Todich Floral Design Blog

It’s orchids again…

Would you live in a house shaped as an orchid? Apparently, there is one available for just a couple of million pounds relatively close to London. The architects took the bee orchid as a model for designing the Orchid House - a very interesting approach to country living. It’s (or should be) located at Lower Mill Estate, here in the UK. Coincidentally (or not) there are a number of orchid species that can be found there, but it was the particular camouflage of the bee orchid that generated the design.

The house, to be built from laminated veneer lumbar (LVL) ribs and clad with timber shingles is to blend well with the environment, offering flexible living spaces, with the kitchen at the very center, and the surrounding space like a ‘whorl’ of leaves encircling the seed of the flower.

As far as interior flower decoration in the house, the architects didn’t say, but orchids seem like the way to go.

Flowers have been an inspiration for fashion designers since a long time ago. John Galliano’s latest work for the Christian Dior fall/winter 2008 collection shown recently show this only too well. He took the optimism of the sixties, amped by bright colours, as his inspiration. An interesting post on Trendinista points out, what’s at first a not so clear similarity between dress design and colours and the beautiful orchids. A picture is worth a thousand words, so here are a couple of shots from the post which illustrate what was said all to well:

Visit Trendinista for more pictures like these.

It goes without saying that everyone one of us should do whatever we can to reduce the negative effect our lifestyles and businesses have on the environment. In fact, we’ve done a lot over the past years to ecologically improve our business operations to ensure we have the lowest possible ecological impact. Needless to say, this is far from over. There is always something new and different we can do to make things cleaner and greener. We are always happy to salute an effort in that direction. This time we salute a small company from France, called La Petite Reine.

We’ve all gotten used to having things delivered to our addresses in the cities. Many of you probably use our flower delivery services. What if there was a way to do this in an absolutely clean and environmentally safe way? The guys from La Petite Reine seem to have found an answer - human powered vehicles or Cargocycles as they call them. These are basically tricycles with a cargo space attached on the rear axle. The cargo space allows for about 180 kg of weight, or about 1400 litres of volume, to be delivered to distances of up to 30 km. The vehicle itself weighs only about 80 kg. Best of all, they are completely silent and emit no pollutants whatsoever.

Deliveries are so far available in three major cities in France - Bordeaux, Rouen, and Dijon, but the company is looking for partners in order to expand its services to other countries as well.

The road to a clean and green business is a long one, sometimes very slow even, but we will get there eventually with persistent efforts and a will to improve.

I am always amazed at the number of ways humans find to celebrate their love for flowers. Here are a couple of examples to illustrate - flowers as a motif for food, flower sculptures made from… well, flowers, and flower sculptures made from artificial materials. The possibilities are endless…

 

 

If you find any more cool examples of floral art, drop us a link in the comments. Maybe you’re a floral artist yourself - share your creations with us!

Getting married this year? Don’t wait until the last minute to plan flower decorations for the happy event. As is the case in other industries, the good stuff is hard to come by at a moment’s notice. Many top florists, including us, are quite busy and booked in advance, sometimes months ahead. It’s important to have this in mind and plan things ahead.

We know planning your wedding can be a very daunting task - and flower decorations are only a part of it. Here are a few pointers as far as flowers are concerned which may help you organise a little:

• florists are usually booked in advance, so don’t wait too long before contacting us
• many types of flowers are seasonal, so get informed about flower availability before making any major choices
• venue choice is quite important, as decoration and floral design implementation depend on the space available and accomodation configuration (seating arrangements, dance podium space, windows and lighting, entrance); floral designs are custome tailored to these conditions, so knowing them in advance will help
• if you are not completely sure about what kind of flowers and arrangements you’d like, consult with your florist early to allow enough time for ideas to crystalise (we offer free consultation)
• be honest about your wishes, however extravagant they may seem; the more information you give, the closer your vision will come to a stunning reality; we always try to create a custom tailored solution that will amaze you and your guests, but in the end, it’s your vision - we’ll simply help you to bring it to life.
• budget - concentrate your financial efforts on the most important things, those that will be visible to everyone, especially to you; again, a free wedding consultation with us will help you prioritise and save money

Let me emphasise the time factor again - don’t wait until the last minute to address flowers and floral decorations for your wedding. Start things well ahead and save both time and your nerves. In case you are already behind, get in touch with us anyway. We have been known to help our customers get out of tight schedules, without compromising quality of service or products.

BTW, we are preparing a surprise for all our soon-to-be-married friends - I can’t divulge too much at the moment, but a tool is coming that will allow you to be in charge of your wedding flower expenses (well, almost in charge anyway). Stay tuned, we’ll make an official announcement when the time comes.

Artificial flowers and plants today look so authentic that you pretty much have to touch them to be sure what you’re looking at is indeed an artificial piece. I remember once, having moved into new office space, the decorator went so far as to pre-decorate some of the space using artificial plants. Not knowing this, my new assistant actually watered the plant on the first day, only to notice days after that that the plant was actually artificial. It was placed in the pot with real earth and all, and the stem and leaves looked so real.

Artificial flowers and plants allow more freedom in decoration. First of all, they don’t wither, need virtually no maintenance (well, except some cleaning maybe), and probably most important, they come in all shapes, sizes, and variants no matter what the season is. So if you like tropical flowers, but live in a cold climate, your problem is solved. Artificial flowers are usually and mostly made of silk, as this material really produces the most realistic effect. The Chinese have been using silk flowers as decorations thousands of years ago, but it’s generally taken that the Italians have commercialised silk flowers in the 12th century (having just setup trade relations with China). By the 14th century though the French took over as master silk florists, having taken the craft to the highest limit then. Later on, the Victorian Age has brought an expansion in floral arts, both real and artificial. Materials used were satin, velvet, calico, muslin, cambric, crepe, gauze, and later wood, palm leaves, porcelain and metal.

Ecologically, artificial flowers and plants are a great product. There are no left-overs or waste materials. Everything used for making them is actually contained within the product. Needless to say, they are hand made works of floral art. At least the ones we make and install into your homes or offices. The technology of making artificial flowers and plants is advancing, giving us new materials and methods of joining parts together to look even more realistic than ever before. Replicating nature is virtually impossible, but new materials and methods allow us to make faux flowers that are stunning. It takes a lot of expertise and skill, and really pushes the artist to their limits.

We are always in touch with the latest developments and readily implement them on our products, guaranteeing your home or office space is decorated with the products of highest quality. If you’ve been thinking about decorating your work or life space, get in touch with us and let us show you how preserved, dried and silk flowers and plants can work for you.

It’s always interesting how plants find their way into ever more interesting ideas. This one, though, beats them all - it’s the Growing Business Card.

A very interesting solution for making sure your business card stays in someone’s focus for a while. Jamie Wieck’s Growing Business Card lives and grows over time. By adding a little water, your business card becomes alive, as it’s enriched with alfalfa or cress, which grows quickly and gives your prospective client a reason to keep on their desk rather than in their pocket.

Every once in a while the Japanese make a discovery that rocks the world. Well, if not the whole world than the world of horticulture at least. The latest advancement is Pafcal (fake soil), that has been developed by a Japanese company called Suntory. Pafcal is basically a urethane based product that resembles soil in almost every way, but weighs only half the weight of natural soil. This came up as a solution for a problem that the Japanese are having in big cities (mostly Tokyo), where soil is used on roofs to provide heat insulation. Since natural soil can prove to be heavy for this job, especially since Tokyo is built upon “shaky” grounds prone to earthquakes, pafcal was the perfect way to by-pass the weight problem. Plant growth on roofs with this new soil can reduce roof temperatures by about 10 degrees C (18 F), and bring a little life to an otherwise lifeless atmosphere of concrete and steel.

Luckily, it’s not that warm in the UK , but roof gardens are definitely interesting, and fake soil will certainly make it a lot easier to put some green on the old roof. We’re definitely looking into this further. If it proves economic and ecological, you may see pafcal in your office plant pots in the future.

[Via: Zmescience.com]

Ever heard of Botanicalls? These guys were the ones who introduced a way to make phone calls to plants in order to find out how they are doing, whether they need more or less water. No, seriously, they did it. There are even samples of various responses from different types of plants for requests like “need water”, or “notification of unnecessary watering”.

Well, they’ve gone a bit further this time, and introduced a way to use the popular micro-blogging service Twitter. Yes, plants can now actually twitter their “feelings” in real time. Again, the idea is the same - know when your plant needs water, or has too much of it and take action accordingly.

We at Todich Floral Design have been doing covert SMS mesaging with our plants at various offices around London. Our plants notify us via SMS when our clients talk about us. It took years to train them, from generation to generation, until they got it right. For some reason, they always started SMS-ing each other and everything went crazy…

Okay, joking aside, electronic communication with living plants is not that new. In fact, it’s something that has been researched over decades, and there are indications that plants indeed are able to communicate, as the example above shows. Taking proper care of plants we can all enjoy their presence every day is what we do as professionals, but technological advancements that would make this easier are always welcome.

How about you? Would you twitt with your plants?

One would think the decoration process is finished once the hotel lobby, or restaurant dining room or bar have been built according to the designer’s vision. In fact, many designers take into consideration plants and flowers and anticipate space for them while designing a venue. This is by no means a coincidence. Flowers and plants really do add that final touch to every space, and it’s only natural that they are considered an integral part of every day life. Just take a look at the space that surrounds you. Are there flowers and plants there? If yes, try to imagine how dull that space would look like without them, and if no, try to imagine how alive that space would look like with them.

Hotel lobby and rooms

It’s always a pleasure to see richly decorated hotel lobbies upon arrival. It really helps bring about an atmosphere of serenity and sophistication, not to mention, some very pleasant fragrances. Carefully placed plants and flowers will emphasize the overall look of the interior, and bring life to forgotten corners, that would otherwise look dull and simple. Plants (potted plants, plant walls) placed in strategic spots will help separate certain specific parts of the hotel lobby space from the others, creating an illusion of privacy.

Hotel rooms are a more delicate matter. Properly placed fresh flowers or plants will help create a welcome atmosphere, and add a touch of “home” decor to a room. Many guests request certain kinds of flowers to be placed in their room or suite. If your guests happen to be picky, you can rely on us to fulfill their wishes. We deal with special requests all the time, and it’s always a pleasure and a welcome challenge for us.

Restaurant flowers

Much like hotels, restaurants benefit a lot by introducing flowers and plants as part of their decoration efforts. When done properly and with style, your guests will notice. Whether it’s a business lunch or romantic dinner, the experience will only be half as strong without flowers and plants to give that special touch to the occasion. Depending on the occasion and season, and the overall theme at the restaurant, we can provide you with a custom tailored solution that your guests will appreciate.

A place for socialising over friendly conversation and a refreshing drink, bars are simply crying for flowers and plants. The relaxed, informal atmosphere of bars demands a special approach to floral decoration. Depending on the theme, flowers and plants can be tailored to add that last layer that will communicate a welcome atmosphere to your guests.

Note: all images above are pictures of actual designs made and installed by Todich Floral Design