I love using lichens in ikebana. Lichens shows the patience of time and represents the long perspectives and the slow living. I found an old branch covered with lichens on the ground in the forest the other day when I was looking for materials for a wall ikebana arrangement. What I had in mind was something more sturdy, but I felt that this branch had something special about it. I also found some nice Birch Bark that had been curled.
Wall ikebana.
Pine branch with lichen, Birch bark,
flowers from a Protea bouquet.
I ended up with a construction emphasizing curved lines, and thought of what additional materials I would need. My first thought was sticking to local flowers, but in this case I ended up using something totally opposite. Flowers from a Protea bouquet from the grocery store on the corner added the colour needed without being too flashy. I actually think they have something of the same magic as the the materials from the old forest.
Ikebana is the Japanese art of arranging flowers. More than being decorative, ikebana is thought of as a path of life or a kind of meditation.
I'm studying Ikebana with the Sogetsu school, and currently I hold a teachers certificate of Sankyu Shihan (teacher, third grade). My flower name is Senju 泉樹.
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e-mail: lennart (at) nordiclotus.com
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"Ikebana is the art of space - the space between branches, the space between flowers and leaves and the space between masses. In other words, the space between the branches and flowers comes alive. This space is a plentiful void projecting tension and power."
Sofu Teshigahara
"I regard myself as a creator of shape who uses mainly flowers as his metier, rather than purely as an arranger of flowers."
Sofu Teshigahara
“Ikebana is a form of sculpture that exists only within a limited time span, transforms from moment to moment, then perishes.”