Eurofleurs 2010: Hungary takes the Cup again!
With a difference of just 0.1 point it was the closest finish ever seen, but as in every competition, a fraction can make all the difference: with 420,5 points Attila Kiss from Hungary took home the first prize of the Eurofleurs European Junior Championship at Tatton Park (UK), just before Joe Massie from Great Britain, who scored 420,4. It was the spectacular final of an already thrilling and sublime competition, with 12 participants from different European countries performing at a very high level. During the years of its existence, the European Junior Championship has grown in quality and in the meantime it has become clear that quite some participants would also stand a good chance at the Europa Cup. Without any doubt, these youngsters are an enormous promise for the future of the floristry branch.
During the two competition days five floral design pieces had to be made, starting with “One Place at Tatton Park”, a free-theme piece that was to be connected to a landscape-based Contemporary Arts program at Tatton Park. Joe Massie (UK) laid a foundation for his later success, winning this task with 82,88 points, before Max Kuczynski from Poland (82,39) and Sundan Eldrid from Norway (81,18). The second task was “By the Golden Brook”, a free style bouquet that should include flowers that you would expect to be found in a traditional British garden. Obviously this theme inspired the young florists to make fantastic and abundant bouquets. Elisabeth Schoeneman from Germany won with 90,25 points, followed by Attila Kiss (88) and Pavel Chernyak from Russia (87,5). Last piece to be made on the first day was the second theme piece: “the Kitchen Garden”, an arrangement of plants suitable for the Tatton Park Walled Garden. This work certainly showed how much creativity these young florists embody, all starting with the same material yet being able to create such diverse beautiful arrangements. This time Attila Kiss ended with the highest score (88,5), with Joe Massie in second (84,09) and Elisabeth Schoeneman in third position (82,75).
The second day the participants started with their bridal bouquets, often seen as the proof of excellence. And fantastic designs were indeed made, inspired by the theme: “Marriage in the Mansion”, an innovative bridal design for a marriage ceremony in the Great Hall of the Mansion house at Tatton. Janneke Roeland from the Netherlands won this task with a 88,5 score, with Max Kuczynski in second place (86,25) and Joe Massie in third position (82,63). The prize for the most innovative design also went to Max Kuczynski, who connected an inventive design with the use of quite typical floral material. During the evening of the final a surprise work had to be made, based on the theme ”Let’s go gardening”. All participants received a wheelbarrow, filled with various attributes and many flowers. A challenging task, obviously, but the creativity again knew no limits. For Attila Kiss this was the task where he took the decisive lead, by winning with the highest score of the entire competition: 94 points. Joe Massie and Janneke Roeland shared a second place with 85,75 points and young Kimy Begu Kutin from Slovenia came in third. The award ceremony, which turned into a big party with all participants celebrating, dancing and rejoicing over Attila’s victory, the 4th in a row for Hungary, underlined the atmosphere of friendship and collegiality in which all 12 had been working. To sum up, Eurofleurs 2010 was a fantastic event, which shall be remembered by all the participants for a very long time!
