My name is Anike Keurentjes, a young 19-year-old Dutch student who embarked on a very interesting and growing journey at Yuverta. For the last project of my Flower, Green, and Styling training at Yuverta MBO, I developed an innovative product line, which includes four floral works related to my trend forecast and the self-chosen flower. Join me to learn more about my project!
My Trend Forecast - Under The Sea
For this project alongside Yuverta, my chosen flower was the tulip, and furthermore, my trend forecast theme was "Under The Sea".
When I started traveling to other countries, I began noticing how damaged certain areas in nature were and this caused concern in me. The colorful world of the Great Barrier Reef is dying out as we humans travel to these areas. This became very noticeable to me more and more every time I traveled.
In case you didn't know, the Great Barrier Reef is the largest coral reef in the world, but has been constantly facing troubles, especially this year. Because of all the planes, the temperature of the seawater has risen and this beautiful world is dying out.
Emerging Concerns for Our Sea
The sea world is a colorful world with many animals and plants. These are dying out because of our need to visit these places. But the real question is: can't you search in your own environment for your own coral reef, without the need to travel abroad for it? This is possible by looking at materials and nature differently with this trend forecast because much of this dream world is actually just your own environment! With my project at Yuverta, I was able to explore these ideas and much more.
My Chosen Flower - The Tulip
The tulip is a beautiful flower of Dutch origin. By working with this flower I wanted to show that you don't have to go abroad to find colorful flowers. In the garden, tulips can grow with ease and need little care. The tulip comes in many different colors and shapes, which reinforces my trend forecast.
My Flower Arrangements
My four flower arrangements were based on this trend forecast: Under The Sea. I made bridal work with accessories and funeral work with accessories as well, always inspired by the training I had at Yuverta.
Bridal Flower Work
For the bridal work, I melted plastic flower foil with a paint dryer. I melted these back together with a tulip shape in mind. In it, I tied the bouquet with only tulips.
Bridal Accessory
For the bridal accessory, I chose to make a corsage for a man. This consists of dried tulip leaves that I then melted together in plastic foil, for which I also used a paint dryer. I also attached some loose dried petals to the corsage to make it a bit looser and more playful.
Funeral Work
For the funeral work, I chose to make a coffin lid decoration with plastic flower foil. These are plastic sleeves in which the flowers are packed when they come from the wholesaler.
I collected the plastic covers in all kinds of different colors and melted them with the paint dryer. Then I connected them together and looked at which colors and shapes matched the shape of the melted plastic covers.
As a kind of new sea of color, I processed the tulips over the plastic flower sleeves in insert tubes. This box lid decoration is actually a kind of statement to florists! As I did this work, I noticed there is still a lot of plastic in the flower industry and we have to do something about this.
Mourning Accessory
For the mourning accessory, I chose an urn decoration. Just like with the corsage, I let the tulip petals dry out completely. I put these in a plastic bag and melted them together with the paint dryer. I air-tolerated the petals and incorporated them into the decoration.
All my flower arrangements are the result of a fun and sometimes difficult design process and contain the power of my trend forecast.
This was the last project of the florist training at Yuverta, in which everything I was allowed to learn in recent years came together. I am very proud and happy with the result of these pieces of work. Thanks, Yuverta!
Follow Me on Instagram
Do you want to see more from me? Then take a look at my Instagram account @anikekeurentjes.
Practical support/advice: Coby van Otterdijk. Styling & photography: Elfi Voermans. Textual guidance/editing: Ruud Teutelink.
