The Emotional Impact of Floral Design - Creating Arrangements that Speak to the Heart

Can Flower Arrangement Pull at Your Heartstring?

Recently, I received a very kind and inspiring comment about my flower arrangement photos that I shared on Thread. It goes like this (translated from Korean).  

" When I see your arrangements, my heart melts and I feel lively and happy. It makes me want to stare at your unique floral design. This is quite notable for me, as I've never felt so moved by a flower bouquet. My favorite, is the one where you've transferred your hand-tied bouquet into a vase. I come back to look at that photo again and again. So I want to ask you this - what do you think about or feel as you create your work that it evokes this kind of emotion? Again, I never thought to feel such feelings from seeing flowers that have already been cut from the nature. I am really thankful to you for letting me enjoy such beauties."

Apart from this comment being such an encouraging note on my personal style, it also made me think deeper about the emotional impact of flower arrangement. As a florist, I am of course constantly looking and feeling and trying in order to reach a certain satisfaction level when I arrange. But now I want to analyze how a bunch of flowers can stir our emotions.

The Elements of Emotionally Impactful Foral Design

I don’t have to make a point about how flowers inspire happy and positive emotions. We’ve all seen the sparkles in the eyes and the wide-mouthed smile many times. But there is something about a piece of visual image that makes you want to look again and again. When this happens to me the below conditions are usually met. And this isn’t limited to flower arrangements. I can say the same applies in a museum or a gallery.

- mysteriously chaotic but harmonious color combination

- a shape or structure that is both proportionate but also unexpected

- a fascinating choice of material

Perhaps this is why florists frequent art galleries and museums. There is such a thing as an artistic floral composition that speaks to the human emotion. A thoughtful design created with a live material (I mean fresh flowers as material? It doesn’t get any more fascinating that that!) with a limited time for viewing enjoyment. Of course, it’s an emotionally potent art form.

Color Psychology in Floral Arrangements

Among the three conditions mentioned above, I believe colors play the biggest part. Colors are so primal. But it’s also infinitely ungraspable. The matter of colors is even more difficult because all colors are beautiful. I can never say, ‘we don’t do yellow flowers.’ Or ‘red is old fashioned.’ But there is a more emotive color combination.

According to color theory, pink is often linked to love, nurturing and compassion and has a calming effect. And yellow, on the other hand, symbolizes optimism and happiness and can boost confidence. When I picture pink and yellow in my mind, I already feel a certain warmth and excitement just from imagining those colors together. The energy that comes from such a combination is quite palpable. The question is, how will this combination be tastefully expressed with flowers.

When I have a color scheme of pink and yellow, then of course I start to pick flowers in these color family. I am especially excited when I find a few kinds of flowers that have both of these colors within them. Here in the picture, you can see cosmos with its pink outer petal and yellow disc floret. The snap dragon in the center has gradation from pale yellow to dusty pink. These flowers play an important role in bridging the pink-yellow scheme elegantly without being bluntly contrasting. It’s like a bridge that helps to move freely between two very different color families.

Balancing Chaos and Harmony with Color Bridging

Plants belong in nature and they are meant to live outside. However, the beauty of flowers makes us want to bring them into our homes. But unlike how flowers are displayed in nature – sporadic and random among a big swath of green – we can be more intentional and more intense when we arrange them. I find myself wanting to imitate flowers in nature while also wanting to create a denser and more coordinated display. I am always struggling in between chaos and harmony, or random and strategic, natural and coordinated. The balance is the key. Just like the ‘no-make-up make-up’ or the famous effortless French beauty.  

Achieve the balance, and the flower arrangement represents the beautifully chaotic nature but only much denser and more harmonized version inside my space.

Creating Your Own Emotive Floral Design

I won’t say it’s easy or that you’ll acquire the skill quickly. This is a fleeting skill even for me. One day I seem to have it, but the next day, I would feel lost. Still, I want to share a few tips as a start. I advise you to get inspiration from nature. When we come across a stunning flower field or a beautiful natural sanctuary – not talking about tulip farms here  - there are usually a few flower species that create a certain rhythm of colors and shapes. In Korea, the spring mountains of pink and mauve azaleas create an iconic scene. Cherry blossom field is another example. The road sides here constantly change per season beautifully – crocus in February, daffodils in April, red poppies in May etc. Take a note in your mind whenever something grabs your attention and speaks ‘beauty’.

Don’t start with too much choice of flowers or colors. Stay within 3-4 types of plants all within the same color family. Make the biggest and the most handsome looking flower the focal point. This will already get you quite far.

Flowers Are Ephemeral and So Are We

Can the fact that a flower arrangement retains that state of beauty only for a short time be another reason for our emotional reaction?  Because these arrangements remind us of ourselves. Our beauty and youth don’t last forever. Life is fleeting and everything goes.

I certain become more aware of the circle of life due to my kinship to flowers. New life and old deaths do pop in my mind when facing a new season where old flowers have disappeared into seedpods and young new growth are pushing up from the soil. At the end of the day, more intense and faster version of nature inside a vase – that’s what flower arrangement is. When you find yourself discovering, reflecting and appreciating life, flower arrangement in front of you will become that much more evocative and meaning.

For enquiry about a floral workshop course, please email to info.flowerandflour@gmail.com with your desired course dates and book your flower workshop in Heemstede today. Discover flowers that stir your heart and learn how to put together a touching arrangement.