Crafts Alive - Flowers and the Maker - Annie Hewett
Eight Guild makers along with sustainable local florists and flower growers have been inspired to create collaborative displays to mark the Flower Festival held at Rodmarton Manor in 1972.
Each collaboration celebrates the skills and creativity of the makers and florists. It showcases local and regional florists who practice sustainability at every stage of the process, a shared ethos of the Gloucestershire Guild.
Ceramicist Annie Hewett is working with Tess Wardman of Iris and Wilf.
Tess grows and sells fresh beautiful flowers, selecting varieties for their vibrancy, scent and individuality to give her floristry a natural ‘English country garden’ look.
Historically, centrepieces have formed an integral part of table settings for banquets and formal dinners since medieval times.
Elaborate decorations including fruit and flowers, feathers and glass beads were arranged in custom-made pieces constructed from ceramic, silver or glass or combinations of all three.
Occasionally tall candelabra lit with candles or electric lights were incorporated and became part of the decoration. Ice sculptures, stuffed animals and birds were also sometimes used and contributed to an eye-catching focus for guests.
Centrepieces were seen as important signifiers of wealth and status reflecting fashions of the time. They were often extraordinary and imaginative arrangements which exhibited the prowess of the cook, the bounty from the hot houses and the importance of the host.
This centrepiece, however, is a more playful version which uses modular pieces, each made of decorated ceramics by Annie Hewett and filled with flowers by Tess Wardman in an exuberant and colourful display.
Find out about Iris and Wolf here
Read more abour Annie Hewett here