Floral Design Competition

Entering a floral competition is always stressful and nerve-wracking for me. Putting my designs into an International pool of floral design Masters such as the Fusion Flowers International Designer is a whole new level and experience of pressure. Last summer, I decided to take my own advice of “Shattering the Vase” and going outside my comfort zone and submit my work to Fusion Flowers.

I have been watching Fusion Flowers Magazine from afar for many years now and own magazines that go back as far back as 2010. Even now, the designs presented in the magazine still surpass Western Floral Design evolution.

One week I purchased a decent amount of fresh floral products and went to work trying to make as many designs as I could. I thought about the categories Fusion Flowers Magazine had announced for the 2019 competition.

They were vague, so my designer’s brain had to decide on whether to understand them literally or abstractly. There are four categories, and if you would like to be considered for Fusion Flowers International Designer of the Year, you must compete in all four. With the time constraints that I had along with my crazy schedule, I decided three was enough this year.

You would not believe how many times you can change your mind on which photo and what flower design you are going to submit. First of all, I had not intended to design a wedding bouquet for the competition—it was a happy accident.

I had made an entirely different armature and bouquet; however, I could not get a great photo of the bouquet because of the dark foliage and calla lilies. I had a squirrel moment and decided I was going to make a new armature to show off a specific technique and the amazing texture of a material I had a surplus of.

I filled it to the brim with floral and a bleached product that has become popular this last year, Italian Ruscus. It was exquisite. I got some great pictures, and the a-ha moment came when I opened the photos up on a large monitor. WOW. That was a nice bouquet, but no matter how fantastic and confident you feel, submitting your design and filling out paperwork to put your designs against the world’s Master Floral Designers is very intense. So then, I waited for months.

I heard absolutely nothing and doubted myself. I would even check the email confirmations to make sure that it was received.

Months later, just about when I forgot about the competition, I arrived back at the studio in the evening to finish a quick to-do list. I opened an e-mail and saw Fusion Flowers Magazine’s editor’s name. My heart stopped, as did my breathing. I wondered for a minute if I should even open it. If it was bad news, well, that was the last thing I needed right before bed. I thought that it might be a better idea to read it in the morning. Fortunately, my curiosity got the better of me. I said, “To hell with it, click it!” …

“Dear Lisa,

Thank you for your entries in the Fusion Flowers magazine International Designer of the Year competition 2019. I am delighted to be able to tell you that you have been awarded the following:

This is Me – No Award
Table Talk – No Award
Wedding – Bronze Award”

I flew out of my chair, jumping up and down and screaming as loud as I could. “OMG I did it, I won, I won, I won, I won! Who the heck should I call first?”

After the announcement, it was time to wait again for another few months. Now I had to wait for the PDF version of the magazine so I could see who and what designs were with the categories.

I’m honestly humbled by the entire experience and after looking at the magazine a few hundred times, truly honored that I get to be surrounded by some truly talented designers. Being the one and only American in the book made me go back so many times to triple check if this was true. If you do not know already, there is craftsmanship and detailed work in European and Asian designs. So much of their culture, personality, and landscape get brought to their designs. I admire them all and how they get to fine-tune their skills while their fellow consumers applaud them. Here, I’m the weird one who makes unique things.

I am not saying this as a bad thing. It is quite the opposite. I am my own person, and my designs speak to those who can appreciate details, texture, and something outside the vase.

Read the full list of winners or download the digital book

Read the original Press Release