NAUM HOUSE PRESENTS THE FLOWER ROOM: An Ikebana Workshop

After months of anal back and forth with our web designers and developers, we finally got our website into working order. A busy time of year, we struggled to find the right moment to do a launch event. Time flew and seemingly suddenly, out of the blue, we found ourselves facing the first frost – which would end our flower season for the year.

The current collection THE FLOWER ROOM is an ode to haptic activity – taking time and space to work by hand to create beauty around you.  It is also heavily influenced by my Japanese roots and being a transplant to the UK. Each object in the collection is evergreen. With care, each item could last outlast the person who loves it. These objects and tools are foundational to Naum House – each one of impeccable quality, function, form with a layered story behind their making.

We sprang into action. Tessa and I drove to the flower farm to select wonky branches with movement and the best ebullient blooms still dancing in the breeze.

Epic arrangements with relatively minimal quantities of flowers and foraged branches took shape. 

Emily began interviewing a range of ikebana masters based in London, did an inventory of our stock, started ordering in rental furniture, booked in Robbie our exceptional bartender, got our credit card machines in order, and a thousand other things to ensure the entire event ran smoothly. 

I started working on my speech. For me, it was an opportunity to speak to a rapt audience about soil health and the regenerative agriculture movement that underpins everything we do on the floristry side of our design business.

Candles were lit as the detail within flowers really shows in natural light – whether sun or flame. Finally, it was showtime and the lovely Shoko Koizumi-Hanson and her longterm student Tara came to check the materials and the set up before the guests arrived.

In the spirit of the evening, we served gooseberry vodka martinis and yuzu margaritas complimented by otsumami prepared by chef Lizzie Waite.

Each guest was gifted a pair of hand forged IKEBANA SENTEI, a pair of scissors designed specifically for the purpose of flower arranging with precision.

Our handmade Troy Town IKEBANA BOWLS were the vessels for everyone’s floral experimentation. The glaze was based on an Edo period jug in my collection that I found at Maastricht. Each one fired in the charcoal made from apple tree wood. We designed them to be a small scale, easy to store and to use, but with maximum weight to accommodate the most expressive branches and blooms. 

The great and good were invited to come, surprisingly, almost no one said no. Who knew the Brits were so keen to do ikebana.

Each guest made their own ikebana arrangement. Despite everyone having access to the same species of branches and flowers, and the same tools, each arrangement came out completely unique. As Shoko says, “Each ikebana arrangement reflects the maker in that particular moment of their life.”

 - Hikari Yokoyama, Founder & Creative Director