Fusion Flowers Magazine

The city of Barcelona is undoubtedly a place with a reputation! The vast diversity of architecture in the city is remarkable albeit somewhat dominated by the wonderful work of Gaudi which has thousands of tourists flocking to see it every year. Within international floristry terms, many had overlooked the work of Spanish designers, however, those that did, underestimated the determination and dedication of the Catalonian nation. It is from Catalonia that ground breaking, contemporary, floral design is emerging.

There are various schools in Catalonia but The Catalonian School, now in its 25th year, is best known. It was started by a group of dedicated florists who became teachers, effectively retrained themselves and, as they?ve progressed, have incorporated former students into the teaching fraternity. If you are even vaguely artistic in nature, you simply could not live and work in a city such as this and not be influenced by the structures that surround you. To celebrate their anniversary, the teaching staff at the school decided to take a fresh look at the city with a view to decorating it with flowers. The result of this project is quite remarkable.

Twelve different venues were selected and there is a comprehensive introduction to each, together with, details of the materials used and the designers concerned. I have to admit, we had our mouths hanging open trying to work out how these people had scaled the heights to achieve some of this work. To say that some of it is outstanding, is an understatement!

This book would inspire anyone thinking of executing large scale contemporary decoration of a building, serious (and I mean serious) floral designers and those who like me, want to savour the beauty of flowers and architecture in harmony. This is a remarkable achievement.