Fusion Flowers Magazine

With a resounding vote of support from its Board of Directors, the American Institute of Floral Designers (AIFD) is advancing plans to offer a new professional floral design designation that will assist both the industry and the public in recognising designers who are proficient in the fundamentals of floral design.  

"Before it is made available to the general floral industry, AIFD 's new Certified Floral Designer® (CFD) designation will first be tested by a team of AIFD design evaluators and a group of up-and-coming retail floral designers,?

 said William McKinley AIFD , associate dean at Kishwaukee College and chairman of AIFD 's CFD Task Force. ?We want to make sure that the evaluation system, while subjective, is fair, impartial and reflective of a designer's artistic talents.?

 The CFD evaluation system will be comparable to the one AIFD now uses for designers to become Accredited Members. AIFD Members receive the professional designation AIFD as an addendum to their name. This recognises their excellence in floral design as well and their commitment to the advancement of the art of floral design.

CFD candidates will have to participate in an on-site evaluation session. They will be asked to create four designs: arrangements, flowers to wear, weddings and duplication. Each design will be evaluated based on a standardised set of criteria such as elements and principles of design, mechanics, category interpretation and creativity.

Candidates will also have an option to slightly bolster their final design evaluations by successfully completing a written quiz.

Educational pre-requisites to participate as a CFD candidate include any of the following: AIFD educational workshop, AIFD Education Partners workshop, higher education degree or a self-evaluation analysis.

Once a designer is awarded the CFD designation, he or she will need to meet certain continuing education standards every three years to remain certified (as do all AIFD Accredited Members). It is anticipated that the CFD program will become a pre-requisite for designers to be able to move on to achieve AIFD Accredited Membership.

In part, we hope the CE requirement will help support existing floral design education programs as well as stimulate the need for more, said AIFD President Tom Simmons of Palm Springs , California, USA.

For further information contact AIFD Telephone +(410) 752 3318 Fax + (410) 752 8295 or go to their website www.AIFD.org