I did the Ikebana decoration of a venue where a fashion brand was showing a new collection and simultaneously Ikebana experience fot the press guests.  The fashion brand is  DISAYA, a Thai prestigious brand. Recently that brand becomes focus of the attention especially after a famous Hollywood star, Anne Hathaway, liked to wear that’s dress on red carpet.  They showed a new autumn and winter collection in Tokyo.DISAYA is characterized in their feminine and delicate design. The brand of DISAYA is designed by a beautiful Thai lady, Disaya. Her name is the name of the brand. She always takes a lot of flower design in her dress.  I saw her fabulous line and got a lot of creativity to think about my Ikebana decoration.

The venue is HOSHINOYA TOKYO. That is placed in the center of Tokyo, but they cherish Japanese traditional hospitality and authentic beauty. Guests take off their shoes at its entrance and go up to their room with feeling the sense of Tatami and woody floor.  Even inside of elevator, we can touch Tatami with barefoot.

The time to create is just 2 hours!  Hurry up me! I designed a bold and sensitive Ikebana structure as I thought her fashion design had fragility, but in spite of that strength in a deep point.  I prepared Wisteria Vines, Dried Mulberry, Mountain Azalea, Hydrangea, and Smoke tree.Firstly I make bony framework with Wisteria Vines and Dried Mulberry. I decide the shape and check it from a little bit far point and fix them with a electronic screw driver. People who see making process of Ikebana for the first time are sometimes surprised especially with the sound of screw driver. It looks like the work of carpenter.

After finishing frame work, I arrange flowers and branches with checking all balance. I made 4  big structures.The biggest one is this. Left lady is a designer herself, Disaya.

I selected Hydrangea because it is a representative flower of Japanese rainy season. We have 4 seasons and we feel and enjoy each season with seasonal flowers. On this event many guests will come from Thailand, so I want to show the Japanese seasonal flower to them.The venue was prepared like this. I changed my outfit quickly from sporty clothes to Kimono dress to welcome guests. Next is Ikebana experience for press guests.

I did Ikebana experience 5 times.  Frankly speaking, I was worried about whether press guests could be happy with Ikebana experience, but all the guests were excited about this surprising session. I felt released to hear they said, “Wow” ” So fun!” ” Excited!”.

An famous actress was coming from Thailand and this is her instagram. You can see my Ikebana session a little bit with movie.

This is Thai Vogue instagram.

This is 25ns instagram, a prestigious fashion magazine in Japan.

This is Disaya’s instagram. She did Ikebana session 4 times with guests!

Disaya and a beautiful actress, Mew.

With Disaya.With press guests from Thailand.With all staffs.

I believe the possibility of Ikebana. I’d like to try new things and new world as much as I can!

The special Tokyo guide page through my perspective on Airbnb website translated in 27 languages. I guide cafes and restaurants where you can enjoy Ikebana orJapanese beautiful garden. Please check it out!

You can change language whichever you like by the button on the bottom of the page.

 

Where to drink tea – insider guidebook

 

 

I was teaching “How to arrange flwoers” especially for beginners on TV. That program was already on air and it’s only in Japanese, but you can see the program here, the link below.

Ikebana for beginners on TV

At first all the guest who are in studio, a powerful politician,  an actor,  2 comedians, and so on, try to arrange flowers and feel how difficult it is. All vases are moved from my class, but they are chosen in one point that beginner can see them in a common interior shop, not in a special Ikebana shop. My all favorite vases were cancelled by TV staff as they looked like so professional.

 

The famous politician used a blue vase, so that container is now the most popular vase in my class as  “A container of power broker”

The first  location place is a flower shop that I always order flower materials for my Ikebana class. I talk about how to judge the quality of a flower shop and how to select flower materials effectively. In Japan, as you know the situation will be different in each country, a flower shop that has a small cooler, not a big cooler, is a good shop. They are confident to sell out all flowers quickly and that means there are few old and bad flowers in that shop. As for selection of flowers, I recommend to buy leaves and branches in addition to flowers. They can add movement and tension to an arrangement easily.

We move to my Roopongi class and Mr. Kasuga( a famous comedian) and Ms.Kei ( a horribly popular singer) try to arrange flowers after their choice of vase. I tell that a transparent glass container is difficult especially for beginners. We have to care about inside of vase because we can see everything inside of it. Opaque vases are better. We talk about how to decide the length of flowers and how to arrange them to catch eyes of  viewers.

With Mr.Kasuga and Ms.Kei. They are friendly and lovely persons and I felt relaxed with them when we were shooting.  Appreciate their generosity and kindness.

I arranged a lot as examples to show how to manipulate flowers. But we cannot put a lot of information in a short time, so almost my Ikebanas were remained on the shelves. Yes, it happens. Anyway taking part in a TV program was exciting thing for me.