The Most Inspirational Valentine’s Floral Design from INSPIRE Design Showcase

Enjoy a creative challenge open to one and all? Then you’ll love the outcome of the Smithers-Oasis INSPIRE Floral Design Showcase completed late last year, especially this most inspirational Valentine's Day floral design. Each week on the OASIS Floral Products Facebook page, designers were invited to submit floral designs for flower-sending occasions. The most inspirational design in each category was chosen and recreated for a Smithers-Oasis photo shoot and advertisement. Today we are celebrating the most inspirational (and successful!) Valentine's Day floral design: Bed of Roses, submitted by Nadia Johnson-Beard of Studio 82 Events & Design in Houston, Texas.

What inspired Nadia?

I asked Nadia about her inspiration for this beautiful design. She said she enjoys designing flowers for weddings. She wanted to create a centerpiece for an intimate setting for two at the Sweetheart Table of a wedding, “a lush design for a couple who love a high-end look,” she said. While most of her clients prefer a traditional style, she wanted to give them an eye-catching and non-traditional luxurious look.

Which rose did she choose?

Since it was a Valentine’s Day design, she chose to use 40 – 50 centimeter Freedom Roses. Freedom is her favorite red rose due to the quality of its blooms and availability in her market. Nadia cut the stems of 125 to 150 roses short and inserted them into the water-soaked OASIS Sculpting Sheet, creating a lush form that reminds one of red velvet. As the last step, she filled three glass cylinders with water and added tea lights to the center of the design. She envisioned the soft glow of candlelight highlighting the happy faces of a couple seated at a table. Nadia knew she had created a look that could even impress cupid!

Easy as 1, 2, 3

For the ad, Smithers-Oasis Design Director Loann Burke, AIFD, PFCI, recreated Nadia’s design. See step-by-step design directions showing the simplicity of creating Bed of Roses and get inspired to try your take on this beautiful monochromatic and mono-varietal composition! Using Nadia’s basic concept, Loann expanded the idea into other practical design applications as well, which are shown at the link above. See all the variations and the final ad.

Why OASIS Sculpting sheet?

Nadia and Loann both created this unique design with OASIS Sculpting Sheet. “The OASIS Sculpting Sheet made my life easier,” said Nadia. “It was simple to use, time-saving and easy to transport.”  She also found it easy to use UGLU™ Adhesive strips to adhere red OASIS™ Flat Wire to decorate the edges of the Styrofoam sculpting sheet base. During a busy wedding flower installation day, a design that is easy to transport is important to her. She also likes that Bed of Roses is a multi-purpose design which could be used at the guest registry of the ceremony and the Sweetheart Table of the reception.

It worked!

Nadia was happy to tell me that sharing her ‘sweetheart of an idea’ with us in the Smithers-Oasis INSPIRE campaign had worked. She is now getting lots of requests for her Bed of Roses design for upcoming weddings. Congrats, Nadia!

Concerned about expense?

While Nadia’s design using all roses was gorgeous, it could potentially be more expensive than some customers might want to invest. How can this design be made more inexpensively? Use red carnations instead of roses. Another suggestion would be to use white or pink pom-poms and spray them with Colour Regen Floral Spray in Poppy red. The design could also be made of pink, white or lavender flowers and still express a lovely Valentine sentiment. Of course, you can adapt the same design for many other occasions! What inspirational ideas can you think of using these materials? What other Smithers-Oasis products would you choose to work with? “What inspires you?"