Aspire: Bold Color, Movement & the Power of Handmade Details
Written by The Flower Place
As I continue sharing designs from my recent program at Sequoia Floral International in Santa Rosa, I want to move into another American Floral Trends color story that gave me an opportunity to go in a completely different direction.
This time, the inspiration is Aspire.
Where Trust felt soft, romantic and almost whispered, Aspire gave me permission to turn the volume up.
Rich reds, hot pinks, vibrant yellows, warm corals and unexpected touches of green create a palette that immediately commands attention. There is energy in these colors. They feel confident, expressive and celebratory.
And for me, Aspire wasn't just about using bold flowers.
It was also about creating drama through technique, movement and handmade details.
Aspire Through Color
I love working with color, and Aspire is the kind of palette that makes it difficult to play it safe.
The hand-tied bouquet is a great example.
There are intense reds and burgundies, vibrant yellow ranunculus, rich orchids, anthurium, calla lilies and other textural materials all competing for attention—but they still work together.
Rather than trying to soften those colors, I wanted to embrace them.
The yellow almost jumps out against the red. The deep burgundy gives the brighter colors somewhere to settle. Coral and red bridge the gap between the warm and cool tones.
Then the long burgundy ribbon continues the color outside of the flowers themselves.
That's something I think we sometimes forget as designers: the floral material doesn't have to carry the entire color story.
Ribbon, containers, mechanics and handcrafted elements can all become part of the design.
Bold Doesn't Mean Chaotic
When you use this much saturated color, balance becomes incredibly important.
There is a fine line between an arrangement feeling energetic and it simply feeling busy.
The goal is to give the eye somewhere to go.
You can do that through repetition—repeating a yellow in several places, for example—or by grouping similar colors rather than scattering everything evenly throughout the design.
You can also use line and form to direct the eye.
The strong shape of the anthurium, the movement of the hanging materials and the more vertical elements in the bouquet all help create a visual path through the flowers.
The result is bold, but still intentional.
And intentional design is always the goal.
When Handmade Elements Become Part of the Design
One of the biggest things I wanted to explore with Aspire was the impact of handcrafted botanical details.
That really comes to life in the larger installation.
The green garlands you see sweeping and cascading through this piece were handcrafted from lemon leaf.
The green garlands you see sweeping and cascading through this piece were handcrafted from lemon leaf.
And I think they completely change the design.
A material we normally think of simply as greenery becomes something structural and decorative.
Instead of placing individual lemon leaves into the arrangement, they were worked together to create long, textured garlands that could travel between the elevated designs and cascade toward the floor.
That gives the eye a continuous line to follow.
It creates length.
It creates movement.
And most importantly, it creates drama.
Turning Everyday Materials Into Something Unexpected
This is one of my favorite parts of floral design.
Sometimes the material that makes the biggest impact isn't the most expensive or unusual flower in the room.
Sometimes it is something we use every day—just used differently.
Lemon leaf is a perfect example.
Most florists are very familiar with it. We use it constantly as foliage and as a supporting material.
But once you begin manipulating it, repeating it and constructing something with it, suddenly it becomes a completely different design element.
That handmade garland brings another layer of texture to the installation, but it also connects the different portions of the design visually.
The elevated floral pieces aren't simply individual arrangements sitting on pedestals anymore.
They begin to feel like one composition.
The garlands lead your eye from one area to another, down the structure, around the pedestals and eventually toward the flowers at floor level.
That continuity is what makes the installation feel intentional rather than simply large.
Creating Drama With Length
Length is incredibly powerful in floral design.
A long element instantly exaggerates movement.
It can make something feel taller.
It can draw the eye downward.
It can connect two separate areas.
Or it can simply create that little moment of surprise that makes someone stop and look again.
In this installation, the lemon leaf garlands and the long hanging botanical materials extend the design far beyond the main masses of flowers.
Without them, you would still have beautiful floral arrangements.
But with them, you have an environment.
And that is a big difference.
Large-scale floral design is not only about using more flowers. It is about understanding how to use space.
Sometimes the most impactful decision is figuring out how to move the design through that space.
Repetition Creates Rhythm
The Aspire installation also gave me the opportunity to use repetition on a much larger scale.
Reds, pinks, yellows and corals are repeated throughout the three floral areas.
The hanging elements repeat vertically.
The lemon leaf garlands repeat in sweeping lines.
Even the gold pedestals become part of that rhythm.
Your eye recognizes the same colors and shapes again and again, which helps something this large feel connected.
That's one of the principles I enjoy talking about when I teach.
Repetition doesn't mean making everything identical.
It simply means giving the eye something familiar to recognize as it moves through the design.
The Value of Handcrafted Work
I also think designs like this are a reminder of the value of handcrafted floral work.
Those garlands don't come out of a box looking like that.
Someone has to create them.
There is time involved.
There is technique involved.
There is thought behind how long they need to be, how they need to move and where they will be placed within the finished piece.
Those details matter.
Whether we are designing a large installation, a wedding, a sympathy tribute or an arrangement for someone's home, handmade elements give us an opportunity to create something that isn't simply assembled.
It becomes something specifically designed for that moment.
And I think clients notice that—even if they don't always know exactly what they're noticing.
They just know it feels different.
Aspire Beyond the Design Show
When I look at these pieces, I can easily imagine elements of Aspire moving into event work.
Maybe not every client wants an entire room filled with red, fuchsia and yellow.
But the idea behind it can translate in so many ways.
A dramatic entrance installation.
A suspended floral piece.
Long handmade foliage garlands traveling across a ceremony structure.
A bold bridal or presentation bouquet.
Or even one unexpected handcrafted element added to an otherwise simple design.
Sometimes you don't need more flowers to create more impact.
You need one really good idea.
Finding Your Own Interpretation
That's something I keep coming back to as I share this series.
American Floral Trends gives us a starting point.
Then we get to decide what happens next.
I have had the privilege to work closely with J. Keith White and American Floral Trends, and I love taking these color stories and interpreting them through my own design style.
For Aspire, that meant saturated color, strong contrast, movement, scale and handcrafted botanical work.
Another designer may see something completely different.
And that's exactly how it should be.
Trends should inspire us to explore.
They should never make all of our work look the same.
For me, Aspire is bold, confident and unapologetically colorful—but what I may love most about these particular pieces is the reminder that some of the greatest drama in floral design can come from what we create with our own hands.
Sometimes it's the flowers.
Sometimes it's the color.
And sometimes it's taking a simple lemon leaf and turning it into something completely unexpected.
Kari Gaudet, AIFD, CFD
Owner & Creative Director
The Flower Place | Beaumont, Texas
Your Local Flower Girl
