My first thought when hearing this class title was the phrase “thinking outside the square”. There are many of my floral art friends who would consider this to be my design style! It’s true my designs will often challenge the judges, but I try to extend my design thinking for each competition – it’s not my way to do the same style every time.
The design (in my mind) needed to show lots of squares with material outside those squares whilst it all seemed to be part of a larger squarish design.
The base is a cork tile cut to a square shape with a square cardboard box covered in cork. As I didn’t need a water source for the plant material used, the box has a styrofoam block to support the other placements. The foam is covered with camellia foliage and small squares of thin cork. A few banksia flowers reach outside the square of the container.
Reaching up out of the container are two bamboo stakes with a further two at a cantilevered angle to give me the support for the overhanging square. The joins of the bamboo are covered with squares of cork.
The extended square is a piece of corflute (foam board) covered in ripped typha with some more banksia flowers.
Most difficult part of this design was getting the angle of the cantilever right to balance the square and remain in the space allocated for staging.
This design placed first.
Judges comments: An innovative design showcasing the class title to great effect. Placement on the bench adds to the design impact by being at an angle for the front judging as this emphasizes the many elements of squares. The base container is somewhat dominant and could have been lessened by wrapping in some more of the typha – not the whole container but perhaps a couple of lines, top and bottom, of the box.
