Florabundance Inspirational Design Days 2016

We are delighted to announce the line-up and dates for Florabundance Inspirational Design Days 2016!!

Once again, our yearly event will take place at a magical floral inspiring location – The Orchid Farm at Dos Pueblos Ranch! Three fabulous days will be filled with educational sessions filled with new methods and design techniques, networking, and fun in the California sun!

Register for Florabundance Inspirational Design Days 2016 – Click Here

In the meantime, check out our exceptional group of presenting designers from around the country:

Hitomi Gilliam AIFD (Vancouver, BC)
www.design358.com

Hitomi Gilliam AIFD is a Japanese Canadian floral designer, keynote lecturer, demonstrator, educator and a consultant in all aspects of the Art and Business of Floral Design. She is the Creative Director for DESIGN358 (2008). She has guest-designed throughout North America, England, Japan, Mexico, Taiwan, Bermuda, Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand and Colombia.

She owned and operated Satsuki’s Florist in Mission, British Columbia for 28 years. And established an Event & Education business, DESIGN358 8 years ago.

Hitomi is the founding organizer of the Annual ‘Survival of the Creative Minds’ Conference in Taos, New Mexico. 18th Annual Conference ‘REDUCTION’ is scheduled for October, 2015.

Hitomi has collaborated with Tomas De Bruyne from Belgium to create a comprehensive ‘European Master Certification’ Program (EMC). We are headed into the third cycle in 2015/16 having just completed cycle 2 in Bruges in May, 2014.

Hitomi is the founding director of NEOflora, a non-profit association of forward-thinking floral designers (2012). The first project, NEOflora POP UP store in Vancouver, Canada was a resounding success in October, 2012

Kim Curtis (Santa Barbara, CA)
www.toastsantabarbara.com

TOAST, located in Santa Barbara, is a full-service event design, floral, production and coordination company. TOAST started out as a design and coordination company over 17 years ago with floral design becoming a key part of the business over the past 6 years.

Kim Curtis got her start in flowers while working a summer job in high school. Years later, after only doing coordination and design, she decided to add floral design to service offerings for TOAST. Having floral done in-house ensures that the event design is cohesive in all aspects of design.

Francoise Weeks (Portland, OR)
www.francoiseweeks.com

Honing her talents through training with the florists of Antwerp, Françoise discovered her signature—a unique lush and textural style, heavily imprinted by her love of nature and art. Since 1996 she has translated her passion into creations of flowers, herbs, fruits, vegetables and foliage in a way that the masters could only paint.

Her portfolio runs the gamut from elegant natural simplicity to the abundant and bountiful; she consistently delivers the unexpected. Françoise’s first priority is to realize the ideas and needs of her clients and bring to the process her attention to detail and unique creativity.

Recently her work has emerged into two distinctive styles: URBAN WOODLANDS—contemporary stylings of mosses, lichens, bark and forest floor gatherings and FLORAL FORWARD—exquisite botanical haute couture creations of purses, headpieces and shoes.

She shares her trademark style and vast knowledge of floral design and mechanics through teaching inspiring workshops hosted at her intimate studio in Portland, OR and at hosted locations throughout the United States and Internationally.

Françoise has been the subject of numerous magazine articles throughout the United States and Europe.

Holly Chapple (Lucketts, VA)
www.hollychappleflowers.com

Holly Chapple founded her wedding and event floral design business 23 years ago as a way to earn a living while working from home as she raised her children. Over the years, the Holly Heider Chapple Flowers brand has continued to grow and gain national recognition as a result of Holly’s involvement in social media and the popularity of her blog, The Full Bouquet. Today Holly’s studio services weddings and events in the Washington DC area, as well as luxury destination weddings.

In 2010, Holly founded The Chapel Designers, an international collective of wedding and event floral designers. The organization educates, supports and mentors creatives while encouraging the authenticity of each designer. In recent years, Holly has developed extensive cutting gardens on her Virginia property as a supporter of the American Grown Slow Flower movement. She enjoys drawing inspiration from the cutting gardens and including the locally grown flowers in her work.

Holly and her husband Evan celebrated 28 years of marriage this January and are the proud parents of seven wonderful children ranging in age from 6 to 28.

Susan McLeary (Ann Arbor, MI)
www.passionflowerevents.com

Susan is an Ann Arbor, Michigan based floral designer, artist and instructor who creates unusual, boundary-pushing floral art including elaborate headpieces, flower crowns, and her signature succulent jewelry.

Her soulful, seasonally-inspired creations and floral wearables have been described as innovative, exquisite living artwork.

Considered one of the country’s top designers of floral wearables and living jewelry, Susan received one gold and three silver medals and placed second overall in the 2014 Fusion Flowers International Designer of the Year competition.

A passionate teacher, Susan offers private design instruction for professional florists in her studio and through destination workshops.

Susan’s work has been featured on the cover of Fusion Flowers Magazine and in leading industry publications and websites including Modern Wedding Flowers, Flowers&, Style Me Pretty, Field to Vase, Grace Ormonde Wedding Style, and The Knot. Susan is a member of Chapel Designers, Slow Flowers and Style Me Pretty’s “Little Black Book.” A frequent featured designer on Etsy, her designs and living jewelry has been praised for its originality, sustainability and style.

Alicia Schwede (Seattle, Washington)
www.flirtyfleurs.com | www.bellafiori.com

Designer and blogger Alicia Schwede is the founder of the leading floral design & industry blog and magazine Flirty Fleurs. She regularly lectures on design and social media at workshops and events around the country. She is also the creative mind behind Seattle-area floral design studio Bella Fiori. Her work has been featured in The Knot and Style Me Pretty and in her book Bella Bouquets.

Alicia will be joining the workshop to present on all things digital media: blogging, social media, website tools and more!

Eleanor Clevenger (Miami, Florida)
www.davidaustinrosesusa.com

Director of Cut Flowers for David Austin Roses, Eleanor Clevenger, will be sharing care & handling tips for their exquisite garden roses. Eleanor will address the varieties they offer and share wonderful information about designing and everyday gifting of the roses.

Hotel Reservations:
A block of rooms have been reserved for the event from January 10th through the 14th at Fess Parker’s DoubleTree Resort in Santa Barbara. This special room rate will be available through December 10th or until the group block is sold-out, whichever comes first.

Book Your Hotel Room by clicking here and visit our special event page.
If you have additional questions about accommodations at the Fess Parker resort, you can call direct to reach Christine Heinrich (Sales Manager) at 805-884-8522. As part of your hotel stay, you will get free parking – free WiFi – free pickup and drop off at the Santa Barbara Airport.