Overview of Major International Flower Arrangement and Floral Design Styles
An introduction to the essentials of flower arrangement and floral art, this overview of major international flower arrangement and floral design styles, let's take a look together!
The so-called "design style" of an art piece refers to the characteristics of a group of works or a series of works centered around a certain theme that habitually use one or more design principles and elements. In the development of modern floral art, artists often freely use several techniques, choose and discard some design elements to create specific styles according to their own pursuits and tastes.
The purpose of comparing and analyzing the popular modern flower arrangement and floral design styles is to facilitate communication and exchange with designers, admirers, and consumers using a common language, to increase inspiration and appreciation in floral design, and to create more individual and dynamic floral styles, even avant-garde works.
1. Eastern Flower Arrangement Style
The Eastern flower arrangement, represented by China and Japan, is characterized by graceful lines, profound artistic conception, simple materials, and fresh and elegant color matching. Its artistic effect is fresh and beautiful, elegant and refined, full of poetic and picturesque, forming a unique style of flower arrangement.
1.1 Japanese Style
It can be subdivided into Rikka, Shoka, Moribana, and Nageire flower types. Rikka is the representative flower type of the Ikenobo school, originating from flowers offered to the Buddha and used for rituals, meaning "flowers standing up." Rikka uses woody plants as the main material, with 7 or 9 branches as the framework, divided into upper, middle, and lower sections, creating a symmetrical, vertical flower type. It has a strict structure and abstract artistic conception, focusing on landscapes such as mountains, rivers, and villages. Shoka, meaning "growing flowers," consists of an isosceles triangle formed by the main, secondary, and body branches, representing "heaven, earth, and man." The main feature of Shoka is to use a small number of materials, graceful lines, and exquisite vases to express the natural beauty and color beauty of the materials. Moribana was created by Okazaki Unshin at the end of the 19th century. It features scenic flower arrangement using water basins and color beauty, using Kenzan, a radiation insertion method, with closely packed radiation points. Moribana can be divided into upright, inclined, drooping, straight-up, and symmetrical types based on the angle of the three main branches. Nageire emerged in the middle of the 17th century during the Edo period, inserting materials into tall vases (such as tall ceramics, glass, baskets, etc.). Nageire also has three main branches, symbolizing "heaven, earth, and man," with branches usually inserted at an angle, supported by the branches themselves or fixed with a small bottle opening, requiring high skill.
1.2 Chinese Style
It can be subdivided into planting style and landscape style. The planting style is a simple and natural classical flower type that directly represents nature, designed according to the natural growth state of the materials, usually expressed in groups, using a radial or parallel design, with overlapping materials to achieve a natural appearance. Leaf materials are inserted according to their natural growth state, with aquatic plants, stones, and small stones used to cover the floral foam to maintain a natural style. The landscape style uses a radial or parallel design or both. Materials are used according to their natural growth state, and decorative items (such as bridges, streams) can be incorporated into the design but should not be too strong. Unlike the planting style, the materials used symbolize certain natural landscapes, such as mountains, streams, etc., or represent certain garden landscapes.
2. Western Flower Arrangement Style
The Western flower arrangement, represented by European and American countries, is influenced by Western architecture, sculpture, color theory, anatomy, and perspective. It emphasizes form and color, guided by regular geometric shapes, with lush flowers and leaves, rich colors, and strong decorative beauty, with a distinct artistic style.
2.1 Circular Style
The early style of flower arrangement used in religion was the circular style. According to written records, people at the time were accustomed to offering a束 of blooming flowers to gods or mothers, which was the beginning of circular flowers. Today's circular flowers continue the classical circular flowers and have their own names, reflecting their respective national characteristics. The main flower types include round, oval, and conical shapes, with design styles such as Biedermeier design, Colonia, scented bouquets, and a thousand flowers. Modern popular styles include "Biedermeier design" and "thousand flowers style." "Biedermeier design" originated in Europe between 1815 and 1848, when people abandoned the luxury of the Baroque and Rococo periods and tended towards a simple and practical lifestyle. The cultural traits of roundness, simplicity, and conciseness were reflected in architecture, interior decoration, clothing, and painting, becoming a trend known as "Biedermeier art." "Biedermeier design" in floral art includes ring design, spiral design, clustering design, linear design, and variable types. "Thousand flowers style" appeared at the end of the 15th and the beginning of the 16th centuries, using randomly distributed small flowers, a radial insertion method, usually multi-colored, without prominent block colors or flowers.
2.2 Linear Style
It can be divided into curve style, straight line style, and complex line style. Curve style usually uses a focal point with radial insertion, strong line expression, and material selection must include some with natural arcs; the size and shape of the flowers must have a sequential flow to avoid visual obstacles, with specific shapes such as crescent, waterfall, S-shaped, etc. Straight line style usually uses group design, with parallel materials in each group, and materials between groups can be parallel, vertical, horizontal, diagonal, or mixed. Types include parallel design and reflective design. Reflective design has a mirror effect. Complex line style combines Eastern lines and Western block flower shapes, usually using radial insertion, with binding and pasting techniques commonly used in modern floral design, establishing shapes with lines and producing weight, focus, and depth with blocks. There are strict line style and Western line style. Strict line style emphasizes the difference from potted plant combinations, usually using a铺陈 technique at the base and emphasizing the lines and shapes of natural materials in the upper part. Western line style traditionally uses a triangular shape, now also inverted T, L shapes, etc., with visual routes and often using a sequential way of flowers to create a sense of line.
2.3 Garden Style
Gardeners from various countries often combine local plants and popular plants at the time to design gardens with strong era and regional characteristics, reflecting certain ideas and tastes; gardens in different regions show different styles. Floral design is closely related to gardens, and floral designers often express gardens in vases, so garden-style floral works also have distinct era and regional characteristics, including ordinary garden style and special garden style.
Ordinary garden style can be subdivided into British garden style, Williamsburg (American) style, Provence (French) style, American Southern style, Dutch exhibition style, and tropical style. The British garden style appeared during the Georgian period from 1714 to 1820 and was reused by some horticulturists and floral artists in the 20th century. This style uses radial insertion, classical sequential flower shapes, and formal elegant vases (ceramics, copper, silver, etc.). The arced lines radiating from the radiation point contrast with vertical and horizontal lines to express a natural feeling, which is the characteristic of this style. The Williamsburg (American) style is characterized by the mixed use of native plant materials and flowers, inserted radially to form a square shape; using formal and elegant vases such as silver and porcelain, dried materials can be used in winter. The Provence (French) style is a more pastoral, natural, and romantic style, using radial insertion, with multiple radiation points. The arrangement of materials is random, not in groups, expressing the original and vibrant wild charm. The choice of vase must be related to the characteristics of the Provence region, climate, and era. "Provence" exudes an unforgettable and impressive sun and blue sky sentiment, so warm color tones (yellow and orange) and cold color tones such as blue form a contrast. The American Southern style has a nostalgic and luxurious feel. It uses radial insertion, with multiple obvious radiation points, creating a phenomenon of crossing flower stems. Materials are expressed in groups, intentionally showing uncontrollable. The design size must be oversized, with classical vases such as silver, copper, or porcelain. A large amount of native flowers is used, and the materials are naturally and randomly distributed, showing the rich characteristics of the Southern gardens. The Dutch exhibition style is derived directly from Dutch gardens, using radial or parallel insertion, with strong group expression, aiming to show the perfect cultivation of each artificially cultivated material; the design is large and impressive. The tropical style aims to express the tropical sentiment, as tropical materials are usually large and have a long shelf life, so this type of work is generally used in public places. It uses radial or parallel insertion, with each material in group design and maintaining enough space to show the shape and characteristics of each material, each design must maintain the original characteristics of the material, and the choice of vase must be stable and have enough capacity to match the weight of the material.
Special garden style is inspired by the shaping of plants in European gardens, usually using radial insertion to create novel shapes such as circles, cones, animal shapes, etc., or bundling materials at one point to create a radial bouquet, with no restrictions on material selection.
2.4 Era Style
In the long river of history, architectures and arts of various periods have distinct characteristics of the era. Floral design is the same, with era characteristics similar to other arts in different periods. Specific types include德拉维必亚 style, Flemish style, Victorian (British) style, and Williamsburg Christmas (American) style. The德拉维必亚 style is usually a series of single works connected together, each with a fixed radiation point, symmetrically, sequentially, and regularly arranged materials, made of flowers, leaves, fruit, and ribbons, now mostly used in Christmas design. The Flemish style originated from the "flower" paintings of the 16th and 17th centuries. It is usually block design, using radial insertion, with multiple radiation points and symmetrical or asymmetrical flower shapes, containing S-shaped lines within the work. The better flowers are inserted at the top of the work, with the height of the flowers being 2 to 3 times that of the vase, usually with drooping lines to complement the elegance of the vase. In addition to flowers, materials include fruit, shells, and different seasonal materials are represented in one work. The Victorian (British) style is a strong block design, using radial insertion, focusing on color expression, with a closed flower shape. The height of the flowers is 1 to 1.5 times that of the vase, with luxurious vases, including green leaves and flowers cultivated in greenhouses, roses being almost indispensable; leaf materials, especially ivy and nephrolepis, are widely used, making the entire design look excessive. The Williamsburg Christmas (American) style uses radial insertion, with orderly and regular arrangement of materials. Elegant vases, without sequential arrangement (such as orderly arrangement of fruit and flowers, randomly combined with leaf materials) create a可爱 appearance.
3. Free Style
Usually linear design, flowers are selected with a plan, and the shape is not visible as several geometric shapes. Flowers are the components of the composition, which can be arbitrarily processed or non-natural materials used, with flexible shapes, including natural forms, imaginary forms, and abstract forms, advocating individual development and promoting individual styles.
4. Avant-Garde Style
Works of this type usually have avant-garde techniques and free shapes. Main types include structure, phoenix, sculpture, environmental protection, and abstract. Structural style works usually use organic materials, branches, vines, or artificial materials for structure, which can be purely technical treatment or part of the design, with the shape of the design determined by the structure. Phoenix style works use radial insertion, with two geometric shapes combined more commonly, but can also have various different base shapes, with a tight upright base creating the highest limit of upward thrust. Sculptural style works shape the exterior using flowers as materials, known as sculptural flower arrangement. Abstract design has no special characteristics, but must have factual influence, abandoning conventional methods for personal expression, with shape, color, texture all being very important, expressed based on personal aesthetics and preferences, with the design breaking away from the limitations of static concepts and interacting with time.
As the times develop, the new generation of floral designers is challenging traditional floral concepts. For example, the avant-garde, using organic materials, metal, glass, etc., adopt modern structural, constituent techniques, and abandon conventional floral design practices in the application of materials and methods. In such floral designs, some are occasional and timely, others are purely experimental. But they all have one thing in common, which is the adoption of an exciting and dynamic new method, adding a new thinking and new choice to the traditional concept of floral design. They stand at the forefront of floral design, shocking and thought-provoking, which is the unique charm of the avant-garde style.
In summary, modern popular flower arrangement and floral design styles are diverse and rich. With the continuous improvement of people's material and spiritual life standards, the development of cultivation techniques, material techniques, information technology, and the transformation of modern aesthetic concepts and reevaluation of consumption values, we believe that traditional or fashionable flower arrangement and floral art will all have a brighter future.
The comprehensive method of introducing the overview of major international flower arrangement and floral design styles mentioned above, hoping to solve your problems in green plants.