On a chilly Friday evening in April sixteen budding florists made their way through the bustle of London commuters to the calm and spacious workshop of the Covent Garden Academy of Flowers. The aim was to discover how to create a flower basket bursting with tulips and roses to celebrate spring. “Create a Spring Flower Basket” is the third successful flower arranging workshop for the Society – each one in the past has offered a different theme and design, from a centrepiece for the Christmas table to an Easter floral celebration. The original idea for the evening was suggested to the Society by expert florist and ex Cambridge graduate Kim Ropek, and we are enormously grateful to Kim for organising this event and for making the Academy available to us.
Using a beautiful range of flowers and foliage supplied by the Academy, we assembled our choices, marvelling at how, although everyone started with the same selection, each flower arrangement turned out in the end to be completely unique. An air of concentration and companionship settled over the class as everyone relaxed and let their creativity fly, while Kim and her helper provided insider tips on the best ways to prolong the life of our creations. It was great to see returnees from Kim’s previous classes and also some chaps, proving that the pleasure of flower arranging is open to everyone.
By the end of the evening we had all created a lovely, seasonal spring centrepiece to take home. We were able to go back out into the bustle of Covent Garden armed with dozens of ideas for making other seasonal displays, and feeling rejuvenated after experiencing the calm oasis of Kim’s teaching rooms.
Organised by Sarah Sarkhel