I think everyone has their own guiding principles and strong beliefs that shape our thinking and behavior, making us who we are. As spring begins, I’d like to share my maxims on working with flowers alongside these stunning seasonal images.
My Guiding Principles of Flowers
Emotions: For me, floral artistry is about expressing emotions and feelings through the inherent beauty of each bloom, rather than treating them solely as decorative materials.
Living Essence: I experience flowers as living beings with a short but beautiful life, appreciating them in their full integrity, as whole, sacred creations of nature. I believe flowers should be appreciated in their entirety - stem, head, and leaves - as part of a living form.
Beauty: People are inherently sensitive to beauty, one of life’s highest qualities. Flowers, in their purest form, radiate true beauty, a gift from nature and the divine. When handled with sensitivity, and given the space to tell their own story, they create a profound connection between us and the natural world, offering a glimpse of something greater than ourselves.
Flowers First: For me, the challenge and floral artistry lie in arranging flowers in a way that honors them, prioritising the flowers in all their integrity, and respecting their individual form while creating harmony in the composition, without relying heavily on other materials.
Sustainability: Ideally, fresh water and vessels with some support are all that is needed, which makes it an exciting creative challenge to shape and pattern them naturally according to my vision. Of course, we all use techniques, flowers do not arrange themselves, but I believe techniques should be minimal, invisible, and sustainable. The goal is to showcase the flowers, not overpower them.
Floral Impressionism: Great art isn’t just about technical skill, it’s about the feeling it evokes. A painter can render a face in perfect detail, but an Impressionist captures light, movement, and soul. That’s what I strive to do with flowers.
Love & Connection: There is a growing movement in floristry that values these same principles, and we are thriving because people are drawn to natural beauty and techniques designed to highlight the flowers.
Meaningfulness: the growers invest immense care and attention in cultivating flowers, and in my philosophy, we as florists build upon that care by working sensitively with the flowers, seeing them as living beings, and creating arrangements that bring their natural essence and beauty to people in an emotional and meaningful way.
Kind regards from Katya Hutter, Floral Designer.
Credits:
Photography: Maxeen Kim. Fields: Fam Flower Farm. Planning + Design: Britt Jones Co. Florals: Katya Hutter. Beauty: Jen Lagers. Suit: The Black Tux. Dress: Made Bride by Antonea. Bride: Paola Slvo. Groom: Peter Smit.
