Meet the New Floral Artists Reinventing Ikebana

Long the province of priests and noblemen, ikebana was not practiced by “everyday” men until the 15th century. Only in the late 1860s, when the Meiji government deemed it a character- building practice for “good wives and wise mothers,” were women encouraged to join in. This early 1920s image of a female ikebana arranger emphasizes the deeper cultural differences of the practice: a spare and harmonious work space that strikes such a contrast with the bloom-strewn workshop tables of the West.

With his revolutionary development of the full-color printing technique known as nishiki-e in 1765, wood-block print artist Suzuki Harunobu offered a new, vivid glimpse into Japanese society during the mid-Edo period.This included ikebana—a testament to the art form’s cultural centrality. Harunobu created prints of ikebana arrangements as still life compositions, as well as capturing moments of contemplation and flower placement, as in this print from 1770.

Arrangers rely on two treasured tools: a pair of shears and a kenzan, the bristled base also called a flower frog. The former allows for precise clipping, the latter for precise arrangement. “I can place any size of stems or branches at my desired angles almost perfectly,” Naoko Zaima says, whether piercedor nestled among the needles. Start with a three-inch round, she says; for shears use a pair that’s lightweight, comfortable, and sharp enough to cut branches.

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Vessel selection is an “incredibly important choice” that informs stability mechanics and composition, Amanda Luu says. The grip of the kenzan allows artists to consider pieces too shallow to hold flowers—like this one by San Francisco–based ceramic artist Lisa Fleming. Luu intentionally keeps a fairly limited collection of vessels and seeks new expressions each time she reuses one. “There’s an intimacy you develop with your vessels,” she says. “Each subsequent arrangement is presented as part of a lineage.”

“In my imagination, flowers are posing like models or moving like dancers,” says Zaima, who places red lily, red pepper, pink Alstroemeria, and purple Trachelium in a modern vase because “it looks as if they are posing with their legs intertwined.”

“Ikebana is allowing yourself to communicate with the flowers themselves,” says Zaima, who sources material from a downtown L.A. flower market, her own plants, and neighborhood gems like this olive tree. Here, yellow Grevillea inspired a tropical mood, she says. Ranunculus and Scotch broom joined the party, which she chose to make one of playful verticality. “In an upright style, flowers look very bright and cheerful.”

"Whenever I try with great effort to say something specific in an arrangement, I lose it. The composition ends up being overworked, showing too much of the hand (or maybe the mind). I allow what arises to arise.”

“You can imagine how rare these sun-warmed treasures are,” says Luu of roses from Studio Mondine’s garden. “We’re Zone 10b!” In this wedding arrangement, four types of roses cheekily nod to Western “blousy and romantic” tropes but in ikebana’s unexpected, abstract form. At left, she reached for more roses and other late-summer materials, including kale leaves with a powdery mildew she found “downright inspired.”