My Ikebana Journey

Submitted by: Summer Cheung AIFD

Couple weeks ago, I received an email from Louisa Lam AIFD, PFCI, asking me whether I am interested to submit an article to Focal Points Blog. Thankful for her encouragement, I am willing to participate and happy to share with you all my floral journey.

About eight years ago, I started learning flower arrangement. From Western-style to Dutch and European-style flower art.  Since then, I had been busying with obtaining various qualifications and certificates, I have no time to study the Japanese-style flower art that I am attracted to. Loving the quiet, peaceful, elegant, and unconventional feeling Ikebana brings to me; it emphasizes the sense of line, looks like a slender dancer, showing different beauty. Maybe it has something to do with my longing for a slim figure!

Three years ago, I happened to dine at a Japanese omakase high-end restaurant, while chatted with the head chef, I joked, “Oh, if I can bring a Japanese flower arrangement here to decorate this dinner venue, it will be great! It should add decent and elegant feels to this restaurant! “ Without any hesitations, Chef said “yes”.

But I told myself, “Was he just agree with me out of politeness?” So, the incident of arranging flowers for the restaurant was gone. It wasn’t until half a year later I ate at the restaurant again. I mentioned our past conversation to the chef again, it turned out that he had been looking forward to my designs for long time, but he was embarrassed to tell me. Haha! Sometimes we cannot trust our six senses, I should communicate well, and clarify with him right the way. I learned a lesson from there. This time I really put it into action.

One floral design per week, placed under a spotlight in a specific area at the restaurant. I was so thankful for their trust. And this is how my journey of Japanese flower design got started.

I am grateful that he gave me this opportunity to create without interruption, and at the same time keep practicing and learning. In the process, I constantly explore and refer to the works of Japanese flower masters, reading reference books and watching videos.  Since then, I have been doing Ikebana for nearly three years, and have been created over 150 designs. 

I used to study Sogetsu – Ikebana; but because of frequent business trips, I couldn’t continue my study. I tried to learn by myself, from the media, YouTube, etc. Fortunately, I studied in Japan for years that helped me a lot in the understanding of the design theories that were only taught in Japanese.

A new design every week is a challenge, also a commitment for me. Sometimes design patterns appear in sleep, and most of them are forgotten when wake up. Have heard if there is an image in a dream, should immediately get up and draw it down , but every time I am too tired to do so.

Recently discovered a way to help bring out inspirations. I try to choose flowers a few days in advance, put all the materials at a prominent place in my house, observe the natural forms of various leaves, flowers, and branches, and communicate with them from time to time. It really helps and brings me inspirations for my creations all the time. Then, I will choose a container that matches the composition, and try to make it works.  Usually, a wonderful design can be completed in 15/20 minutes. Once a while I will feel disappointed at the beginning because having the basic concept of the design in mind, I must adjust the features. Maybe I’m too perfectionism!

Recently, I was fall in love with Ikenobo’s noble attitude. The natural form and roughness of the vegetation contrasts with the graceful lines of the leafy flowers, creating a tense composition. So currently, I started to learn the ancestor of Japanese flower art-Ikenobo.

One day, my mother asked, “You already a teacher why you keep studying and learning so hard?” I told her, ” If you don’t grow, improve, you are going backward and will be left behind soon. This is what you taught us when we were young, right?” A proud smile is shining on her face…..!

幾周前，我收到一封來自PFCI的Louisa Lam AIFD的電子郵件，問我是否有興趣向Focal Points Blog提交文章。感謝她的鼓勵，我願意參與，並樂於與大家分享我所有的花藝之旅。

大約八年前，我開始學習插花。從西式到荷蘭式和歐式花卉藝術。 從那時起，便一直忙於獲得各種資格和證書，沒有時間學習我所喜愛的日式花藝。喜歡花道帶給我的安靜、祥和、優雅和非常規的感覺;它強調線條感，看起來像一個纖細的舞者，呈現出不同的美感。也許這與我對苗條身材的渴望有關！三年前，碰巧在一家日本 omakase 高級餐廳用餐，在與主廚聊天時，我開玩笑說：“哦，如果我能帶一個日本花藝來這裡裝飾這個晚餐場地，那就太好了！它應該為這家餐廳增添體面和優雅的感覺！“ 廚師毫不猶豫地說「好」

但我告訴自己，「他只是出於禮貌而同意我嗎？於是，為餐廳插花的事件就不見了。直到半年後，我才再次在餐廳吃飯。我又和廚師提起了我們過去的談話，原來他期待我的設計很久了，但他不好意思告訴我。哈哈！有時我們不能相信我們的六種感官，我應該好好溝通，和他澄清一下。我從那裡學到了一個教訓。這一次我真的把它付諸行動了。

每週一次花卉設計，放置在餐廳特定區域的聚光燈下。我非常感謝他們的信任。我的日本花卉設計之旅就是這樣開始的。

我很感激他給了我這個機會，讓我不間斷地創作，同時不斷練習和學習。在這個過程中，我不斷探索和參考日本花卉大師的作品，閱讀參考書和觀看視頻。 從那時起，我做了花道近三年，並創作了150多個設計。

我曾經學習過草月流-花道;但由於經常出差，無法繼續學習。我試圖自己學習，從媒體，YouTube等。幸運的是，我在日本學習了多年，這對我理解只用日語教授的設計理論有很大幫助。

每週一個新設計對我來說是一個挑戰，也是一個承諾。有時設計模式出現在睡眠中，其中大多數在醒來時被遺忘。聽說夢裡有影像，應該馬上起身畫下來，可是每次都累到做不来。

最近發現了一種幫助激發靈感的方法。我盡量提前幾天選花，把所有材料放在家裡顯眼的地方，觀察各種葉子、花朵、樹枝的自然形態，不時和它們交流。它真的幫助到我，並一直為我的創作帶來靈感。然後，選擇一個與構圖匹配的容器，並嘗試開始工作。通常，一個讓我滿意的設計可以在15/20分鐘內完成。偶爾我會在開始時感到失望，因為考慮到設計的基本概念，我必須重新調整。也許我太完美主義了！

最近，我愛上了池坊的高尚態度。枝材的自然形態和粗糙與綠葉花朵的優美線條形成鮮明對比，營造出有張力的構圖。所以現在，我開始學習日本花卉藝術的始祖——池坊。
有一天，媽媽問：“你已經是老師了，為什麼還這麼努力地學習？我告訴她，“如果你不成長，進步，你就會倒退，很快就會被拋在後面。這是我們小時候你教給我們的，對吧？她的臉上閃耀著驕傲的笑容…..！