Flower Porn, by English floral designer Kaiva Kaimins, presents a playful modern approach to floristry with a focus on color palettes and seasonal flowers. With tonal-inspired aesthetics in mind, Kaimins’ arrangements change with the time of year and can be copied or used for inspiration with the goal of developing a personal style. Regardless of experience, readers can gain insight and knowledge about color combinations, techniques, design considerations, and the flowers that are available throughout the year.
The author begins with her “Flower Key” that explains the 4 key roles that various flowers play in a floral design and suggests flowers for each role. For example, structural flowers, such as hydrangea, dahlias, and delphiniums are often used to create the base of an arrangement while carnations, fritillaries, and smoke bush add texture. Next, Kaimins describes floristry tools and explains how to condition and hydrate floral material. She goes on to gives directions for working with different flowers including how to reflex roses and tulips. The bulk of the book is devoted to the presentation of more than 20 recipes for unique seasonal arrangements, followed by final sections on creating a color palate, shopping for flowers, and a flower directory that lists flowers by the role they can play in arrangements so substitutions can be made as necessary.
The 20 recipes for flower arrangements are presented by season. Each entry begins with a consideration of the color palette of the season (pink, orange, peach, purple and yellow for Spring, for example), followed by a list of available flowers for each color. A list of flowers needed for the arrangement and step by step directions are given for creating 5 signature arrangements for each season (spiralled bouquet, a vase arrangement, a statement piece, a tablescape, and a suspended cloud.) Directions for a flower crown and boutonniere are also included.
Flower Porn is a fun and novel approach to floral design, is easy to read, and exudes the enthusiasm of the author. It has an abundance of photographs that add color and excitement to the text but fall short in the learning process. For example, some finished arrangements are not shown in the proper perspective and others are spread across three pages. Although the style of Kaimins is noteworthy she uses flowers that are probably impossible for most people to find in all but a huge city with a big flower market open to everyday people. On the other hand, if you are OK with substituting similar flowers or similar colors of the same flowers, you will be satisfied with the list of flowers. The step by step directions are written in paragraph form and would be improved by listing them instead. My final criticism is strictly personal; I don’t like dyed floral material, especially things like blue roses or orange baby’s breath, but if you do, you will find them here. Perhaps the title, Flower Porn, is especially appropriate after all.
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