Ballet BC’s Floral Soirée

Born in Japan but raised in Vancouver, Hitomi Gilliam is one of the world’s best-known floral artists, and her latest project is a floral installation based on the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.

It’s all part of Ballet BC’s upcoming Babylon performance and party. Offering a groundbreaking cultural mashup of dance, drinks and floral design, Babylon is meant to stimulate the senses while introducing an entirely new audience to the award-winning ballet company.

Co-hosted by Vancouver event gurus The Social Concierge (Diner en Blanc, Deighton Cup), Babylon takes place Aug. 6 in and around the Queen Elizabeth Theatre lobby. In fact, part of the performance will spill out into the night air on a custom-built outdoor stage. And while dancers will be filling the lobby and courtyard of the venerated arts venue, elaborate live arrangements of flowers and plants will be transforming the two-story space into a veritable greenhouse.

In advance of this exciting collab, we caught up with Hitomi to talk design, art, trends, and how everyone can be a better floral designer.

 

How did you get started as a floral artist?

As a child I was interested in fine arts and everything crafty—pottery and weaving—but my parents were both on the science side and thought there was no future in art. I felt like I had skills with my hands and artistic flair. To appease my parents, I went into landscape horticulture and then became a grower. I went into retail and started to become interested in floral design at that point. The biggest asset I started with was that I know plants—their behaviour, how they move and how to put them together in a way that makes sense. 

 

What do you get from flowers as a medium of artistic expression that you wouldn’t get from other media?

It’s a living material that’s ephemeral, delicate—you have to know how far you can bend a stem without it breaking—and imperfect. In fact, when I buy a bundle of flowers I’m looking for the one with quirks, kinks and oddities that make my design extra special. Think about branches. The apple tree that’s always been watered is much less interesting than a tree on the Monterey Peninsula. It’s been through adversity—a storm broke it, it suffered and grew back. That’s beautiful to me.

How would you characterise your artistic style?

It’s a fusion between east and west. I’m first-generation Japanese so there’s an Asian line. But I was raised in the west so it’s a bit bigger than minimalist, with creative quirks. There’s definitely a sculptural element.

 

Do you have a favourite flower?

The Gloriosa Lily. It’s divine. The flowers are usually raspberry red with a yellow edge and a centre of green. It appears to be the most young and vivacious, outgoing flower. It’s been around a long time but is not commonly used.

 

What will you be creating for Babylon?

I’ll be building two eight-foot pillars with intricate lines flowing around made from rattan to symbolise the dynamism and movement of the ballet. Into that, I’ll be weaving David Austin roses, which are exquisite and have a heritage feel, and tropical flowers, which are the very opposite and look modern. It’s the contrast of the almost patent leather sheen of the tropical versus the ruffles of the rose. Overall, it will have an edgy, sculptural feel but the plant design is that that it grew organically into the space.

Where does your creative spark usually come from?

Nature. I think that’s the same for every artist. Nature shows us when something is ‘right’. When you make something too heavy, it’ll fall—that’s a law of nature. It’s our best expert. For design, I also look at fashion and interiors as they dictate the colours of the next season.

 

What are the current and upcoming trends in floral artistry?

Things move quite slowly in our world, though I’m always trying to push things forwards. That’s helped by the fact that consumers are so much more knowledgeable and demanding now—they love to grow different types of flowers so have higher expectations and aren’t satisfied with supermarket stuff.

Right now, the trend is for everything to be unstructured, less disciplined, leaning ‘just because’, which is really wonderful because it’s nature inspired.

I think an upcoming trend might be combining flowers that don’t usually come together —like my Babylon sculpture with tropicals and English garden flowers. Seasonality is no longer a factor in our industry because all the flowers are available all the time, so we can compose things that are very opposite, but bringing them together by using the same colours or textures.

What can people do to become better at arranging flowers for themselves?

Right now we’re in an experimental phase so you can’t really go wrong—that gathered-in-the-garden look is hot. It’s good to really look at the flowers and their placement, not just plop them in a vase. There’s a system: Foliage and branches first to create a structure, then drop in the flowers, starting with the ones with the strongest stems.

One trick to take it to the next level is to use chicken wire. Fold it in half and crimp the edges to make a kind of perogie. Then open it up a little so it resembles an egg. It should be a little larger than the top of your vase. Place it on the top and then insert your flowers through the wire. I find that when people design in a vase they overstuff it so the water looks dirty because there’s too much stuff. This way you can fill it with just 10 items so it looks loose and simple.

See Hitomi and other florists and floral artists put together their Babylon-inspired installations on August 6 at Queen Elizabeth Theatre Plaza and lobby, as dancers from Ballet BC perform amidst the flowers from 6pm to 10pm. Tickets start at $55, which includes a welcome cocktail. There’s also a Mezzanine Pass at $95, which gives an improved view of the ballet, plus cuisine designed by Hawksworth. Click here to buy tickets.