Ikebana will soon adorn the homepage of the 'Brewing Beauty Company Co'. My colleagues and I have created and arranged lots of Ikebana for this, which were 'immortalised' in a professional shoot. How do ikebana and cosmetics go together? That's what we asked ourselves when we received the enquiry. And although there is no direct link between Ikebana and cosmetics, one could argue that Ikebana as an art form emphasises the aesthetics and harmony that are also important in cosmetics. Both Ikebana and cosmetics strive to emphasise natural beauty and convey a sense of balance and elegance. Ikebana could therefore serve as an inspiration for the beauty and aesthetics that are sought in cosmetics. In addition, natural plant-based ingredients play an important role in cosmetics. Plants are therefore used in both cosmetics and Ikebana, which naturally gave us the idea of using the plants used in cosmetics in Ikebana as far as possible.
The arrangements include sea buckthorn, which also bears fruit at this time of year, and roses that are still in bloom. But first things first. We received an enquiry from '#sematicmarketing' - a specialist in content and search engine marketing - who had been commissioned to redesign Brewing Beauty's website. Since the colour brown naturally predominates in the cosmetic jars and bottles and Brewing Beauty and its products place great value on natural beauty and natural ingredients, there was no doubt in our client's mind that the two art forms could complement each other. After a few discussions about the framework conditions of the Ikebana to be created, it quickly became clear that with this order volume (80 - 100 arrangements), which were to be captured for eternity in one day in a photo studio by the professional photographer 'Johannes Berger', several Kadoka would be busy arranging the Ikebana. After all, Ikebana is not produced on an assembly line and is an art form of meditation, creativity and engagement with plants and flowers. Anyone who has experience with Ikebana knows that every arrangement is preceded by preliminary considerations, a concept is necessary, flowers have to be procured and every ikebana is created in peace and leisure. Some of our colleagues were of the opinion that this was impossible. But as in so many disciplines, good preparation is the be-all and end-all when it comes to large-scale Ikebana orders.
Four Kadoka (3x Ikenobô, 1x Sogetsu) set about realising the idea. Each Kadoka looked for suitable vases from their own stock (the arrangement should not be larger than 50 cm in height and width), worked out a concept to match the vessel and the order and searched for suitable materials in the field, forest and garden. On Tuesday morning we all met at the wholesale market at 6.00 a.m. to buy the remaining suitable flowers and branches. Some of us had already completed some of our work two days earlier, but the florist among us worked so quickly that she had enough time on Thursday to work on her arrangements on site in the studio. Each of us had a work table at our disposal and there was enough space to position the finished arrangements in the queue in front of the shooting table.
The Ikebana were created in a calm and friendly atmosphere in the morning and after a healthy and delicious bowl for lunch, the afternoon session could begin. Our photographer was particularly busy at the beginning of the shoot: positioning the camera, perfecting the lighting and setting the lights. As the setting remained the same for the whole day, he didn't have much to do for the rest of the day. Pressing the shutter release and discussing with us whether it was right. Of course, you have to tweak the arrangements from time to time. The camera angle was also unusually low, so we all had to get used to it and pay particular attention to the transition from the container to the plants. Nevertheless, 96 Ikebana arrangements (mainly JIYÛKA) were in the can at the end of the day. Some were optimised afterwards with Photoshop. In the end, our customer was very satisfied and thanked us for the successful and professional collaboration. And of course we are excited to see how the Ikebana arrangements and the cosmetics complement each other and wish them every success with the relaunch!