looks and behaves, in the soil, at the source. Close observation of the natural world allows us to absorb the subtleties of plants and flowers – heights and breadths, the angles they grow at, whether they spread or climb, clamber up through trees, clump together in dense clusters, self-seed and pop up at odd intervals here and there..." Notes on Shape

BACK TO NATURE

An extensive design course suitable for everyone who loves flowers - from beginners and those exploring a new artistic medium, to city dwellers searching for a reconnection with nature, seasoned arrangers, gardeners and cut flower growers looking to develop their floral craft, reignite the fire or practise fresh techniques with a sustainable focus.

"Arranging flowers is an act of faith, love and gratitude. It has the power to heal, to comfort, to inspire, to re-energise, to take us to a place of quietude and solace. Flowers force us to slow down and take time. They encourage us to appreciate the beauty in small, everyday moments and in our surrounding landscape... Flowers have a place in moments of celebration and elation, but also in those of grief and sorrow. A flower arrangement is more than just a selection of flowers in a vase. It also tells a story - of the hands that made it, the provenance of the materials and the soil the plants grew in..." Back to Nature: An Introduction

BOUQUETS

Through five beautifully filmed demonstrations we guide you through each stage of making a bouquet, from selecting materials, preparing and conditioning stems to outlining the shape, grouping flowers, editing, tying off and styling the ribbon.

"The ‘hand vase’ technique is loose, layered, organic and gentle. It has the effortless look of a bunch of flowers gathered from the garden but look closer and you can see that it has been composed with careful skill and utmost care for the ingredients. Consequently the bouquet is a unique and special object to hold, all the more precious for the delicate, ephemeral nature of the materials..." An Introduction to Bouquets

A GUIDE TO WEDDING FLOWERS

This truly immersive course takes you behind the scenes on five special weddings, demonstrating the creative process behind designing beautiful wedding flowers as well as tried-and-tested practical and foam-free techniques for making bouquets, installations and arrangements.

"Fortunately (for both florists and brides), the de-odorising function of Medieval wedding bouquets has given way in the modern age to a more romantic purpose. In the nineteenth century, bridal bouquets in Britain were still laced with sweetly scented flowers but with a different function in mind - each variety symbolised a certain attribute from the Victorian ‘language of flowers’: honeysuckle for devotion and loyalty, jasmine for affection, orange blossom for chastity..." A Brief History of Wedding Flowers

The FLOWERS ON FILM CLUB is the place for those looking for a little extra curricular viewing. Members subscribe monthly or yearly, enjoying a library of documentary-style films of arrangements, gardens and interviews, with new films added regularly to the existing catalogue.

We’re especially proud of our ongoing Arranging the Garden series, where we visit special gardens and natural spaces, returning to the studio and our own garden to make experimental flower arrangements inspired by each place.

WULFMONATH

Hellebores are the floral lifeline that carries us through all the way from before Christmas until spring gets its feet under the table in March. In this January film Ally makes a midwinter arrangement of hellebores and hornbeam, playing with editing shape and negative space.

ARRANGING THE GARDEN: SISSINGHURST

A hot midsummer's dawn in the most romantic garden in the world. Sissinghurst Castle Garden in Kent is famous for its cascading roses, irises and unique garden 'rooms'. We were lucky enough to film 'The White Garden' and ‘Delos’ for our Arranging the Garden series.

ARRANGING THE GARDEN: KNEPP

We visited Knepp on a glitteringly beautiful autumn day and were lucky to spend some time with Head Gardener, Charlie Harpur. The next day Ally made an arrangement inspired by Knepp while we discussed the hierarchy of plants in floral and garden design, and how much we can learn by thinking outside the box.

THE EDINBURGH EPISODES

In September 2025 we met with designer and grower Fiona Inglis, owner of Pyrus Botanicals, a floral studio situated in a historic walled garden in East Lothian, and cookbook author Jess Elliott Dennison, owner of Elliotts, Edinburgh for a three part series dedicated to food and flowers.

ASTERS AND VOLCANIC SORREL

In the studio Al makes an arrangement using cherry branches, a tall stately hollyhock and a sprinkling of mauve and pink flowers over a muddy palette of turning leaves and volcanic sorrel.

THE ROSE GARDEN IN JUNE

A tour of the rose beds in our garden. Around 150 shrub roses are underplanted with "cottage garden" perennials, herbs and bulbs, with colours grouped together experimentally.