Fantastic achievements at Eurofleurs 2008
Visitors at Eurofleur
s 2008 in Brussels almost couldn’t believe their eyes: the young contestants at this junior championship made floral work of an outstanding level. Especially amongst the theme works and the bridal bouquet, that could partially be prepared at home, there were very special creations. Also striking was that the young talents from Eastern Europe manifested themselves strongly and reached high rankings. It must be said that the Eurofleurs, in just ten years time, has developed into a contest that almost equals the level of the Europa Cup.
After a day of preparations the young contestants worked hard during one and a half day to finish 6 very different assignments. In the theme piece “the way I am” they had to express themselves. And indeed the arrangements made were as different as people are. Cheerful and light, modest and minimalistic, formed as a wave or a twister, all elaborations that surprisingly matched with the creators. The assignment “fall in the Ardennes” was obviously a more difficult challenge. This arrangement of pot plants had to be fixed on a wooden table. Some interpretations were quite surprising and some tables were unrecognizable afterwards.
Much cheerfulness followed with “pleasures in Limburg”. A summer party under the fruit trees in Limburg was the setting the contestants had to envisage. Manifold colored floral foam and the use of much fruit made it all into a colorful and frisky picture. Truly splendid creations were also made for the bouquet “blind date under the Atomium”. Obviously with some trying to copy the characteristic form of the Atomium into their bouquet. The assignment to make a wedding decoration for a homosexual wedding lead to a lot of very special interpretations as well. These were shown to the public and the jury on live male models. The toughest, but certainly also provocative, assignment was the surprise piece. All contestants had to decorate a real “Eddy Merkckx” trekking bike, which demanded the ultimate of the imagination and creativity of these young people.
These last two pieces were made on the Saturday evening. Overall, the Belgian organizers did their utmost to realize a splendid spectacle. The hall and certainly the stage were decorated magnificently. The 500 guests witnessed, while eating their tasteful diner, a perfect and wonderful show, with dance and singing and of course the performances of the 13 competitors. All this ending with the awards ceremony. Then it was made public that after a thrilling competition and a close finish the first prize and the title of European junior Champion 2008, went to the Hungarian participant Attilla Roszondai. The second place went to Felix Geiling-Rasmus from Germany. Zygmunt Piotr Sieradz from Poland surprisingly took possession of the third prize, with just a few points difference with Russian Vyachelslav Roshka.
All in all Eurofleurs 2008 was a spectacle of very high quality, with a lot of innovative work and a splendid final. Great Britain, organizer of the next Eurofleurs in 2010, will not have an easy task to bring an event of the same level. But the BFA will certainly take up this challenge nonetheless!
