Human Arranging for Humans
Personally, I love to have flowers around my home. I also love to spend time outside immersing myself in nature. I find the psychological effect of having flowers in my home to be a very similar feeling, albeit a little distilled, to being outside in a vibrant natural space.
For those of us that have been lucky enough to have been gifted flowers which have been made in to a bouquet by an expert; we will appreciate how the form created by the expert will very often eclipse our own efforts of arranging flowers at home.
Arranging cut flowers is something I do enjoy doing, and something which I have got better at. I have learned to not think as much and have just stated to listen to how the flowers want to be arranged.
It did however the other day make me ponder…
Creative Construction
The purpose of arranging flowers is to find the best configuration of stems to maximise the overall energetic vibration of the bunch. The greater the frequency of vibration, the more appealing the colour and texture of the bunch will be.
Of course, every human has their own preference for what we think the ideal bouquet of flowers looks like. This makes sense as we all have our own unique momentary energetic vibration and perspective on the world.
When I was pondering, I wondered how this is any different to the arrangement of a team of individuals to maximise collaboration and productivity. Really, at a zoomed out high level, they are fundamentally the same thing: ensure each individual occupies an optimal position in relation to the other individuals so that the system as a whole (and as such each individual) maximises Its energetic potential within the given situational context.
Could it be possible the we effectively apply leadership management techniques to our bouquet of flowers, or maybe it is the other way around?
The Actual Principles of Flower Arranging
Pondering this thought led me to research the actual principles of flower arranging. Here is a summary of what I found. The source of this information is here.
Balance:
Is usually the first Principle noticed. Stable Balance within a design is achieved by placing equal weight (either actual or visual) on opposite sides of an imaginary central axis…
Dynamic Balance… when opposing forces neutralize each other and stand in equilibrium, Balance is achieved. When elements are place in opposition to each other, tension and Rhythm are achieved and this, in turn, will create Balance.
Contrast:
Contrast is achieved by placing unlike or opposite characteristics of a single element together in order to emphasize their differences.
Dominance:
Defined as the greater impact within each of the physical characteristics of a design. Dominance provides control, for example, more straight lines than curved, more of one hue than another, more round forms than angular ones, etc.
Dominance implies Subordination of one characteristic of an element such as line, colour, or texture. Bear in mind that repetition does not necessarily result in dominance. A small area of bright, pure hue will appear stronger than a larger area of a lighter value hue.
Proportion:
This is a comparative relationship of areas and mounts… In other words, does the completed design fill its Frame of Reference? Is it too large or too small?
Rhythm:
Rhythm is created by a dominant visual path of line/s, colour/s and/or form/s throughout a design. Rhythm brings life and the illusion of movement to a design… Creative Designs will achieve Rhythm through areas of interest carefully equated over the entire design and seldom rely on gradation for Rhythm.
Scale:
Defined as the size relationship of one object compared with another in a design. Scale differs from Proportion in the Scale deals with individual components in a design on a one-to-one basis, where Proportion is the pleasing ration between overall areas and amounts in a design.
Hmmm…
Are these principle really just universal methods that can be applied to all arrangements of things?
One to ponder.
Enjoy, for now.