Ikebana and us

Iemoto Akane arranged flowers for the G8 Hokkaido Toyako summit. Read about her experiences, by clicking Akane Teshigahara's A bunch of thoughts Nice pictures as well. She also created an outdoor bamboo installation with members of the Hokkaido branch.

The September workshop was hosted by Seethalakshmi at a farmhouse near Muttukadu, and it was a enjoyable morning, for besides the Ikebana, we saw a stone art gallery on the farm, went to the beach, had refreshing yelaneer, and a sumptuous lunch!  Thank you Seetha! We were joined by the ladies from the Japanese Consulate, including Ms Minagawa, as well as her French guest Claire, who brought along 2month old Theodore, who was most adorable, and quickly developed a huge female fan following among us! Over to the Ikebana. The material in focus was casuarina, which grows on the farm, and there was also some lotus available. Ashok used both in this creative composition below.  For me, the amazing aspect was the stiffness of the lotus stem. It did not need to be wired or anything!  (I have used it at home now, and the lotus has stayed erect as a bud for the last two days! Seetha created this moribana arrangement, with red roses contrasting the yellow vase, and the brown berries providing a n...

Lines and curves Originally uploaded by sogetsudc A different interpretation of the triangle Sogetsu vase. This arrangement by KEITH STANLEY can be seen on his website, along with a lot of other lovely work.

A reminder that the next workshop is on 16th September at 11 am at Seethalakshmi's farm house on the ECR at Muttukadu. We will be using the casuarina branches from the farm.  Bring your flowers!

March 12th 2007: After the grand 80th anniversary Sogetsu demonstration and the celebratory dinner of the previous day, we get ready to attend an international students workshop at the School.  Our hotel, Marroad Inn Akasaka was well located within walking distance of Sogetsu, and so off we went early in the morning, with an air of anticipation! It was a beautiful morning, and we made good time, and arrived at the building even before it opened! The impressive glass-fronted Sogetsu building!  So we wandered the streets for a little while.  And found the "old" tucked in with the "new".  All over Tokyo, there will be these little old homes or shrines you will come across, if you walk the streets. There is a little road-corner park next to the school and we spied this first camelia bloom, in the otherwise, end-of-winter and brown scene.  Spring was just around the corner. Another peculiarity - streets filled with commuters with their noses covered.  How consci...

A lot of you have started visiting this blog recently.  I do not know how many of you know that there are short amateur video clips of Iemoto Akane's 80th Anniversary demonstration on this blog. So, I am providing the link again.  I have corrected some uploading errors in the youtube clips. Click here  to revisit the demonstration!  Happy viewing!