Hanakubari Workshop

The last weekend Ikebana International Oslo Chapter organized a two days workshop on Hanakubari techniques. We were lucky to have Yasuko Oki to teach us, and the workshop was quickly filled up with 21 participants from Norway, Sweden and Denmark. Yasuko worked for several years as a teacher, designer and manager at Mami flower design school while she still lived in Japan. Now she is a florist based in Oslo and runs her own courses.

Every ikebana practitioner knows what a kubari is - the sticks we put in vases to fix branches and flowers in position. The kubari sometimes peeks out over the rim of the vase, but it is always carefully hidden with plant materials.

Hanakubari is contemporary flower design techniques, pioneered by the Japanese flower artist Keita Kawasaki. The idea is to let the kubari out of the darkness of the vase, and give it a more prominent place as a visible structure to support flowers. The Mami flower design school has developed innovative techniques for using branches, twigs, leaves, fruits and stones for this purpose.

Photo: Yasuko Oki

We all had a great time trying out different techniques at the workshop. These are some of the arrangements I made using twigs, branches and leaves.

Using branches as kubari.
Sorbus branches, Trachelium and Fritillaria.

Clipping technique.

Bird cherry (Prunus padus), Bellflower and Larkspur..

Wreath technique.
Phormium leaves, twigs, Hypericum berries, Allium and Chrysanthemum.

Using leaves as kubari.
Branch, Massed Salal leaves, Trachelium and Veronica.

Floating technique.
Horsetail (Equisetum) and Larkspur..

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