- Introducing Layla Robinson
Our Editor recently caught up with Layla Robinson who has carved herself an enviable and well deserved place in UK floral design with her luxurious natural interior decorations. They are all made from everlasting flowers and foliage, and she creates unique sustainable artistic pieces for both private and public clients. From as far back as she can remember, Layla has had a fascination and passion for flowers. Growing up, her childhood was spent amongst the sun-filled hedgerows and the lush wild meadows of the Welsh Marches near Hay-on-Wye. Here her imagination and creativity were wondrously brought alive, and, according to her mum, fairies were said to live in the hollow under the crab-apple tree in the back garden. And, with a family where nearly every member was also incredibly creative, it is no surprise Layla has been drawn to such an inventive and unique take on working with flowers. As Layla explains: “As a child, I used to help my dad make things, he taught me basic woodworking and engineering skills, and an appreciation of beautiful tools and materials that has stayed with me ever since. Unsurprisingly, the mechanics and design are one of my favourite aspects of what I do, as is dreaming up fresh new ways to use everlasting flowers in ways you’ve never seen before. I like to make the viewer feel uplifted when they see it. Just like a beautiful painting, it aims to evoke emotion and a feeling of joy and depth with its details, colours and textures. You can really appreciate this with my ‘Flower Portal’ design featured in the Strawberry Hill Flower Festival 2023 where I explored the contrast between what is there, and what is not there, and how the two can enhance each other, setting the imagination alight. By the way, I was so thrilled that you featured this design in your Winter 2023 issue!” After attending Pershore College of Horticulture in Worcestershire, where she studied Garden and Landscape design, Layla spent several years designing and working in some of Herefordshire’s most beautiful, plant-lovers’ country gardens before she put down her gardening tools to concentrate on having a family. As a new mother, the focus changed to creating a home-based business that would work around children, and Layla embarked on growing and designing with her own fresh cut flowers. Through this, over the years, she discovered a new and exciting passion for using dried flowers in sculpture, and gradually that became the dominant feature of her work. After the birth of her third daughter, she decided to take the plunge and completely focus on everlasting floral art. Layla is now a leading floral artist who has spent the last decade creating innovative dried flower installations for clients including the Hay Festival, Taittinger and the National Gallery Masterpiece Tour. She has appeared in numerous TV, books and lifestyle magazine features and exhibited in a host of art galleries and exhibitions, as well as created her own flower sculptures to showcase at the aforementioned Strawberry Hill Flower Festival in London. She has also produced her own multi-part instructional video course, allowing even total beginners to craft her signature everlasting flower panels, and is in the process of writing a book featuring her designs and methods that will be published by Green Finch (part of the Quercus Group) in the spring of 2025. Her work is also featured in the Michael Angelo Foundation Homo Faber guide for artisans. Layla’s designs are instantly recognisable and stand out as completely different to what you would expect from dried flowers. As she says: “I like to surprise people with how vibrant, eye-catching and full of life my pieces are.” Inspired by the wild Black Mountains and lush green valleys of where she lives, Layla’s work often incorporates a combination of twigs and wire to contrast against the softer flowery elements, creating something that is modern, minimal, but playful and luxurious all at the same time. The flower sculptures can last for years, which makes them very environmentally friendly compared to using fresh flowers. The colours may gradually and gently fade over time but remain beautiful in all their stages. The flowers she uses in her work are nearly all grown, harvested and dried from her organic garden or foraged from the countryside. Sustainability, environment and ecology are incredibly important to her and so is spreading the message to appreciate the details and abundance that nature has to offer, and that is used in her work. As she enthuses: “I really want to inspire others to treasure the beauty the planet offers us and hope my flower sculptures will spread this message and make people love nature a little more. I feel very lucky to be able to do something I love so much and feel very excited at what the future will bring. There is a wealth of possibilities that I am going to enjoy tapping into where I will be exploring many new and brilliant avenues of everlasting flower design.” And we are going to continue to observe and admire Layla on her ongoing floral journey, that’s for sure…
- RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2025
The applications are now open for next year’s flower show, with the closing date being 04 November 2024. There are two categories; first we have ‘Creative Spaces’; an opportunity to create whatever you want in flowers with no theme, and no rules. This category is not eligible for RHS medals however those taking part are eligible to win the ‘Ambassador’s Choice Award’ so it is well worth taking part. Maximum height is 5.5m and the installations are staged directly on grass. The second category is ‘Floral Creations’ and this one is eligible for RHS medals. The design must fit on a plinth within the booth provided. We are very much looking foward to seeing the designs in due course… Details below on how to enter.
- A Golden Tapestry Design
A golden design to celebrate our 50 years in continuous print
- Féerie Florale
A new kid on the floral block! A familiar venue with a new collaboration showcasing worldwide floral talent.
- FleurEx 2024
Floral excellence at this annual conference which drew crowds from near and far.
- The Grand Stonehenge Dahlia Show
See spectacular floral displays at Stonehenge as they travel back in time to the Victorian dahlia shows – all of this is taking place between Friday 27 September and Sunday 29 September 2024 (9.30am to 7.30pm). Image by Salisbury & Avon Gazette During the 1840s, Stonehenge hosted popular dahlia shows attracting crowds of thousands of people. The historic shows involved a variety of competitions, including the creation of sculptures made entirely from flowers and the cultivation of prize-winning dahlias. Join them as they recreate this colourful part of the Stonehenge story. Discover expertly crafted floral sculptures, admire locally grown dahlias, and vote for your favourite in their take on a traditional show. And for those important selfie moments, experience their dahlia meadow and take a photo or two amongst all the breath-taking floral displays. The event will also feature two fresh floral mannequins designed by Fleurs de Villes which have been based on figures from Stonehenge’s recent past. You can even come dressed to impress, just as the Victorian visitors would have done! More information on www.english-heritage.org.uk
Our Editor recently caught up with Layla Robinson who has carved herself an enviable and well deserved place in UK floral design with her luxurious natural interior decorations. They are all made from everlasting flowers and foliage, and she creates unique sustainable artistic pieces for both private and public clients. From as far back as she can remember, Layla has had a fascination and passion for flowers. Growing up, her childhood was spent amongst the sun-filled hedgerows and the lush wild meadows of the Welsh Marches near Hay-on-Wye. Here her imagination and creativity were wondrously brought alive, and, according to her mum, fairies were said to live in the hollow under the crab-apple tree in the back garden. And, with a family where nearly every member was also incredibly creative, it is no surprise Layla has been drawn to such an inventive and unique take on working with flowers. As Layla explains: “As a child, I used to help my dad make things, he taught me basic woodworking and engineering skills, and an appreciation of beautiful tools and materials that has stayed with me ever since. Unsurprisingly, the mechanics and design are one of my favourite aspects of what I do, as is dreaming up fresh new ways to use everlasting flowers in ways you’ve never seen before. I like to make the viewer feel uplifted when they see it. Just like a beautiful painting, it aims to evoke emotion and a feeling of joy and depth with its details, colours and textures. You can really appreciate this with my ‘Flower Portal’ design featured in the Strawberry Hill Flower Festival 2023 where I explored the contrast between what is there, and what is not there, and how the two can enhance each other, setting the imagination alight. By the way, I was so thrilled that you featured this design in your Winter 2023 issue!” After attending Pershore College of Horticulture in Worcestershire, where she studied Garden and Landscape design, Layla spent several years designing and working in some of Herefordshire’s most beautiful, plant-lovers’ country gardens before she put down her gardening tools to concentrate on having a family. As a new mother, the focus changed to creating a home-based business that would work around children, and Layla embarked on growing and designing with her own fresh cut flowers. Through this, over the years, she discovered a new and exciting passion for using dried flowers in sculpture, and gradually that became the dominant feature of her work. After the birth of her third daughter, she decided to take the plunge and completely focus on everlasting floral art. Layla is now a leading floral artist who has spent the last decade creating innovative dried flower installations for clients including the Hay Festival, Taittinger and the National Gallery Masterpiece Tour. She has appeared in numerous TV, books and lifestyle magazine features and exhibited in a host of art galleries and exhibitions, as well as created her own flower sculptures to showcase at the aforementioned Strawberry Hill Flower Festival in London. She has also produced her own multi-part instructional video course, allowing even total beginners to craft her signature everlasting flower panels, and is in the process of writing a book featuring her designs and methods that will be published by Green Finch (part of the Quercus Group) in the spring of 2025. Her work is also featured in the Michael Angelo Foundation Homo Faber guide for artisans. Layla’s designs are instantly recognisable and stand out as completely different to what you would expect from dried flowers. As she says: “I like to surprise people with how vibrant, eye-catching and full of life my pieces are.” Inspired by the wild Black Mountains and lush green valleys of where she lives, Layla’s work often incorporates a combination of twigs and wire to contrast against the softer flowery elements, creating something that is modern, minimal, but playful and luxurious all at the same time. The flower sculptures can last for years, which makes them very environmentally friendly compared to using fresh flowers. The colours may gradually and gently fade over time but remain beautiful in all their stages. The flowers she uses in her work are nearly all grown, harvested and dried from her organic garden or foraged from the countryside. Sustainability, environment and ecology are incredibly important to her and so is spreading the message to appreciate the details and abundance that nature has to offer, and that is used in her work. As she enthuses: “I really want to inspire others to treasure the beauty the planet offers us and hope my flower sculptures will spread this message and make people love nature a little more. I feel very lucky to be able to do something I love so much and feel very excited at what the future will bring. There is a wealth of possibilities that I am going to enjoy tapping into where I will be exploring many new and brilliant avenues of everlasting flower design.” And we are going to continue to observe and admire Layla on her ongoing floral journey, that’s for sure…
The applications are now open for next year’s flower show, with the closing date being 04 November 2024. There are two categories; first we have ‘Creative Spaces’; an opportunity to create whatever you want in flowers with no theme, and no rules. This category is not eligible for RHS medals however those taking part are eligible to win the ‘Ambassador’s Choice Award’ so it is well worth taking part. Maximum height is 5.5m and the installations are staged directly on grass. The second category is ‘Floral Creations’ and this one is eligible for RHS medals. The design must fit on a plinth within the booth provided. We are very much looking foward to seeing the designs in due course… Details below on how to enter.
A golden design to celebrate our 50 years in continuous print
A new kid on the floral block! A familiar venue with a new collaboration showcasing worldwide floral talent.
Floral excellence at this annual conference which drew crowds from near and far.
See spectacular floral displays at Stonehenge as they travel back in time to the Victorian dahlia shows – all of this is taking place between Friday 27 September and Sunday 29 September 2024 (9.30am to 7.30pm). Image by Salisbury & Avon Gazette During the 1840s, Stonehenge hosted popular dahlia shows attracting crowds of thousands of people. The historic shows involved a variety of competitions, including the creation of sculptures made entirely from flowers and the cultivation of prize-winning dahlias. Join them as they recreate this colourful part of the Stonehenge story. Discover expertly crafted floral sculptures, admire locally grown dahlias, and vote for your favourite in their take on a traditional show. And for those important selfie moments, experience their dahlia meadow and take a photo or two amongst all the breath-taking floral displays. The event will also feature two fresh floral mannequins designed by Fleurs de Villes which have been based on figures from Stonehenge’s recent past. You can even come dressed to impress, just as the Victorian visitors would have done! More information on www.english-heritage.org.uk