MADE/ARRANGED – IKEBANA WORKSHOP with Setsuko Yanagisawa
Creative Zen – two of the elements that were the focus of our first Ikebana workshop. The workshop saw our space converted into a glasshouse filled with native Australian fauna flowed from the vases as well as a mix of colourful exotic species. Bright colours, varying textures and differing sizes of the flowers provided great inspiration and creative potential.
On arrival guests were greeted with a cup of fragrant green tea to help transport them into a Zen mindset. Setsuko Yanagisawa from Yuga Flora demonstrated unique pairings of the flowers in vessels of various sizes and shapes with a focus on asymmetry and negative space.
After Setsuko’s informative display, guests were invited to open their Luke Mansini vessel which was gifted wrapped in the traditional Japanese style of Furoshiki. Guests were soon immersed in the creative process of selecting appropriate flowers and arranging them in their respective vessels and Setsuko was able to offer guidance when needed.
The acknowledgement of impermanence and fleeting moments resonates at the heart of the Zen aesthetic and becomes a way to explain how we are able to perceive beauty. Author Yoshida Kenko (1284 – 1350) explains, ‘Branches about to bloom or gardens strewn with faded flowers are worthier of our admiration- in all things, it is the beginnings and endings that are interesting…If man were never to fade away but lingered on forever in the world, how things would lose their power to move us. The most precious thing in life is its uncertainty.’
Pictured below: Some of the wonderfully architectural and tranquil Ikebana arrangements created in the workshop.
For more information, please contact:
Kitty Wong – info[at]saintcloche.com or 0434 274 251