Florabundance Design Days 2016

We are pleased to share a glimpse of the fun that was had at our successful Fourth Annual Florabundance Design Days. The event took place in Santa Barbara, California January 11-13, 2016.

Our presenters this year included:
Hitomi Gilliam AIFD who taught a design session on creating “Floral Structures – Arches, Chandeliers, and Hangings”.
Holly Chapple led a design session titled “Sexy Centers” – you’ll see the pink and yellow compositions in the photos below.
Francoise Weeks and Susan McLeary combined their talents and taught a session on designing “Artful Purses and Botanical Jewelry”. Gorgeous necklaces and bracelets were created and worn by attendees!
Plus, Kim Curtis of TOAST shared how to design romantic blush bridal bouquets – check out those ranunculus!
We also had presentations by BJ Dyer AIFD on creative ideas using Design Master paints, Eleanor Clevenger of David Austin Roses taught us proper care & handling when working with garden roses, and Tom Bowling AIFD shared his experience of judging the 2016 Rose Parade. Alicia Schwede of Flirty Fleurs presented on Social Media and all things online.
Susan Silverberg shared her calligraphy skills with us, and The Grapeseed Company created a few lovely concoctions for everyone to enjoy. And as with every year at Florabundance Design Days, our leftover flowers were donated to the Dream Foundation, Valerie Banks told us about Flower Empower and how the flowers would be distributed to brighten someone’s day.
Bruce of Flowers & and David and Leanne Kessler AIFD all joined the conference to photograph and video the happenings, stay tuned as the conference will soon be featured in Flowers & Magazine and on Floral Design Institute website.

We hope you enjoyed the glimpse into all the fun that was had by presenters and attendees!
Be sure to mark your calendars for the 5th Annual Florabundance Design Days which will take place January 9-11, 2017 at Lotusland in Santa Barbara, California!!

A Special Thanks to our Sponsors –
CalFlowers
David Austin Roses
Design Master
FedEx
Smither’s-Oasis North America
Syndicate Sales

Also, thank you to the following companies which provided their goods and talents to our event –
Alexandra Farms
Alicia Schwede of Flirty Fleurs
Aspen Enterprises
California Pajarosa Floral
CallaCo
Central California Flower Growers
David and Leanne Kessler AIFD
Dream Foundation – Flower Empower
Elan Event Rentals
Fresca Farms
Green Valley Floral
Groflowers
Holex Flowers
Holex USA
Model – Cari Funkhouser
Ocean View Flowers
Photographers – Amanda Dumouchelle, Mary Jane, and Megan Sorel
Rincon Catering
Susan Silverberg Calligraphy
Sunburst Farms, Inc.
The Grapeseed Company
The Sun Valley Group
Underhill Ferneries
Zest International
Artemis, a distributor of Hanah Silk

All photographs in this post provided by Alicia Schwede of Flirty Fleurs.