WITH ERIK LOCKLEY
Erik Lockley, a Belgian Florist, is renown for his original ‘form language’, where he uses plants or flowers, enhancing a design's power and visual effect through singularity.

“I am not a decorator, I gain maximum impact in my work by using one species of plant, flower and natural materials at a time,” said Mr. Lockley."This is a new style,"he said," as I want to respect Nature and use every part of a plant. Florists will throw stems out but I try to use them again."

The result is work that is very textural, with a very modern and new approach. It is very masculine and  made Erik a winner  of the Fleur Cup 2001 in Alden Biesen. This is an international competition for professional florists.

Erik,  regularly demonstrates throughout Europe and has a flower shop in Antwerp called 'Lockley Erik'. He specializes in weddings, events, stands and corporate gifts.

The completed design

Section showing the leaf base and stalk overlay
 This design used all parts of the New Zealand flax, Phornium Tenax.
At the time Erik was discovering the plant on a trip to New Zealand, the flax had finished flowering and each stem was covered with  many pods of seeds.He believes in using only local materials in his work and therefore selected this plant.

He started  by folding the flax leaves over and building a base of them by pinning each to the  next and layering them all, until he had the height he wanted.
The seed pods on their stems were then built up in further layers as they were also pinned to the  structure underneath.
Erik layered them into the shape he required, and then added the stalks of the flax pods over the top.
The entire structure was very strong and secure. The advantage of not using a floral foam base, "Erik said," was that as the plant material dried and shrunk, no floral foam would be revealed and the design was very long lasting as a result." "This is a great idea when flowers are very expensive, but Nature has other great things,  such as fruit and seeds to use instead," he added.
In this design Erik used all the parts of a spray of chrysanthemums using the flowers in one ball, the stems in another and the leaves in the smaller third ball.

The three balls together made the whole, using white as a symbolic colour for the Christmas festival.
"Therefore these are not just a decoration,"said Erik," and the symbolic use of colours add more meaning to the piece. They should not only look nice but also tell more."

Erik started by cutting wedges into the three polystyrene balls and covering each ball with lead, cut into squares and nailed into the ball. He obtained the lead from a local plumbers shop! When I asked him if he was worried about lead poisoning when using this material,  he said the dangers were only associated with molten lead.I have not checked on this, but you may wish to.It is a very soft material and easy to manipulate, providing a great foil to the fresh plant material. 

He made each piece a different size to add textural interest to the ball. He then added a wedge of floral foam into the created gap.

To add the flowers to the large ball, cut the stems very short, sharpen the end of the stem and insert gently. Push in from the stem end, not pushing down on the flower head.

The stems of the Chrysanthemum were cut into the shape of the wedge and pinned in place with large pins.

The leaves were also pushed into the  ball shape and layered as they were inserted, all in the same direction down the wedge.

Each ball was then stood in a pile of white stones, to stop them rolling and to add unity to the design.

The completed group of three balls

The stems and the leaves

The flowers in the floral foam wedge.
The finished design, using white flowers which symbolize purity in Belgium.
 This design used  the flowers and stems of the agapanthus.

Initially Erik built the  stem 'walls'  using  vine wine (available here) to connect all the stems together. These were then put in a square shape with clay in the bottom to give weight and stability.Erik did not reveal how he attached the stems to the clay.Windows were cut out of the structure in a square shape.The bends in the agapanthus stems he liked to show as it was part of the natural material.

Erik likes to use nature as it is, and prefers not to use artificial materials and therefore usually avoids the use of floral foam and vases. In this design he used  glass tubes to keep the flowers turgid, which were  put through the 'windows'  or pushed through the stem walls, with vine wire holding them in the position he required.

Vine wire holds the stems together, and then the square window is cut out.