12.20.24

Design in Bloom: San Diego’s Third Annual Floral Design Event

What a great turn out at the IIDA Southern California Chapter Floral Design event last month, hosted at Ferguson Pape Baldwin Architects. This was IIDA’s third annual event where Membership co-chair and interior designer, Laura Vavrunek, demonstrated for members and guests how to create a festive floral centerpiece.

Click here for more photos of the event!

Most had never made arrangements before but were up for the challenge. She shared her tips on floral types used in the demonstration – fillers and showstoppers – using a mix of seeded eucalyptus and bayleaf for greens and a fall mix of China mums, spider mums, button mums, carnations, alstroemeria, and veronica flowers – colors selected for the Thanksgiving holiday. Laura noted the arrangements could last at least two weeks with proper care and watering.

New this year was the use of a low container vessel to create a table centerpiece, allowing dinner guests to enjoy the arrangement during the feast!

Laura started the demo by adding the greens to the container with water-soaked floral foam. She cut and trimmed the greens to create an overall rectangular shape. Using a Lazy Susan to easily rotate from all sides, she assessed the form and then began adding the smaller filler flowers all around. Lastly, the larger mums were placed to create the “show stopping” center of attention. And finally, the “icing on the cake” were added – Veronica, a relaxed spike shaped accent.

Now it was time for the participants to try their hand and practice what they learned. They started by “shopping at the floral market” for their pre-wrapped selection of flowers and greens. This ensured equal quantities of fillers and showstoppers to create their masterpieces.

Lots of questions around the room as they got started and tried to remember how short to cut the greens, which flowers came first and if their greens were properly covering the base. Laura was at hand to steer them in the right direction, while allowing their own creativity to blossom.

As the night came to a close, you could look around the room and see the beautiful transformation of completed arrangements ready for the holiday tables. We gathered everyone together for our group photo – 32 in all – to show off our works of art. You are all floral designer graduates! Thank you, Laura, for your floral design guidance.

This event would not have been possible without the support of our volunteers and IIDA San Diego industry partners who sponsored the event – Koraseal, Tournesol, Paladin Technologies, Behr Paint, DesignTex, StoneSource, Interface, and 3form. Their participation also included exhibit tables and time to network before the event while indulging on catered charcuterie and some home-made desserts by MDC.

A big thank you to the IIDA Membership co-chair Kate Novikova of FPBA who helped plan this event, along with the prep help by Jen Sun of Ware Malcomb, Erica Roman of Howard’s Rug, Suzi Herrmann of MDC and Sarah Allen of Acoufelt. And to Laura Vavrunek of FS Design Group and her floral business Vavuum Florals for her expertise.

Let’s do this again!