THE WORLD OF COLOUR ACCORDING TO PER BENJAMIN

COLOUR

according to Per Benjamin

according to Per Benjamin

The photos are a mixture of studio works, outdoor pieces and event designs and show both small and extra large arrangements.

All of the pictures included illustrate how it is possible to extract colour tones from a material both in theory and in practice.

THE WORLD OF

THE WORLD OF COLOUR

In the past ten years, Swedish floral designer Per Benjamin developed his own colour theory.

The World of Colour according to Per Benjamin is an educational-entertaining-inspirational book where his colour theory is explained in text, but above all presented in a very creative, visual ‘hands on’ style in beautiful pictures and colour charts.

THE WORLD OF

COLOUR

according to Per Benjamin

Why did I come up with my own colour theory?

Who am I in a colour context?

Who am I as a designer / florist?

First of all, I would like to point out that this is my very own colour theory. A practical way of working that I have developed over the years.

A way of working that differs from the theories most of my colleagues work with. I have had the pleasure of teaching this special world of colours over the past fifteen years. Therefore, I’d like to take a moment to thank everyone in the flower world who has asked for, inspired, pushed and basically forced me to write this book! It is finally here after many attempts. My feelings have shifted between joy, nervousness, creativity, total blackouts, performance anxiety and a driving curiosity about what the final outcome would be. I’ve done my best to explain my thoughts, and hope you understand them, feel inspired by them and find creativity in them.

My driving force as a person and as a florist is my curiosity: curiosity about life, people, emotions and, of course, creativity. To be able to find challenges and try new things every day, in finding new ways to live and work, to see new possibilities in the everyday situations we are confronted with. For me, the challenge is not to find the most beautiful and rare objects to work with, but to find new ways in presenting the ‘ordinary’ and to show the potential beauty that is always around us. A beauty that, when talking about flowers, is overlooked by many people if not presented in a special way.

Getting attention to the flowers is often achieved by working with flowers or colours that you like the least, to challenge your own prejudices and creativity.

It is important to not see limits and old traditions as obstacles, but on the contrary, to see them as possibilities and inspiration for new ideas.

The classic saying ‘to take the road less travelled’ makes more than good sense here. It applies to most aspects of life, not only flowers.

Emotions, honesty, curiosity, joy and colour are the key words describing the designer Per Benjamin. We all have an emotional relationship with colours in life, nature, society, and, of course, all the material things we surround ourselves with. Colours are emotions! Being privileged as we are as florists to be working with flowers and colours every day, we get to interpret and express these feelings in and through our designs.

This I find the most intriguing part of my job as a florist, the connection between flowers, colours and people. Our job is about interpreting one person’s feelings for another in colours. The florist becomes the emotional link between the two. Flowers and their colours say so much more than you can put down in words, and sometimes more than you dare to say.

I feel a bit like a novelist who, at the beginning of his book, explains that none of the ideas or characters are based on real people or events and explains that everything in the book is a result of the author’s own imagination. In the same way, I want to write that this book is the result of my own concepts, thoughts and feelings about working with colour.

So it is with pride, joy and great nervousness that I finally put this theory down in text and images. What, for me, is based on feelings, becomes so definitive and almost scary when sharing it with you, my reader: my world of colours.

But as I always say when I give workshops and demonstrations; I hope I can inspire and give you a lot of new tools to use.

Assess them carefully and pick the ones that make the most impression on you. Then put them in your own toolbox. Soon it will be full of the tools that, used together, will create your own personality as a florist.

Having said that, we come to what is most important to me, both as a person and as florist: colour! I have always played with colours. In art forms like drawing and painting and, more practically, in the interior of my home, in the garden and in the materials I use in my designs. When I was a child I was always using my room as a try-out space where I could experiment with new ideas and colour combinations. Even then, years ago, colour was always a starting point. Later, as a young boy, I started working in my parents’ garden. Soon it was constantly being transformed with new and exciting colour groups. Here the seeds were sown for the colour theory I am currently working with. Colour covers all areas of life. We communicate with colour, we store memories in colours, and we relate feelings to colours. Much of this is highly personal but one can easily find general similarities. Green signals calmness, yellow signals energy, red means danger, passion and love. The latter is an interesting combination that I do not want to get into here, but still...

Life is getting more and more artificial, but we can already see a strong counter-reaction against this shallowness. The need for honesty, not only between people but also towards our planet, has created a movement that is only at its beginning. The more our cities grow, the more the dream of nature, flowers and colours (other than the hundreds of tones of grey) affects people. Floristry as a profession or, more correctly, as a handicraft is, in most aspects, something very honest. We keep honest handicraft traditions alive. This is very important, because hand-made products will always be appreciated.

We work with authentic, natural materials and with a colour palette that takes us way beyond grey. And we are working during a time of growing awareness that we must take care of this fragile planet we live on.

I love being part of this craft and the flower family at this point in time.

In short, my background and CV could be explained with the following sentence: I am honest, emotionally driven, with an untamed curiosity for communication, colours and materials of all kinds, both botanical and non-botanical, and perform my best in a state of joy!

Curiosity is my driving force and was what led me to this profession.

I am an autodidact and have always relied on my creativity. It steered me to my first job in a flower shop. I constantly learnt from my colleagues.

From what they did but, even more importantly, from what they did not do or what they told me that I could or should not do. At that time, there were, for example, many colour combinations that were not accepted, some said ‘impossible’. I find it fascinating that my signature combination today, pink-orange-yellow, was a big no then and is a common and appreciated colour combination today. There is always opportunity behind a ‘no’ or a ban. Curiosity leads us there.

After many years in various stores, curiosity also directed me towards competitions. There is no better way to challenge your own creativity and to learn new things about yourself and your colleagues than competing against them. I won the Interflora World Cup in Holland 2002.

That is when I got first involved with using the full colour spectrum and where I started my journey to change my colleagues’ view on colour.

Since then, I have had the honour and pleasure to work in over eighty countries around the world as an educator, demonstrator, teacher of workshops, event decorator, business coach and lecturer at seminars, talking about trends, sales and giving management courses.

I am always looking for a new challenge, both for the profession, the flower industry as for myself. The red thread in all I that have been doing and am still doing has always been ‘colour’. For over fifteen years I was part of the creative co-operation Life3, co-publishing over 16 books. Today, I have my own company, Benjamins Botaniska, which is not an ordinary flower shop, but a consultancy based in Stockholm.

I have the two trademarked operations: Floristic Coaching and Life3.

I work together with schools, wholesalers, delivery services such as Interflora, individual shops, brands, event companies and flower enthusiasts around the world. I am one happy, fortunate and very grateful florist.

While we are in the field of colour, emotions, memories, and psychology...

I just have to share an exciting thing that I discovered when I taught myself to become a coach a few years ago. In the course we worked around feelings, memories and how we store and manage these in our minds. I always assumed such ‘management’ happened naturally. But we had several attempts and tried to ‘store’ memories in our minds in numerous ways. Using either stills or moving images, black and white or colour pictures, slow or fast images (some even had a fast-forward function!). It turned out that colour film is the strongest and most emotionally controlled way to store memories.

These memories are also the strongest ones in our brain. Take a moment and think about how you handle memories. Are there stills, black and white or colour movies in your head, and can you influence the speed, do they have a fast-forward or a freeze-frame function? I am sure you can guess how it works in my head!

4

5

Why did I come up with my own colour theory?

Who am I in a colour context?

Who am I as a designer / florist?

First of all, I would like to point out that this is my very own colour theory. A practical way of working that I have developed over the years.

A way of working that differs from the theories most of my colleagues work with. I have had the pleasure of teaching this special world of colours over the past fifteen years. Therefore, I’d like to take a moment to thank everyone in the flower world who has asked for, inspired, pushed and basically forced me to write this book! It is finally here after many attempts. My feelings have shifted between joy, nervousness, creativity, total blackouts, performance anxiety and a driving curiosity about what the final outcome would be. I’ve done my best to explain my thoughts, and hope you understand them, feel inspired by them and find creativity in them.

My driving force as a person and as a florist is my curiosity: curiosity about life, people, emotions and, of course, creativity. To be able to find challenges and try new things every day, in finding new ways to live and work, to see new possibilities in the everyday situations we are confronted with. For me, the challenge is not to find the most beautiful and rare objects to work with, but to find new ways in presenting the ‘ordinary’ and to show the potential beauty that is always around us. A beauty that, when talking about flowers, is overlooked by many people if not presented in a special way.

Getting attention to the flowers is often achieved by working with flowers or colours that you like the least, to challenge your own prejudices and creativity.

It is important to not see limits and old traditions as obstacles, but on the contrary, to see them as possibilities and inspiration for new ideas.

The classic saying ‘to take the road less travelled’ makes more than good sense here. It applies to most aspects of life, not only flowers.

Emotions, honesty, curiosity, joy and colour are the key words describing the designer Per Benjamin. We all have an emotional relationship with colours in life, nature, society, and, of course, all the material things we surround ourselves with. Colours are emotions! Being privileged as we are as florists to be working with flowers and colours every day, we get to interpret and express these feelings in and through our designs.

This I find the most intriguing part of my job as a florist, the connection between flowers, colours and people. Our job is about interpreting one person’s feelings for another in colours. The florist becomes the emotional link between the two. Flowers and their colours say so much more than you can put down in words, and sometimes more than you dare to say.

I feel a bit like a novelist who, at the beginning of his book, explains that none of the ideas or characters are based on real people or events and explains that everything in the book is a result of the author’s own imagination. In the same way, I want to write that this book is the result of my own concepts, thoughts and feelings about working with colour.

So it is with pride, joy and great nervousness that I finally put this theory down in text and images. What, for me, is based on feelings, becomes so definitive and almost scary when sharing it with you, my reader: my world of colours.

But as I always say when I give workshops and demonstrations; I hope I can inspire and give you a lot of new tools to use.

Assess them carefully and pick the ones that make the most impression on you. Then put them in your own toolbox. Soon it will be full of the tools that, used together, will create your own personality as a florist.

Having said that, we come to what is most important to me, both as a person and as florist: colour! I have always played with colours. In art forms like drawing and painting and, more practically, in the interior of my home, in the garden and in the materials I use in my designs. When I was a child I was always using my room as a try-out space where I could experiment with new ideas and colour combinations. Even then, years ago, colour was always a starting point. Later, as a young boy, I started working in my parents’ garden. Soon it was constantly being transformed with new and exciting colour groups. Here the seeds were sown for the colour theory I am currently working with. Colour covers all areas of life. We communicate with colour, we store memories in colours, and we relate feelings to colours. Much of this is highly personal but one can easily find general similarities. Green signals calmness, yellow signals energy, red means danger, passion and love. The latter is an interesting combination that I do not want to get into here, but still...

Life is getting more and more artificial, but we can already see a strong counter-reaction against this shallowness. The need for honesty, not only between people but also towards our planet, has created a movement that is only at its beginning. The more our cities grow, the more the dream of nature, flowers and colours (other than the hundreds of tones of grey) affects people. Floristry as a profession or, more correctly, as a handicraft is, in most aspects, something very honest. We keep honest handicraft traditions alive. This is very important, because hand-made products will always be appreciated.

We work with authentic, natural materials and with a colour palette that takes us way beyond grey. And we are working during a time of growing awareness that we must take care of this fragile planet we live on.

I love being part of this craft and the flower family at this point in time.

In short, my background and CV could be explained with the following sentence: I am honest, emotionally driven, with an untamed curiosity for communication, colours and materials of all kinds, both botanical and non-botanical, and perform my best in a state of joy!

Curiosity is my driving force and was what led me to this profession.

I am an autodidact and have always relied on my creativity. It steered me to my first job in a flower shop. I constantly learnt from my colleagues.

From what they did but, even more importantly, from what they did not do or what they told me that I could or should not do. At that time, there were, for example, many colour combinations that were not accepted, some said ‘impossible’. I find it fascinating that my signature combination today, pink-orange-yellow, was a big no then and is a common and appreciated colour combination today. There is always opportunity behind a ‘no’ or a ban. Curiosity leads us there.

After many years in various stores, curiosity also directed me towards competitions. There is no better way to challenge your own creativity and to learn new things about yourself and your colleagues than competing against them. I won the Interflora World Cup in Holland 2002.

That is when I got first involved with using the full colour spectrum and where I started my journey to change my colleagues’ view on colour.

Since then, I have had the honour and pleasure to work in over eighty countries around the world as an educator, demonstrator, teacher of workshops, event decorator, business coach and lecturer at seminars, talking about trends, sales and giving management courses.

I am always looking for a new challenge, both for the profession, the flower industry as for myself. The red thread in all I that have been doing and am still doing has always been ‘colour’. For over fifteen years I was part of the creative co-operation Life3, co-publishing over 16 books. Today, I have my own company, Benjamins Botaniska, which is not an ordinary flower shop, but a consultancy based in Stockholm.

I have the two trademarked operations: Floristic Coaching and Life3.

I work together with schools, wholesalers, delivery services such as Interflora, individual shops, brands, event companies and flower enthusiasts around the world. I am one happy, fortunate and very grateful florist.

While we are in the field of colour, emotions, memories, and psychology...

I just have to share an exciting thing that I discovered when I taught myself to become a coach a few years ago. In the course we worked around feelings, memories and how we store and manage these in our minds. I always assumed such ‘management’ happened naturally. But we had several attempts and tried to ‘store’ memories in our minds in numerous ways. Using either stills or moving images, black and white or colour pictures, slow or fast images (some even had a fast-forward function!). It turned out that colour film is the strongest and most emotionally controlled way to store memories.

These memories are also the strongest ones in our brain. Take a moment and think about how you handle memories. Are there stills, black and white or colour movies in your head, and can you influence the speed, do they have a fast-forward or a freeze-frame function? I am sure you can guess how it works in my head!

4

5

What triggers our creativity as designers and florists?

HUE (Pure Colour) TINT (Hue + White) TONE (Hue = Grey) SHADE (Hue = Black)

RED

R PUR ED PLE

BLU

E

PURPLE BLUE

NGE ORA

ORA

YELLOW ORANGE

PLE BLUE

PLE

PUR

YELLOW

LOW

Look closely at the flowers and materials.

Emotional, Creative, Free, Inspirational, Generous, Circular, Warm, Dusty, Pure, Dirty, Strong...

RED

YE L

Theoretical, Limiting, Closed, Uninspiring, Poor, Square (circle shaped box), Hue, Tint, Tone, Shade, Saturation, Primary, Complementary, Triadic

PUR

NGE

RED GE N ORA

GREEN G YEL REEN LOW

GREEN

E BLU EN GRE

Look at colour wheels What feels most natural? To select your colour spectra from flowers and materials or to pick them from colour wheels?

The colour wheel is probably very useful to understand colour theories on a scientific level. It is a good foundation for understanding colour and as a common foundation for us all.

This I understood when teaching, as I explained before.

But to me words like hue, tint, tone, shade, saturation all feel too theoretical, too limiting, and emotionless as a tool when working with colours and flowers in floral design.

I prefer a more emotional, passionate, and living language to describe colours such as pure, strong, warm, dirty, dusty, weak, rough, calm, energetic etc.

So, I challenge you all to get out of that ‘circular box’ that is the colour wheel.

13

What triggers our creativity as designers and florists?

HUE (Pure Colour) TINT (Hue + White) TONE (Hue = Grey) SHADE (Hue = Black)

RED

R PUR ED PLE

BLU

E

PURPLE BLUE

NGE ORA

ORA

YELLOW ORANGE

PLE BLUE

PLE

PUR

YELLOW

LOW

Look closely at the flowers and materials.

Emotional, Creative, Free, Inspirational, Generous, Circular, Warm, Dusty, Pure, Dirty, Strong...

RED

YE L

Theoretical, Limiting, Closed, Uninspiring, Poor, Square (circle shaped box), Hue, Tint, Tone, Shade, Saturation, Primary, Complementary, Triadic

PUR

NGE

RED GE N ORA

GREEN G YEL REEN LOW

GREEN

E BLU EN GRE

Look at colour wheels What feels most natural? To select your colour spectra from flowers and materials or to pick them from colour wheels?

The colour wheel is probably very useful to understand colour theories on a scientific level. It is a good foundation for understanding colour and as a common foundation for us all.

This I understood when teaching, as I explained before.

But to me words like hue, tint, tone, shade, saturation all feel too theoretical, too limiting, and emotionless as a tool when working with colours and flowers in floral design.

I prefer a more emotional, passionate, and living language to describe colours such as pure, strong, warm, dirty, dusty, weak, rough, calm, energetic etc.

So, I challenge you all to get out of that ‘circular box’ that is the colour wheel.

13

Greenery is much more than foliage

Black and White One of the biggest differences between my system and the colour wheel is the use of black and white. They are, theoretically, a mix of all colours I know that. But they are also visible colours all around us.

And when the core of my system is to see colours within colours, I simply do the same with black and white. I let the practical and visible aspects go before the scientific and theoretical.

Light and dark. I was often told to add some white flowers into my designs to bring some light into the bouquet. I still see lots of that around.

When adding that white we create a strong contrast and often that white will become the optically dominant colour in the design.

This consequently steals the attention away from the good colour work you have created. Based on what I have explained here, white or black for that matter should be bridged, colour connected into a design.

We do not need the brightest white to bring light into a design.

It is much better to use a light pastel that is colour coordinated or part of our gradation from the main colour.

The gradation can even be stretched all the way to a bright pastel or even further to clear white.

20

Metals and metallic colours I really love metallic surfaces that have their own colour universe.

Everything and nothing can be seen in these.

The trained eye, of course, sees lots more than the obvious colours.

Foliage, greenery, leaves, grasses, branches‌ in short materials without flowers.

These materials are often used without any deeper thoughts about the colour impact they may have on the design.

They are mostly used for their technical purposes, as fillers, or to finish a bouquet (for example with a nice ‘collar’).

I have often, too often, seen bouquets where the most delicate colour work had been totally destroyed by the foliage used: either by disrupting the proportions, changing the dominant colour tone, or simply by taking the attention away from the actual flowers and their colours.

Foliage is not just green. It is green with many different other colours inside. We have grey-greens, yellow-greens, lavender-greens, pink-greens, red-greens, brown-greens, blue-greens, turquoise-greens and many more.

Look at your greens and foliage and handle them in the same way as any other colour.

Extract, discover and understand the colours that are there and stretch these as far as needed using step by step gradation.

Greenery/foliage is not green!

21

Greenery is much more than foliage

Black and White One of the biggest differences between my system and the colour wheel is the use of black and white. They are, theoretically, a mix of all colours I know that. But they are also visible colours all around us.

And when the core of my system is to see colours within colours, I simply do the same with black and white. I let the practical and visible aspects go before the scientific and theoretical.

Light and dark. I was often told to add some white flowers into my designs to bring some light into the bouquet. I still see lots of that around.

When adding that white we create a strong contrast and often that white will become the optically dominant colour in the design.

This consequently steals the attention away from the good colour work you have created. Based on what I have explained here, white or black for that matter should be bridged, colour connected into a design.

We do not need the brightest white to bring light into a design.

It is much better to use a light pastel that is colour coordinated or part of our gradation from the main colour.

The gradation can even be stretched all the way to a bright pastel or even further to clear white.

20

Metals and metallic colours I really love metallic surfaces that have their own colour universe.

Everything and nothing can be seen in these.

The trained eye, of course, sees lots more than the obvious colours.

Foliage, greenery, leaves, grasses, branches‌ in short materials without flowers.

These materials are often used without any deeper thoughts about the colour impact they may have on the design.

They are mostly used for their technical purposes, as fillers, or to finish a bouquet (for example with a nice ‘collar’).

I have often, too often, seen bouquets where the most delicate colour work had been totally destroyed by the foliage used: either by disrupting the proportions, changing the dominant colour tone, or simply by taking the attention away from the actual flowers and their colours.

Foliage is not just green. It is green with many different other colours inside. We have grey-greens, yellow-greens, lavender-greens, pink-greens, red-greens, brown-greens, blue-greens, turquoise-greens and many more.

Look at your greens and foliage and handle them in the same way as any other colour.

Extract, discover and understand the colours that are there and stretch these as far as needed using step by step gradation.

Greenery/foliage is not green!

21

Inspirational concepts I do hope that this book will give you a new outlook on and lots of joy working with colours.

In all the designs you can follow my colour thoughts.

Sometimes you’ll see a material as starting point, other times it will be the colours dots. Enjoy, learn and get inspired.

25

Inspirational concepts I do hope that this book will give you a new outlook on and lots of joy working with colours.

In all the designs you can follow my colour thoughts.

Sometimes you’ll see a material as starting point, other times it will be the colours dots. Enjoy, learn and get inspired.

25

Flowers on the Catwalk Attitude is so much more than a look!

58

59

Flowers on the Catwalk Attitude is so much more than a look!

58

59

Coral Reef Autumn. Strength, energy and fading beauty in the same moment.

104

105

Coral Reef Autumn. Strength, energy and fading beauty in the same moment.

104

105

Oak Leaves Let the leaves from last year come to life by combining them with fresh flowers in shades that are extracted from the warm spectrum of the leaves.

124

125

Oak Leaves Let the leaves from last year come to life by combining them with fresh flowers in shades that are extracted from the warm spectrum of the leaves.

124

125

Blueberry in Milk means

Nobel-17

Conversation

many colours

Winter, snow, ice, frost. An evocation of a sunny winter day when all the colours of ice and snow are reflected by the sunlight, combined with the magical colours of the Northern lights over drifting snow and snow-covered nature.

When the heart and mind are in the conversation, it is a dialog in colour!

Too many conversations are monologues in black and white.

I very often play with the whole spectrum of colours and textures to create interest and to attract people’s attention to the floral designs.

Wintersport

I love skiing.

I love the landscape around Åre (Sweden).

I love flowers.

And you know I love colours so I simply could not resist this one.

26

27

We live in a multicultural world, let it show in the designs.

28

p. 26-27 Rosa, Anemone, Helleborus niger, Dianthus, Limonium, Hedera

29

30

p. 28-29 Clematis, Allium, Ranunculus, Muscari, Vanda

31

50

51

52

p. 50-51 Dianthus, Gloriosa, Cymbidium, Phormium, Xerophyllum, Rosa, Alstroemeria, Ranunculus, Panicum, Salal

p. 30-31 Fritillaria imperialis, Allium, Dianthus, Rosa, Salix

Aqua

53

p. 52-53 Dianthus, Lillium, Cymbidium, Anthurium, Strelitzia, Phormium, Phalaenopsis, Cornus, Eucalyptus, Chrysanthemum

Tropical Nouveau

34

p. 32-33 Delphinium, Nerine, Bromelia, Tillandsia, Gloriosa, Cambria, Eucalyptus, Sandersonia, Strelitzia

p. 54-55 Dianthus, Phalaenopsis, Paphiopedilum, Ranunculus, Asparagus setaceus, Betula, Eucalytus, Senecio

Attitude is so much more than a look!

Dare

Once we let colour lead the way and stop conventions and rules guide us, we will find new combinations of materials, flowers, textures, shapes... and we will be truly innovative in our design work.

33

55

Flowers on the Catwalk

Snow and ice contain an incredible spectrum of cold, cool barely visible beautiful pastel colours that are highlighted in these decorations.

The rich diversity of snow and ice made visible by the hands of the designer.

Water looks the same everywhere.

And yet it is never the same.

54

Metallica

How did I come to this?

Look at the succulent in this design.

Extract its colours and then reverse and mix the proportions.

35

p. 34-35 Hortensia, Nerine, Bromelia, Tillandsia xerografica, Tillandsia dyeriana, Gloriosa rotschildiana, Cambria, Eucalyptus, Sandersonia, Strelitzia, Paeonia, Clematis

36

Metallic colours mesmerize me and always trigger my creativity and curiosity.

37

p. 36-37 Dianthus, Rosa, Delphinium, Clematis, Passiflora, Nerine, Echeveria, Gloriosa rotschildiana, Paeonia, Chrysanthemum, Sandersonia, Strelitzia, Phalaenopsis

Frosted colours

56

57

58

p. 56-57 Dianthus, Phalaenopsis, Paphiopedilum, Ranunculus, Asparagus setaceus, Betula, Eucalyptus, Senecio, Anthurium, Strelitzia, Alstroemeria, Chrysanthemum

Roots Look at the roots!

All of the answers are there.

59

60

p. 58-59 Gloriosa rotschildiana, Vanda, Limonium, Kalanachoe, Hypericum, Cymbidium

Captured

61

p. 60-61 Ilex, Dianthus, Gloriosa rotschildiana, Chrysanthemum

Magical

Quicksilver toned pastels.

Let this rose hypnotize, consume and entice you. See what colours you bring with you once you return to the real world. This is only one of many possible results.

What other options can you see?

Dreamcatcher Dreams of a field in full bloom on a warm summer day.

Fields of Grass Last year’s grasses blowing in the wind while the sun paints them in a wide range of colours.

38

39

40

p. 38-39 Rosa, Chrysanthemum, Tillandsia xerographica, Panicum, Scabiosa, Cymbidium, Gypsophila paniculata

41

42

p. 40-41 Triticum, Eucalyptus, Gloriosa rotschildiana, Dianthus, Skimmia, Stipa

63

64

p. 62-63 Convallaria, Fritillaria, Muscari, Tulipa

p. 44-45 Acer, Sorbus, Ginko, Eucalyptus, Germini, Nerine, Protea, Rosa, Fructus Rosa, Chrysanthemum

152

46

47

p. 46-47 Dianthus, Gloriosa, Cymbidium, Phormium, Xerophyllum

67

p. 66-67 Fritillaria, Viburnum, Typha, Phormium, Eucalyptus (fruit)

Pastel and strong tones, warm and cold colours, clear and dusty shades, shiny and matte textures, dark and light tints, pure and dirty colours…

48

49

p. 48-49 Dianthus, Gloriosa, Cymbidium, Phormium, Xerophyllum, Anthurium

Wood Blocks

But honestly it all started with the Cappuccino roses.

I simply adore these!

need I say more…!?

45

66

p. 64-65 Rosa, Ranunculus, Chrysanthemum, Eucalyptus, Vanda, Dianthus

Feathers 44

65

Nobel-16

The Nobel medal and the Nobel bouquet.

Shape and colour inspired this design concept.

For me the most natural, almost intuitive way of working is to find the most obvious quality and the simple essence of a material and build my design concept from there.

In the light of the warm, low autumn sun, we find an amazing spectrum of colours.

62

p. 42-43 Dianthus, Alstroemeria, Germini, Campanula, Panicum, Ranunculus, Trifolium, Anthriscus, Lathyrus, Thalictrum, Galium

Nobel-15

Autumn Gold

43

68

69

p. 68-69 Rosa, Vanda, Dianthus, Phalaenopsis

That’s where you find my starting point/material.

70

71

p. 70-71 Rosa, Vanda, Dianthus, Phalaenopsis

72

73

p. 72-73 Tulipa, Gloriosa rothschildiana, Rosa, Ranunculus, Hypericum, Dianthus, Chaenomeles

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Blueberry in Milk means

Nobel-17

Conversation

many colours

Winter, snow, ice, frost. An evocation of a sunny winter day when all the colours of ice and snow are reflected by the sunlight, combined with the magical colours of the Northern lights over drifting snow and snow-covered nature.

When the heart and mind are in the conversation, it is a dialog in colour!

Too many conversations are monologues in black and white.

I very often play with the whole spectrum of colours and textures to create interest and to attract people’s attention to the floral designs.

Wintersport

I love skiing.

I love the landscape around Åre (Sweden).

I love flowers.

And you know I love colours so I simply could not resist this one.

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27

We live in a multicultural world, let it show in the designs.

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p. 26-27 Rosa, Anemone, Helleborus niger, Dianthus, Limonium, Hedera

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p. 28-29 Clematis, Allium, Ranunculus, Muscari, Vanda

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50

51

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p. 50-51 Dianthus, Gloriosa, Cymbidium, Phormium, Xerophyllum, Rosa, Alstroemeria, Ranunculus, Panicum, Salal

p. 30-31 Fritillaria imperialis, Allium, Dianthus, Rosa, Salix

Aqua

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p. 52-53 Dianthus, Lillium, Cymbidium, Anthurium, Strelitzia, Phormium, Phalaenopsis, Cornus, Eucalyptus, Chrysanthemum

Tropical Nouveau

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p. 32-33 Delphinium, Nerine, Bromelia, Tillandsia, Gloriosa, Cambria, Eucalyptus, Sandersonia, Strelitzia

p. 54-55 Dianthus, Phalaenopsis, Paphiopedilum, Ranunculus, Asparagus setaceus, Betula, Eucalytus, Senecio

Attitude is so much more than a look!

Dare

Once we let colour lead the way and stop conventions and rules guide us, we will find new combinations of materials, flowers, textures, shapes... and we will be truly innovative in our design work.

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Flowers on the Catwalk

Snow and ice contain an incredible spectrum of cold, cool barely visible beautiful pastel colours that are highlighted in these decorations.

The rich diversity of snow and ice made visible by the hands of the designer.

Water looks the same everywhere.

And yet it is never the same.

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Metallica

How did I come to this?

Look at the succulent in this design.

Extract its colours and then reverse and mix the proportions.

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p. 34-35 Hortensia, Nerine, Bromelia, Tillandsia xerografica, Tillandsia dyeriana, Gloriosa rotschildiana, Cambria, Eucalyptus, Sandersonia, Strelitzia, Paeonia, Clematis

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Metallic colours mesmerize me and always trigger my creativity and curiosity.

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p. 36-37 Dianthus, Rosa, Delphinium, Clematis, Passiflora, Nerine, Echeveria, Gloriosa rotschildiana, Paeonia, Chrysanthemum, Sandersonia, Strelitzia, Phalaenopsis

Frosted colours

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p. 56-57 Dianthus, Phalaenopsis, Paphiopedilum, Ranunculus, Asparagus setaceus, Betula, Eucalyptus, Senecio, Anthurium, Strelitzia, Alstroemeria, Chrysanthemum

Roots Look at the roots!

All of the answers are there.

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p. 58-59 Gloriosa rotschildiana, Vanda, Limonium, Kalanachoe, Hypericum, Cymbidium

Captured

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p. 60-61 Ilex, Dianthus, Gloriosa rotschildiana, Chrysanthemum

Magical

Quicksilver toned pastels.

Let this rose hypnotize, consume and entice you. See what colours you bring with you once you return to the real world. This is only one of many possible results.

What other options can you see?

Dreamcatcher Dreams of a field in full bloom on a warm summer day.

Fields of Grass Last year’s grasses blowing in the wind while the sun paints them in a wide range of colours.

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p. 38-39 Rosa, Chrysanthemum, Tillandsia xerographica, Panicum, Scabiosa, Cymbidium, Gypsophila paniculata

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p. 40-41 Triticum, Eucalyptus, Gloriosa rotschildiana, Dianthus, Skimmia, Stipa

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p. 62-63 Convallaria, Fritillaria, Muscari, Tulipa

p. 44-45 Acer, Sorbus, Ginko, Eucalyptus, Germini, Nerine, Protea, Rosa, Fructus Rosa, Chrysanthemum

152

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p. 46-47 Dianthus, Gloriosa, Cymbidium, Phormium, Xerophyllum

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p. 66-67 Fritillaria, Viburnum, Typha, Phormium, Eucalyptus (fruit)

Pastel and strong tones, warm and cold colours, clear and dusty shades, shiny and matte textures, dark and light tints, pure and dirty colours…

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p. 48-49 Dianthus, Gloriosa, Cymbidium, Phormium, Xerophyllum, Anthurium

Wood Blocks

But honestly it all started with the Cappuccino roses.

I simply adore these!

need I say more…!?

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p. 64-65 Rosa, Ranunculus, Chrysanthemum, Eucalyptus, Vanda, Dianthus

Feathers 44

65

Nobel-16

The Nobel medal and the Nobel bouquet.

Shape and colour inspired this design concept.

For me the most natural, almost intuitive way of working is to find the most obvious quality and the simple essence of a material and build my design concept from there.

In the light of the warm, low autumn sun, we find an amazing spectrum of colours.

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p. 42-43 Dianthus, Alstroemeria, Germini, Campanula, Panicum, Ranunculus, Trifolium, Anthriscus, Lathyrus, Thalictrum, Galium

Nobel-15

Autumn Gold

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p. 68-69 Rosa, Vanda, Dianthus, Phalaenopsis

That’s where you find my starting point/material.

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p. 70-71 Rosa, Vanda, Dianthus, Phalaenopsis

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p. 72-73 Tulipa, Gloriosa rothschildiana, Rosa, Ranunculus, Hypericum, Dianthus, Chaenomeles

153

COLOUR

according to Per Benjamin

according to Per Benjamin

The photos are a mixture of studio works, outdoor pieces and event designs and show both small and extra large arrangements.

All of the pictures included illustrate how it is possible to extract colour tones from a material both in theory and in practice.

THE WORLD OF

THE WORLD OF COLOUR

In the past ten years, Swedish floral designer Per Benjamin developed his own colour theory.

The World of Colour according to Per Benjamin is an educational-entertaining-inspirational book where his colour theory is explained in text, but above all presented in a very creative, visual ‘hands on’ style in beautiful pictures and colour charts.

THE WORLD OF

COLOUR

according to Per Benjamin