Accent Decor Inspires Floristry Students



Best Overall Composition awarded to Armando de Loera Mejia

The fall semester at City College of San Francisco ended with an exciting and inspirational floral design competition in the special events class.  We were thrilled and excited to collaborate with Accent Décor https://www.accentdecor.com  on this fun and challenging project.  Accent Décor provides such diversity and beauty to our industry with their vast selection of vases, containers and all the must haves for styling and decorating in the design world.  I highly encourage you to visit their website and blog.  It's a great resource to see what's trending in the industry.

The students were assigned to create a floral arrangement in the Accent Décor  Lush Vase 6" x 7" shown below. The style and materials used for the arrangements were Designers Choice.  The designs had to include some type of floral material and must be deliverable.  The students were able to completed the designs at home and bring to the classroom for judging.  Steven Brown AIFD (Department Chair of Environmental Horticulture/Floristry) judged the competition.  There were seven categories that the students were judged on:  Best Overall Composition, Best Use of Color, Best Artistic Inventiveness and Originality ("Creativity"), Best Use of Container, Best Sellable Appeal, Best in Trending, and Best Production Design.  The categories were chosen to go along with some of the topics that were taught through out the semester.  The competition was held on November 19th, 2016 at City College of San Francisco and 20 students participated.

 

 I explained ways to begin this creative process, showed sources for inspiration and emphasized the importance of mechanics.  I demonstrated a sample for a point of reference and encourage the students to explore their own style. The students had a chance to experiment with the vase and develop their ideas weeks before the competition.  We critiqued and collaborated as a class on many options for each student before the competition.  Below is the demo and the construction process that was presented to the class.   I explained how the demo design could fall into any of the competition categories.

 

Styrofoam, banking pins and magnolia leaves used for construction of  demo design.

Finished demo design by Jenny Tabarracci AIFD using floral foam as the water source for first layer of fresh materials.  First layer of materials were designed in a curved fashion around the perimeter of  styrofoam with stems inserted into foam initially.   Mini cymbidium orchids and pepper berries were then glued to construction.  Angle hair was woven in the design for light contrasting accents.

 

 Sohyun Kwak practicing her design.

 

 Diane Graham practicing her design.

Minna Lim practicing her design.

Class at San Francisco Flower Market selecting their design product.  Many thanks to Roy from Brannan Street Wholesale for all his expertise and support!!



Julia loving the San Francisco Flower Market!



Steven Brown Department Chair of  Environmental Horticulture/Floristry judged the competition.  Steven scored each students arrangement and then gave results to instructor/coordinator Jenny Tabarracci AIFD.  Steven announced the results to patiently waiting students.  Students received monetary awards and ribbons.  Congratulations to all the students!!  Below are the results of all competition categories.

Junghwa Han received the award for Best Use of Container

So Yeon Kim received award for Best Artistic Inventiveness and Originality ("Creativity")

 

Victor Castillo received award for Best Sellable Appeal

 

 

Joana Ferran received award for Best in Trending

Katsiaryna Baradauka received award Best Production Design

 

Luciana Soares Da Silva Edwards received award for Best Use of Color

Armando de Loera Mejia received award Best Overall Composition

 

   Design by Youbin Kim

 

Design by Minna Lim

 

Design by Julia Conner

 

Design by Grace De Guzman

 

Design by Sohyun Kwak

  

Design by Diane Graham

Design by Irasema Carranza

 

Design by Ron Castagnetti

 

Design by Qian Chen

Design by Dahee Han

Design by Ying Gu Pressman

 

Design by Celia Hamilton

 

 

Congratulations to everyone on an outstanding job!  So proud of you all.  I know this was the first competition experience for many of you and remember it's just a learning experience that you can grow from.  I hope it inspired you to design more and maybe even enter a competition or show.  It was a pleasure being your instructor and watching you grow through the process.  Many thanks to Accent Décor for providing their wonderful containers, resource materials and beautiful bags.  Thanks to Steven Brown AIFD for his leadership, expertise and judging the competition.  Also thank you Katie Gelardi for providing many of the beautiful photos.  Happy Holidays to all and hope to see you in the 2017 spring semester. 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

City College of San Francisco "Four Years" Champions

   

City College of San Francisco

2015 National Student AIFD Champions

Young Joo Pak, Aimee O'Donnell Saunders, Kyung Yun Kim, Jenny Tabarracci AIFD, CFD(Advisor/Instructor), Hee Joo, So Yeon Kim

City College of San Francisco has won the Overall School Award four consecutive years.  This is a tremendous team accomplishment and all students must score high to achieve this great recognition and award. This Student Design Competition is held every year at the AIFD (American Institute of Floral Designers) National Symposium.  This year it was held in Denver June 30-July 4, 2015.  The Student AIFD (SAIFD) maintains chapters at 15 colleges and universities throughout the United States and Canada. 

2015 City College of San Francisco SAIFD Competition Team

The American Institute of Floral Designers (AIFD) is the floral industry's leading non-profit organization dedicated to establishing, maintaining and recognizing the highest standard of professional floral design.  AIFD and its worldwide accredited members are at the forefront of the industry in presenting educational design programs and in designing flowers for such renowned events as Tournament of Roses Parade, Academy Awards and Presidential Inaugurations.  Find more information at http://aifd.org/

Members of the AIFD Northwest Region

Awards/Induction Night AIFD Symposium 2015 Denver

 

The SAIFD competition encourages creativity, resourcefulness and focus while giving real-life experience in a high pressure situation.  The competition is an opportunity for the students to use the floral design skills they are developing in classes.  It's a fantastic learning experience and a place to grow as a student designer. It also provides a similar experience to the process for certification by AIFD or membership in the Institute.

 

So Yeon and Kyung Yun creating Body Flowers Design



 

Kyung Yun Body Flowers Design - necklace for a bridesmaid - 45 minutes to complete

 

 

 

So Yeon Body Flowers Design - necklace for a bridesmaid - 45 minutes to complete

 

 

Hee Wedding Design - bridal bouquet -1 hour to complete

 

 

Hee Arrangement Design - place card table - 1 hour to complete

 

 

Hee Duplicate Design - high boy cocktail tables - 1 hour to complete

 

 

Aimee O'Donnell Saunders creating Duplication Design

 

 

 Aimee Arrangement Design - place card table - 1 hour to complete

 

  

 Young Joo creating Duplicate Design 

 

 

Young Joo Body Flowers Design - necklace for a bridesmaid. - 45 minutes to complete 

 

 

Supplies, Tools and Containers allowed for competition

 

Each student received the above bucket of materials for their competition  designs.  They were not required to use all the materials.  There were four categories in the competition:  Arrangement for a place card table, Bridal Bouquet for a Wedding, Two identical Duplicate centerpieces for high boy cocktail tables and Body Flowers necklace for bridesmaid.  The Students had 1 hour for each design except the Body Flowers category was 45 minutes.  There was also a People's Choice category which the viewing public had an opportunity to vote for the table with their favorite student designs.

 

 

The SAIFD competition judging is technical.  Points are given for the methodological use of color, depth, line, balance, focal emphasis, unity and proportion.  Judges strive to set aside subjective opinions, and give high points for well-executed designs. Points are also awarded for creativity, flawless mechanics (neatness, no glue showing, hiding of support systems, technical skill) and appropriate category interpretation.

Requirements to compete as a Student AIFD:

 1.  Student must be an active, novice member of a good standing SAIFD Chapter.

2.  Each student must provide transcripts showing: 2.0 or higher GPA and completion of 15

     semester units or 22 quarter units.

3.  Students may not have worked full time in a retail/wholesale florist as a  designer

     more than 2 years, or part time more than 3 years.

4.  Student has not competed in National Competition at Symposium for more than

     3 years.

5.  The Student is not registered candidate in the AIFD CFD program.

 

2014 City College of San Francisco SAIFD Champions - Chicago

Fiona, Kyung, Ineke, Mia, Hee

 

 

2013 City College of San Francisco SAIFD Champions - Las Vegas

Imelda, Sungmun, Mia, Ariel, Jenny (Advisor/Instructor), Nicole, Ineke, Oxana

 

2012 City College of San Francisco SAIFD Champions - Miami

Kanako, Oxana, Imelda, Jenny (Advisor/Instructor), Yumi, Julie

 

 

 

The next Student AIFD competition is in Anaheim California at the AIFD National Symposium July 3 - July 7, 2016.  Hope you get a chance to see all the amazing designs from the student chapters. 

For more information on SAIFD email Jenny Tabarracci AIFD, CFD at jennytab@comcast.net