Floral Installations for Events: Design & Impact
More than ever, clients are asking for installations for their special events, weddings, baby showers, brand activations, corporate events and any other special moment they need a memorable floral. These special requests can create profitable opportunities and fresh eyes to any floral business.
But installations can also be intimidating. From pitching, to pricing, to production, there’s a lot of steps to getting it right.
So my talented flower-friends from Sweet Root Village, Lauren, Rachel and I decided to create a small-group workshop intensive on the topic. We wanted to create an experience where designers could glean from our years of experience, missteps and more and learn how to build confidence in their installation process. An important element of this small group workshop was to maintain a 3:1 student teacher ratio that would allow the students to be supported enough to create a final installation on their own from concept to execution.
You can read more here about how to choose a great workshop for you.
My friend and fellow educator Hitomi Gilliam says, “a teacher’s job is not to show off what they can do as a teacher, rather show students what (they) are capable of.” This concept is our north star in teaching – helping other designers see what they are capable of, equipping them, and spurring them on to growth in their business and artistry.
Over the course of our three-day installation workshop, we covered conceptualization, design theory, color theory, technical skills, labor, transportation, and execution of large-scale installations. We created multiple styles of installations partially completed to showcase the mechanics and offered tips and explanations on how to build multiple styles of designs. Next was a hands on exercise and demo of dozens of mechanics that can be utilized in installs. Amy discussed palette-building, creating unique shapes utilizing the golden ratio and focused on proportion, form and balance. Lauren and Rachel broke down ordering for installs along with planning, pitching and selling tips. We reviewed multiple inspiration photos from students and discussed how to create the inspirational photos. We demonstrated design and construction techniques on multiple structures along with tips and recommendations for building and designing.
On our second day, we mentored students through developing, drafting, and executing their own unique installation concepts. The goal was to grow the practical and technical skills required to create installations, and foster the confidence that goes along with it! More than half the designers chose a hanging installation to practice the art of hanging mechanics and learned how to create a dynamic design in the air.
This installation highlighted beautiful and lush greens from Fern Trust in Florida and Regional Farms in California.
We gave feedback throughout the process, from securing the mechanics, to reworking the color palettes to ensure designers were challenged and supported throughout the process. Editing and refining our choices is critical as designers, as we tend to stick to what we know. Our feedback consisted of how to adjust and utilize specific mechanics for specific goals, how to edit and create more focused material and color selections and where to place stems to create the most impact. We were so blown away by all of the attendees’ commitment to the learning process. After sketching our designs and honing in on a compelling color story, designers got to work applying all they had learned. The results were incredible.
