ART NOUVEAU STYLING - Creative Edge May 2021
DESIGNS & TEXT BY HITOMI GILLIAM AIFD | PHOTOGRAPHY BY COLIN GILLIAM
“The design vibe in the recent years have revolved around garden style, showcasing the beautiful range of blooms from the garden. Interest in gardens in this decade is not unlike that of the Victorian era at the previous turn of the century… 1850-1900. At that point in the UK, gardening had become a national pastime for the middle-class, to uplift and be inspired from nature. This was followed by Gertrude Jekyll’s (1843-1932) Herbaceous Borders and colorful drift planting of perennials. Interest in Woodland Gardens, Water Gardens… painterly approach to the arrangement of the gardens and impressionistic color blending had become an obsession.”
“Art Nouveau is an international style of art, architecture and decorative arts that flourished between 1890-1910 as a reaction against the academic art of the 19th Century. It was totally inspired by nature’s way… how plants grow, and the detailing based on botanical physiology. Victor Horta (Belgium) flourished in the 1890’s with Art Nouveau architectural styling and decorative arts. Hector Guimard (France) designed the entrances of Paris metro at the peak of Art Nouveau styling for the 1900 Paris World Exposition. Louis Tiffany with his stained glass… Alphonse Mucha and his graphic art/posters… Lalique glass… Aubrey Beardsley and Gustav Klimt all contributed to the height of Art Nouveau International Style. Much of the motif used in this period styling were botanically derived and organic in nature… highly stylized, inspired by natural forms, sinuous curves of plants and flowers, with sense of dynamism and movement typified by ‘coup de fouet’ or ‘whiplash’ lines. Curving forms inspired by lilies, vines, flower stems… also patterns based on butterflies, dragonflies, peacocks and swans were popular. Women’s hair intertwined with stems of lilies, irises and other stylized floral forms became the inspiration for Art Nouveau artists. Also Japanese Art was popular in Europe at this time, it also contributed to the aesthetics of Art Nouveau.
‘That which must be avoided in everything that is continuous is the parallel and symmetry.’ …Victor Horta
Think curving forms without right angles…
Sensation of lightness…
The second phase of Art Nouveau after 1900 delved further into purer lines… more stylized linear expressions in an open form. Art Nouveau’s sinuous flowing line is considered a metaphor for artistic freedom. Some risqué expressions in posters by Alphonse Mucha with decadent and daring symbolism, his lithograph poster of Sarah Bernhardt (French actress) carries an exotic romantic vision of sensually curvaceous glamorous woman, hugely popular of avantgarde originality. ‘The Kiss of Death’ by Aubrey Beardsley with Medusa-like tendrils, creeping whiplash lines with erotic and scandalous connotations… Architectural pillars melted into organic forms by Horta and Guimard with flourish of vine-like tangles and exotic details. The harsh corners of buildings were softened with forged iron into restless, living linear whiplash designs.
After 1910, Art Nouveau began to evolve into Art Deco… which closed the open form into curvaceous geometric form.
So how can ART NOUVEAU be a flower design influencing style?
It seems a natural evolution based on historical sequence of events in the past, in relation to today…
In the past 10 years…
Love and passion for Flowers have been trending…
Inspired by Nature & Flower Farming and the new exciting varieties and color palettes...
Designing with emphasis on exquisite flowers in a garden style defying the traditional forms…
What’s next?
Transitioning to designing with style that is less heavy…. with transparency… with linearity…
‘Less is more’ designs displaying Economy of Means… Art of maximum effect with less…
Art Nouveau styling is an appealing direction for inspiration that suits the Spirit of our Times!!
How to craft the Art Nouveau structure?
By creating the visual sketch of Art Nouveau linearity.
Curvaceous Linear structure based on realistic viney configuration to provide the spine to hold flowers in place without overcrowding to create an airy, stemmy LIVING designs that convey nature’s growth. Studying the tension that’s conveyed in Art Nouveau style and combining it with our deep knowledge of Flowers will help us design with some educated discipline to support natural beauty.
I created 3 ART NOUVEAU inspired designs using florataped wires in combination with my wire vine and midollino & wire vine mechanics (both accessible to see how its made via my YouTube videos) to create 3D sketches for viney nature-inspired motifs.”
DESIGN #1
‘Art Nouveau Crescent Compote’
“I wanted to create a visual sketch of the profusion of curvaceous line that mimic the ways typical vine stems like Jasmine grow naturally. By using combination of Yarn-covered Wire Vine and Midollino & Wire Vine as the base mechanic attached to the chickenwire pillow, which is then attached to the compote. The upward curving lines of Wire Vine with multiple randomly curing shapes of florataped #18ga. Wires, mimic the Art Nouveau motifs in 3D. It provides the spine to support the lacing of Southern Smilax to float as if its growing, to provide the soft gardeny silhouette for this Crescent design. The long stems of rather floppy Fritillaria persica are supported by the wire structure to stand as flattering arcs to outline the silhouette of this beautiful curvilinear form. The Stems of Tulips, Ranunuculus and Chocolate Lace are made visible to keep the design transparent and purposely Art Nouveau. Lilac is the only counterflow to weigh downward to create a dynamic balance. Agonis adds the wispy dark accents to provide additional light texture. The stem insertions are firmly secured into the wire structure at the base with upper stems being supported by wire tendrils to the desirable position.”
BOTANICALS (3) Fritillaria persica, (3) Peony ‘Etched Salmon’ (Paeonia lactiflora), (5) Butterfly Ranunculus ‘Isis’ (Ranunculus asiatica Butterfly), (2) Lilac ‘Ludwig Spaeth’ (Syringa vulgaris), (6) Tulip ‘Black Parrot’, (4) Chocolate lace (Daucus carota), (2) Southern smilax (Smilax smallii), (1) Agonis flexuosa. TOTAL of 23 Flower stems & 3 foliage stems
SUPPLIES Chicken wire (Oasis green coatd), Wire Vine (Hitomi’s video – Aluminum wire, Yarn, UGlu dashes, Bullion wire), Bindwire (green), #18 & #22 ga. Florist wire, Accent Decor Compote
DESIGN #2
‘Art Nouveau Cascading Crescent Bouquet’
“The main structure for the mechanics of this bouquet is built with Midollino & Wire vine with green yarn wrap. This provides a soft cushion to receive all the draping stems without damaging them, secured to create a beautiful cascading flow downwards. Exact stem placements are possible because of multitude of wire vining which performs as grasping tendrils. The main structure is just greened with Southern Smilax to create the original silhouette of soft vining from end to end.
Add the longest cascading flowers, the very pliable Fritillaria persica followed by stemmy Tulips and draping lilac in both colors. This first layer pretty much cover the whole structure. The second layer is comprised of Peony and Roses, followed by additional Smilax tips, Butterfly Ranunculus and Agonis as the top layer of growing tips.
The hand-tied bouquet was pretty much all designed into the vase through the structure as the holder. The final step is to pull the bouquet out of the vase and arrange the stems to behave into a spiral formation. At just above my hand hold, I banded with waterproof tape, then satin ribbon wrapped it to complete the hand-tying. Then I cut all the stem end straight across to complete this bouquet.”
BOTANICALS (5) Butterfly Ranunculus ‘Isis’ (Ranunculus asiatica Butterfly), (3) Lilac ‘Ludwig Spaeth’ (Syringa vulgaris), (5) Lilac ‘Wedgewood Blue’ (Syringa vulgaris), (6) Garden Rose (Climbing) ‘Madame Alfred Carriere’, (3) Peony ‘Etched Salmon’ (Paeonia lactiflora), (5) Chocolate Lace (Daucus carota), (3) Fritillaria persica, (5) Tulip ‘Black Parrot’, (3) Southern Smilax (Smilax smallii), (2) Agonis flexuosa, Tillandsia xerographic leaflets. TOTAL of 35 Flower stems and 5 Foliage stems
SUPPLIES Midollino Wire Vines (Midollino, Aluminum Wire, Metallic wire, UGlu dashes & Yarn), Bindwire (green), #18, 20 & 22 Florist Wire, Floratape (lt. green), ½” Waterproof Tape, Blush Satin Ribbon
DESIGN #3
‘Art Nouveau Flower Fascinator’
“The headband structure for this fascinator is built on a combination of aluminum wire and yarn-wrapped Wire Vine. Then multiple lengths of florataped #18 ga. Florist wire are bent into curvilinear vine shapes and are attached onto the base structure to build an airy and natural vine look headpiece to attach the curvaceous Tillandsia xerographica leaflets for flowing silhouette. The structure is rigid enough to hold the vining Southern smilax to float lightly and for Ranunculus blooms Fritillaria florets and Lilac clusters to be glued to appear in suspension over the head. Couple of draping thin lines of Rosary Vine add the delicate extension downward with its heart-shaped textured leaves.
The fascinator after it was photographed, was misted with water and covered with a sheet of 1 mil plastic to test out the holding quality of glued flowers with added hydration method. The whole fascinator held firm and turgid, even the fragile Ranunculus and finicky lilac after 24 hours in hydration mode in a cool spot. It is highly recommended that the flowers to be used are hydrated in this manner before construction, or after the fascinator is created to hydrate overnight will help with its longevity.”
BOTANICALS (1) Lilac ‘Ludwig Spaeth’ (Syringa vulgaris), (2) Lilac ‘Wedgewood Blue’ (Syringa vulgaris), (5) Butterfly Ranunculus ‘Isis’ (Ranunculus Asiatic Butterfly), (1) Fritillaria persica, (1) Southern smilax (Smilax smallii), (2) Rosary Vine (Ceropegia woodii), (7) Tillandsia xerographica leaflets
SUPPLIES Wire Vine (Yarn, Aluminum wire), #18,20 & 22 ga. Florist Wire, Floratape (lt. green), Bullion wire (silver), Oasis Floral Adhesive
