To practise naturalistic floral design is to honour your materials above all else. By doing so you sustain the fragile threads between your arrangement, the plants and the soil, to the insects, the weather and the season. It is a creative process that celebrates and respects the natural world and our place in its complex, miraculous structure.

This intensive course is devoted to the art of arranging flowers in this way, and to developing a working ethos that is gentle and inquisitive. Our teaching is characterised by a reverence for every ingredient and a lightness of touch, allowing materials to display the individual character of the mother plant rather than contorting them into stifled designs.

Over two weeks we will study the design principles, explore the philosophy and learn the practical techniques of naturalistic arrangement. During this time you will develop an experimental approach to design by observing and taking cues from nature with regards to colour, shape, form, proportion and structure. You will discover a wide range of seasonal plant material, learning about the broader process of working with garden-grown flowers from conditioning to composting. Each arrangement will be made using considerate and sustainable mechanics from delicate designs to arrangements at scale.

This unique eight day course is an immersive experience.

DAY ONE

INTRODUCTION

We come together over tea and coffee to meet, get to know one another and to set our intentions for the course. We’ll begin by talking through the evolution of the AESME SCHOOL OF FLOWERS teaching manifesto and distribute your printed materials for the coming days.

THE CONDITIONING PROCESS

The studio will be filled with an array of seasonal branches and flowers freshly harvested from our garden in Hampshire. You will meet our gardener and we’ll discuss the holistic, aesthetic and sustainable benefits of using garden-grown produce and the particular treatment certain varieties require to be used as cut flower material. We will demonstrate tried-and-tested methods for conditioning to prevent wilting and maximise hydration prior to arrangement - the removal of leaves and thorns, trimming and searing stems in hot water. Together we will condition a selection of ingredients such as woody branches and delicate stems.

DAY TWO

TEA BOWL

In this morning session we’ll ease into our creative practice with a sweet tea bowl design. Inspired by a hand-crafted Japanese vessel central to the traditional tea ceremony, we will decorate these footed ceramic cups. Starting with a sphere of chicken wire moulded for support, we will layer structural branches with dainty stems, exploring shape as a design element.

BOUQUET

In the afternoon we will practise the composition of garden-gathered bouquets. We will guide you through the magical ‘hand-vase’ technique that allows us to honour the natural forms and tendencies of the ingredients, gently but purposefully layering and grouping the floral material before tying off and ribboning for an elegant hand-held bouquet.

DAY THREE

FOOTED DISH

On day three we start to play with composition. An exercise in restraint, a footed vessel holding a pinholder provides the basis for an asymmetric, Ikebana-inspired arrangement. Every ingredient will be assessed and added or removed with intention and a focus on the accommodation of negative space between the stems.

PHOTOGRAPHy - SETTING

Documenting our work through photographs is a key part of our practice and can help with understanding balance and proportion - scrutinising arrangements encourages further editing. In this session we’ll be photographing our arrangements from that morning in a variety of different settings, exploring the effect of coloured backdrops, natural light and shadows. There is no need to have a professional camera or equipment or any prior knowledge of photography - a smartphone camera will suffice and we’ll be covering the basics of exposure and framing during this creative playful session.

DAY FOUR

LANDSCAPE ARRANGEMENT

Day four and we’ll begin by discussing what constitutes a worthy ingredient (why do we revere a rose and dismiss a buttercup?) and the opportunities presented by an anti-hierarchical approach to produce by cultivating a naturalistic growing space. Taking inspiration from Albrecht Durer’s exquisite painting ‘A Piece of Turf’ (1503) we’ll focus on distilling the essence of the garden or a particular landscape in a shallow, linear container, explore the presence of line as design element. This session is all about capturing the beautiful disorder of the natural world with precise realism in low level arrangements that appear to be growing. 

INSTALLATION

As a group we will build an evocative three-dimensional display that evokes the English hedgerow at this precise moment in the year - a cutaway of windswept briars and branches of turning leaves overhanging tussocks of grasses and seedheads. Our focus will be on how to achieve an effortlessly naturalistic design on a larger scale so that it appears to be growing in-situ. We’ll carefully consider how to use the natural forms of our ingredients to achieve height, depth and volume and the ways in which we can take our cues directly from the forms of the plants themselves to accurately represent their sparsity or abundance. We’ll talk through takedown and preparing materials to be composted - a vital part of the garden-to-vase-to-garden cycle.

DAY FIVE

INTRODUCTION

Coming together for tea and coffee we’ll meet any new members of the group joining for week two and distribute printed materials to refer to over the coming days.

FLOWERS FOR THE TABLE

This session will be dedicated to exploring the element of colour in a garden-inspired context while designing flowers for the table. We will style a range of table scenarios with different props, looking at the natural materials to develop a harmonious colour palette for each design. This is an exercise in close observation, discovering the intricate subtleties of colour in the flowers and leaves we have selected, from centres and petals to thorns, veins, stamens and buds, and how these can be used to develop analogous, complementary and tonal schemes. Finally we will experiment with the addition of accent colours, exploring the inclusion of contrasting temperatures to enliven, disrupt, tone down or introduce an element of surprise.

DAY SIX

GROUP DISCUSSION

An open group discussion is a way to share ideas and experience, to brainstorm and trouble-shoot, to express our hopes, dreams, concerns and anxieties in a safe and encouraging environment. You may come with a check-list of specific questions, or allow the discussion to unfold. This is a time dedicated to talking through any and all aspects of floral design as both personal practice and business so we’ll be digging into sales, social media, marketing and branding. We’ll share our experiences and debate the pros and cons of various online platforms, how best to present our work to the world in a considered way and how to attract like-minded clients and meaningful projects.

DUTCH MASTERS

This session will be spent reflecting on flower arrangement as a means of meditation and living in the moment - using a natural material, holding it in our hands, turning it this way and that, layering and arranging it for others to see and admire. As a creative exercise we will take inspiration from the 18th century paintings of the Dutch and Flemish Masters who used the vanitas genre to evoke the fleeting nature of life on earth, capturing the ephemeral beauty of flowers and fruit. We will create Dutch Masters-inspired arrangements that capture this precise moment in time, celebrating the quirks, imperfections and signs of ageing - mottled leaves, fading petals - that are evidence of a natural life cycle.

DAY SEVEN

PHOTOGRAPHy - LIGHTING

Building on our experience in last week’s photography session, in this class we’ll be exploring the effects of tone in our Dutch Masters-inspired arrangements as we photograph them against dark and moody backdrops. Using natural light we will examine the effect of depth - how lighter materials advance and darker flowers recede - play with props like pearlescent shells and edit arrangements in situ to capture the most dramatic image. There is no need to have a professional camera or equipment or any prior knowledge of photography - a smartphone camera will suffice and we’ll be covering the basics of exposure and framing during this creative and playful session.

INSTALLATION

After a break for lunch we’ll return to plan and build an installation on a freestanding frame with a specific focus on texture. In naturalistic displays texture often contributes to the essence of seasonality in a design - late spring is ‘frothy’, late summer ‘fruity’. For this autumn installation we’ll concentrate on the fluffiness and scratchiness of the garden as plants go to seed, grasses are at their most feathery and the beds are audibly textural with the sounds of crackling leaves and dry, rustling seedpods. We’ll explore ways in which texture can add character and individuality to a design and to heighten the ambience of a setting.

DAY EIGHT

CONCLUSION

On the final morning of the course we will gather as a group to recap and run through our learnings of what constitutes naturalistic design in floral arrangement. There will be a reflective written exercise followed by one-on-one mentorship time with your tutor to discuss your personal practice and to purposefully outline methods for improvement and plans for the future. This is a chance to verbalise intentions, to raise any concerns or to seek help with particular queries.

CREATIVE SESSION

Our last afternoon together will be a time to bring the week to a holistic conclusion during an open creative session. We’ll conjure an individual, imaginary brief using the prompt of three descriptive words. You’ll choose a vessel, select materials and refine the colour palette. Anything goes, with one proviso: step out of your comfort zone. Following this there’ll be time for photographing your final piece and we’ll celebrate together with the handout of certificates, drinks and a toast.

This is an eight day course which will run from 10am to 3.30pm each day with a short break for lunch. If you are visiting from outside of London and are looking for ideas on places to stay, shop and eat in our wonderful home city you can find suggestions here.

Directions to the studio in Shepherd’s Bush can be found here. Teas and coffees throughout the day are provided, as are the use of snips, aprons, flowers and mechanics. We stock a small range of our own brand ceramics, books and Japanese tools at the studio.

£3800

You can pay in full for this course at the time of booking or reserve your place with a £500 deposit. The remaining balance is due six weeks before the course start date. This course is eight days in total and has been designed to cover an extensive range of practical and theory sessions. If your schedule only allows for attending the first or second week we are happy to accommodate this and have a limited number of spaces available for attending each week separately.

Please read our Terms and Conditions in full before booking.