As the wedding and event industry looks ahead to 2026, one thing is becoming increasingly clear: design is no longer defined by visual impact alone. It is about emotion, intention, and how an experience is felt. Flowers play a central role in this shift, not as decoration, but as a language that translates values, stories, and inner worlds into physical form.
In this interview with floral teacher Tomas de Bruyne, you will learn about this year's trends, from emotional storytelling and pared-back simplicity to sustainability and our evolving relationship with technology. Tomas brings a perspective shaped by years of working where floristry, scenography, and human experience meet
The EMC Trend Report as a Manual for Florists and Designers
Every year, EMC (European Master Certification) brings out a trend report. Four trends, or let's say four movements.
- Trend Conscious Calm (Challenge)
- Trend Bio-Rhythmic (Embrace)
- Trend Conscious Calm (Challenge)
- Trend Obscure Grace (Transcend)
In a few weeks, the Trend Report will be ready to download, but here's already a teaser of what you, as a floral designer, or a bride or groom-to-be, can use as inspiration.
A Talk With the Master Himself
In this conversation with Tomas de Bruyne, we explore how floral design is evolving alongside broader cultural changes. From emotional storytelling and refined simplicity to sustainability and our changing relationship with technology, Tomas shares a perspective shaped by years of working at the crossroads of floristry, scenography, and human experience.
Rather than offering fixed styles or formulas, he invites us to think differently. To view weddings not as visual concepts, but as lived narratives that unfold through space, rhythm, and emotion.
Q.1 The opening images of this feature show immersive, large-scale floral environments; scenes that feel cinematic and aspirational rather than directly tied to everyday floristry. Yet they offer insight into how floral design functions on a global scale, where your work influences and guides the broader floral industry.
Tomas:
"Before a single flower is examined up close, these images already tell a story. They are not meant to be replicated in a flower shop, nor approached as a recipe. They exist to illustrate how consciously people are choosing today, choosing a mood, choosing a stance, choosing how they want to be felt, and what they wish to stand for.
In the global event industry, florals have become a language of identity. Couples, brands, and hosts no longer ask simply for “beautiful flowers.” They ask for an atmosphere that reflects who they are, what they value, and how they position themselves in the world. Color becomes intention. Repetition becomes rhythm. Space itself becomes part of the design.
In this particular event - Event planner: Diana Da Ros and photographed by Pasquale Cuorvo - the choice was deliberate and clear. The couple chose passion. Red. Strength expressed through elegance. An environment that felt immersive, yet deeply intimate. Not as a trend, but as a statement of values.
These large-scale floral environments are not about excess, but about clarity. They demonstrate how a single, well-chosen direction can carry emotion, memory, and meaning far beyond the flowers themselves.
This is where floristry is heading. And it is this way of thinking (not the scale) that every florist, designer, and flower lover can translate into their own work."
Q.2 After opening with these large-scale, conceptual floral environments, the article then shifts toward more intimate floral arrangements and trend-driven details that feel closer to everyday floristry. How do these two worlds connect?
Tomas:
"They are closer than they appear.
While the scale may differ, the underlying intention is the same. Whether designing a monumental event installation or a single arrangement in a flower shop, the starting point is no longer decoration, but awareness. What do I want this to express? What emotion should it carry? What values sit beneath the surface?
The large-scale environments show the direction. The more intimate arrangements translate that mindset into form. They reveal how conscious choices in color, texture, structure, and restraint can live at any scale. The range of images presented here reflects what can be expected in 2026 – not as fixed trends, but as a movement shaped by how elements are combined. Style, color, texture, florals, and materials come together in new ways, sometimes reinterpreting the past, sometimes introducing a contemporary shift that changes the perception entirely.
This is where the shift becomes tangible for florists and consumers alike. The trends explored in the EMC Trend Report 2026 do not ask for grand gestures, but for clarity. They invite makers to think less in terms of styles to follow, and more in terms of positions to take; conscious decisions about how design relates to the world we live in.
These arrangements illustrate four emerging human–technology paradigms that are shaping design today. Challenge, Embrace, Escape, and Transcend.
Seen this way, the event world and everyday floristry are not separate realms. They are part of the same movement – one that encourages flowers to become a personal language, shaped by intention, identity, and emotional truth."
Q.3 In 2026, weddings are becoming emotion-driven experiences. How can floral design help create emotional storytelling?
Tomas:
"We are entering a moment where weddings are shaped less by what people see and more by what they feel. Floral design becomes a conductor of emotion, guiding guests through anticipation, intimacy, transition, and celebration.
This shift takes place in a world where technology is an ever-present companion. Designers today must choose how they relate to it, whether they embrace it, challenge it, step away from it, or transcend it.
When handled with intention, florals become the medium through which these human positions are expressed. A flower can hold tension, or it can convey calm, clarity, or resistance. It is this emotional register that turns a wedding into a story guests experience rather than observe."
Q.4 Luxury is shifting toward simplicity and inner radiance. What floral techniques or materials best express this new form of refined luxury?
Tomas:
"Luxury today is defined by clarity, restraint, and the courage to remove what does not serve the experience.
This evolution reflects a broader movement. Trends are no longer driven by taste alone, but by how people position themselves in relation to intelligent technology.
Understated luxury emerges through compositions that are allowed to breathe. Transparent structures, honest botanical materials, pure lines, and techniques that reveal rather than conceal. It is a form of luxury that whispers instead of shouting, where inner radiance becomes the true signature."
Q.5 In 2026, weddings reflect personal identity more than ever. How can floral choices express a couple’s personality or cultural story?
Tomas:
"Floral design becomes meaningful when it translates who the couple is, not simply what style they prefer. Color sets the emotional tone, texture reveals temperament, and structure reflects the rhythm of their relationship.
Personal identity today also includes how a couple relates to the technological world surrounding them, whether they embrace it, question it, escape from it, or move beyond it. These positions subtly influence the aesthetics they are drawn to, from raw organic expressions to sculptural precision.
Florals act as a bridge. They give physical form to a story that is emotional, cultural, and deeply personal."
Q.6 With themes like 'The Radiance of Nature' shaping the industry, which sustainable floral practices will define weddings in 2026?
Tomas:
"Sustainability has evolved from a trend into an ethical commitment.
In 2026, it is not only about sourcing, but about consciousness. How we work with nature, how we collaborate with growers, how we reduce waste, and how we choose materials that respect the life cycle of plants.
These practices align with a growing desire to step away from constant digital stimulation and return to tactility, calmness, and authenticity. Sustainable floristry thrives where intention meets nature."
Q.7 Looking ahead to 2026, what key floral trends should couples expect to see?
Tomas:
"Traditional labels such as Natural, Modern, Classic, or Avant-garde no longer define the landscape. They feel too narrow for the world we are entering.
In 2026, the real evolution comes from a shift in perception, from choosing a style to choosing a stance.
Design is shaped by four emerging human–technology paradigms. Challenge, where raw and imperfect botanical expressions dominate. Embrace, where AI-supported creativity and digital-botanical fusion appear. Escape, expressed through organic, tactile, sensory minimalism. Transcend, where hybrid aesthetics merge nature and technology.
These stances guide colors, shapes, and materials. Expect palettes that feel grounded yet luminous, forms that move between sculptural precision and natural flow, and materials that balance authenticity with innovation. The strongest trend is awareness, the desire for design that aligns with personal values and emotional truth."
Q. 8 You’ve written a book titled 'The Art of Design'. Can you explain what the book is about and how it is structured?
Tomas:
"The Art of Design is built around the idea that design is not instruction, but invitation.
The book consists of seven chapters and one epilogue. Together, they trace the journey of creation, from the first impulse of thought to the final echo of meaning. It is not a linear how-to guide.
Each chapter represents a state of being, a shift from seeing to sensing, from doing to becoming.
The journey begins with The Mental Universe, where design is understood not as decoration, but as translation, a way of giving form to thought.
It moves into The State of Flow, where attention shifts toward process, learning to trust rhythm, movement, and immersion rather than control.
With The Art of Imagination, structure loosens. The chapter opens space for intuition, for ideas that cannot be planned, and for moments of creative freedom.
This is deepened in The Art of Unlearning, where intention becomes central, and assumptions are consciously released to make room for clarity.
The Art of Structure then brings balance, exploring how beauty is born where imagination and structure meet; not as opposites, but as partners.
This leads into The Emotional Blueprint, where design moves beyond the eye and into memory, atmosphere, and experiences that continue to resonate long after the moment itself.
The final chapter, Legacy and the Invisible Thread, reflects on meaning. Moments pass, but what remains is not an image or an object, but a feeling, an imprint that carries forward.
Alongside this conceptual journey, the book offers a rare, behind-the-scenes look into how my creative mind works in practice."
Tomas continues:
"It features visual stories of floral installations from around the world, intimate process moments, and previously unseen images of large-scale, immersive weddings and scenographic environments. From the first sketch to the final atmosphere, readers are invited into the world behind the work: the decisions, the intuition, the structure, and the silence between moments.
These are not pages to consume quickly. They are thresholds to enter. The book invites readers to pause, reflect, and experience design not only as something to observe, but as something to feel. In a world that continues to accelerate, The Art of Design offers space. Space to slow down, to reconnect, and to design with awareness. It speaks to those who sense that beauty today is no longer measured by excess, but by resonance. This book is not for everyone. It is for those who feel that design today must carry responsibility, not just beauty."
Pre-orders and further information: www.theartofdesign.be.
Tomas’ Thoughts on Floral Luxury
Taken together, Tomas’s insights point toward a future where floristry becomes quieter, deeper, and more intentional. A future where beauty is not measured by excess, but by resonance. Where flowers help people feel grounded, connected, and present.
Event Design has many secrets. In a world that continues to accelerate, this approach provides space. Space to feel, to reflect, and to design with awareness. It is a reminder that the most powerful experiences are not imposed, but sensed. And that flowers, when approached with care and intention, remain one of the most eloquent languages we have.
