Thursday, July 16, 2009

AIFD Symposium{Day One}

The AIFD symposium was a first for me.
I wasn't too sure about how everything worked or what the student competition was about but there I was, walking around a hotel gazing out out flowers everywhere.

As soon as we arrived we went to a meeting about the competition that would be taking place the following morning at 7am. They gave us a list of rules and times, and a list of the flowers we would be using.
Everyone gets the same flowers and the same supplies.
Fresh flowers and foliage, dried accessories, boullion wire, decorative wire, colored rocks, foam, pins, glass containers, bouquet holders, led lights and martini glasses.
Once they assigned us the number we would be competing with we were free to go to the AES exhibition.
AES is the Accreditation Evaluation Session that AIFD(American Institute of Floral Designers) gives so that florist can become AIFD accredited. They have four hours to make five designs using the flowers and accessories given to them. They are then evaluated in 10 points: Balance, color, line, focal point, creativity, suitability, mechanics, scale , and unity.
Some people pass, others don't. :(

Here are some of the deigns we saw that night.





It always amazes me that although everyone has access to the same exact flowers, everything looks so different.

Wedding Bouquets




I love flower tricks!
These cute little butterflies made out of decorative wire.

Here are some of my highlights:
Pic 1
The ever popular braiding.
Pic 2
I have seen this before and always forget to try it!
Trimming the gerbera daisies into squares that is.
Pic 3
A Phil Rulloda Bird!
I can make a nautical shell and a pineapple out of a palm but not a bird.....

Kind of cool right?
It was great inspiration to prepare for the competition on Saturday.

Next up is the competition pictures.

6 comments:

Sprout said...

Look me up if you come to Boston next year!

Bree said...

Will do Sprout!
I'm looking forward to Boston, never been, should be fun :)

Janet said...

Thanks for sharing! I wish I could have been there!

Sprout said...

Not as hip as SF, but still pretty neat! And it's the 4th of July!

Bree said...

Sprout~
I'm looking forward to going with my hubby next year, somehow when I said Missouri he said "Have fun!" and when I said Boston, he said "I'm going too!" hehe

Janet~
The shows and displays were pretty amazing, you have to come back and see the pictures from the European Designers. To DIE for!

Sprout said...

Ha! When I told Husband that with AIFD in Boston for the 4th, we'd have to go to the fireworks, he said, "mmm...do I have to?"!

I'll have to find a way to view them that doesn't involve hanging with 500,000 people and port-a-potties!