Once in a while we are asked by prospective students "How long does it take to be a professional floral designer ?". This is a good question and at the same time it's a little bit difficult to answer because from person to person the definition of "professional floral designer" is different. According to my own standard, generally speaking at least a few years training (floral design education) is required to become a real professional floral artist.
However here in America, we can find many "floral designers" who are engaged in offering floral decoration services with much shorter period of training. When it comes to floral shop owners (or florists), there are many people who are doing floral business without getting any official floral design training. If we do not give priority to the quality of flower arrangements, you can be a floral designer with much shorter period of training such as one year etc.
As far as I know, most people who are planning to be a floral designer in Japan get floral arranging training (education) for at least a few years so that they will work as a professional floral artist because Japanese floral decoration is very much detail oriented and people's evaluation methodology is quite strict.
Even after taking floral design lessons for a few years, they usually continue learning in order to enhance their flower arranging skills. Some schools and associations provide special training program for people who already completed the ordinary course so that they can continue enhancing their skills.
How is the situation in Europe ? I do believe they are usually required to have a long period of training in order to become a real professional floral designer. Judging from the elegance and the beauty of floral arrangements deriving from professional craftsmanship, I do believe that long period of strict training MUST be required if they would like to work as a real professional floral artist in Europe especially in England and France to where many Japanese women go for learning floral designs.
Flower Decorators Association (Tokyo, Japan) to whom
California Flower Art Academy belongs got various know how about European floral arrangement from Europe in order to spread European style floral designs in Japan back in 1980's. At the moment this association is quite active as one of well established and famous floral associations in Japan.
If you are interested in learning European floral arrangement or Japanese Ikebana, California Flower Art Academy can help. For beginners who have no experience in floral art, following programs are recommended:
A. European floral arrangement:
B. Japanese traditional floral art:
REMARKS: California Flower Art Academy does not offer any Ikebana Programs/Courses that are designed for training students to become Ikebana Instructor. Our school does not offer Ikebana Arrangement Instructor Course.
We also offer Fresh Flower Arrangement Intermediate, Advanced and Instructor Course for people who really want to earn a high level of European floral arranging skills. For more information, please contact info@california-academy.com
