After years of talking about doing it, earlier this fall, I finally attended a floral design workshop.  Don’t get me wrong: I studied floral design in college and while in grad school I was a teaching assistant for the same floral design classes I took as an undergrad, so I’ve REALLY studied floral design.  But that was a long time ago and after that, my continuing education has really been self-directed.  When I saw that Ariella Chezar was teaching a three-day masters class in the Berkshires along with Max Gill, I knew it was time to dive in and learn from these experts in floral design.  Ariella is credited with being one of the first floral designers to use the lush, layered design that is becoming increasingly popular.  And I had been ooohing and ahhhing at Max Gill’s work on Instagram for months.  As I anticipated, Ariella and Max were fabulous teachers and the most gracious hosts.

The workshop was held at the gorgeous Stonover Farm, a historic farm and bed and breakfast located in Lenox, Massachusetts.  The setting couldn’t have been more lovely.  Photographer Corbin Gurkin was at the ready to capture all of the gorgeous details.

Over the course of two days, after instruction and demonstration, the students made two compote-style arrangements, a bouquet, and a large scale design.  Here are mine:

The workshop was capped off with a dinner, designed and planned by Ariella and Max and executed by the workshop participants.

The attention to detail in planning the dinner was extreme.  Guests were asked to dress to suit the color scheme of malachite green, peach and lavender/pink.  Even the food matched the color scheme!

The gorgeous room…

The details…

The designers gathered from around the world to attend.  I made some wonderful connections during the workshop, and look forward to keeping up with what my new floral friends create!