Europa Cup 2011 – First Assignment: Freestyle floral arrangement

On Friday morning the 2^nd of September at exactly 10.00 o’clock, the contestants started off the Europa Cup in Floristry 2011 with the first assignment, entitled “Symphony in Blooms”. The task at hand was to create a free-style floral arrangement inspired by the work of legendary Czech composer Antonin Dvorak, whose 170^th anniversary is celebrated on September 8. The design had to – in one way or another – reflect his musical work; whether that be his opera’s, symphonic poems or cantata’s. No additional requirements as far as shape or employed technique were included, except that the arrangement had to fit within its designated booth, hence was not allowed to span more than 2 by 2 meters. 

Ending up in first place with 85.2 points, after elaborate assessments by the professional Europa Cup jury, was Niina Minkkinen from Finland. Her stunning wave-like floral design (see below) received lots of praise from the judges, specifically for its concept and composition. “One of my sources of inspiration was the shape of the Europa Cup 2011 logo; it reflects his [Antonin Dvorak’s] music very well”, Niina explains her choice for the unusual symbol:

The silver medal in this first round was claimed by Denmark’s Susie Frank Nørgård, with 84.8 points. Her clever design features a row of piano keys at the bottom, from which the flowers rise up, as if they were a melody drifting upon the air, slowly ascending to heaven. “The idea is to make the flowers visualize the music – the lightness, the playfulness”, Susie explains her vision, which certainly convinced the jury, who praised her composition and technique (click the photo to enlarge it):

In third place in the “Symphony in Blooms” round, came Ruud Hazelaar from The Netherlands, who received 83.2 points for his floral design featuring all red flowers. Just as was the case with Niina, his work received specific praise for its technique and composition, which Ruud says came to him while listening to Antonin Dvorak’s symphonies. “The design will be built up in two different styles. On one side, there will be a fun design using lots of flowers. [While] in the middle of the design, there will be a nutty wooden bar as the base for one particular flower”, the Dutchman explains his concept:

For all of the photos from the Symphony in Blooms assignment of the Europa Cup, we direct you to our elaborate photogallery: click here.

To return to the general Europa Cup 2011 page with the coverage of the championship's other five rounds, please click here.