"Flornado" by Waterlily Pond Studio
Warning, A Floral Tornado awaited visitors of bouquets to Art exhibition at the de Young museum.
Floral designers Natasha Lisitsa, Daniel Schultz & Carla Parkinson from Waterlily Pond Studio, created an aerial centerpiece for 30th anniversary of bouquets to Art exhibition at the de Young museum.
Over 62,000 people have visited the museum in the one week the project was on view.
This work is titled "Pirouette" but many viewers called it "Flornado" (as in Floral Tornado).
This work is titled "Pirouette" It was designed as an art project.
We designed the structure with copper pipes at the warehouse and built the construction of apple branches around it in a swirling motion.
Then we laid out a pattern of flowers on the structure with ribbons.
I used only roses and anthuriums. The featured roses were Red Naomi "SUPRA" rose from Porta Nova, with addition of pink roses Soulmate and Deep Purple varieties from Ecuador.
Anthuriums sponsored in part by Green Point Nurseries from Hawaii.
It was quite large work bit great to work on. Size: Diameter – 20 ft. Height – 15 ft. Weight – 800 lb
UPDATE - TIME LAPS from Flornado
"Flornado" the movie
Bouquets to Art Making off
creating an amazing structure for an aerial centerpiece for the 30th anniversary of bouquets to Art exhibition at the de Young museum.
It start with a sketch!
Thanks to Vicky of Florist at Large at SF Flower Mart for helping us secure an entire truckload of apple branches from an orchard in Hollister — bet they never dreamed of turning up in a fine arts museum one day! They were pruned and destined for burning. Now that’s what we call sustainable We collected 2000 apple branches.
We designed the structure with copper pipes at the warehouse and built the construction of apple branches around it in a swirling motion.
In the process of designing the piece, we prototyped the structure at our warehouse space. The bottom part 8' tall and 7' in diameter was to be transported to the museum in one piece. While the 12 flat panels that the top part of the structure was constructed of were transported separately.
As the structure was suspended from the ceiling at the warehouse, we wired about 1/2 of the water tubes to the bottom part of the branch structure, using the tubes we prepared earlier with Oasis Bind Wire and hot glue. Filling in parts of the structure where we were planning to attach the flowers.
As the structure was suspended from the ceiling at the warehouse, we wired about 1/2 of the water tubes to the bottom part of the branch structure, using the tubes we prepared earlier with Oasis Bind Wire and hot glue. Filling in parts of the structure where we were planning to attach the flowers.
We designed the structure with copper pipes at the warehouse and built the construction of apple branches around it in a swirling motion.
We designed the structure with copper pipes at the warehouse and built the construction of apple branches around it in a swirling motion.
Arranging the flowers
I used only roses and anthuriums.
The featured roses were:
- 500 Porta Nova "Supra" Red Naomi roses.
- pink roses Solemate and Deep Purple varieties from Ecuador.
- The Anthuriums were sponsored in part by Green Point Nurseries from Hawaii.
500 Porta Nova "Supra" Red Naomi roses were imported all the way from Holland. But the arrived in great condition and lasted forever.
500 Porta Nova "Supra" Red Naomi roses were imported all the way from Holland. But the arrived in great condition and lasted forever.
500 Porta Nova "Supra" Red Naomi roses were imported all the way from Holland. But the arrived in great condition and lasted forever.
with addition of pink roses Soulmate and Deep Purple varieties from Ecuador.
Anthuriums sponsored in part by Green Point Nurseries from Hawaii.
On the first night of the installation the structure was transported to the museum and assembled. Once the structure was suspended in place, we were able to construct the "tail" of the structure with more branches. We then added another set of water tubes to the "tail" part.
We prepared each water tube with 2 pieces of Oasis Bind Wire wrapped around it and also attached with a dot of hot glue. We wanted to make sure the wire is secure and doesn't slip off the water tube after the tube is wired to the structure and the flower is placed in the tube.
On the second night of the installation 1800 flowers were added to the structure. We used pave technique on the bottom part and placed roses in the prepared water tubes. For the top part the flowers were arranged in much more airy fashion.
To create more movement in the top part and for better control of the flower placement, we placed longer stems of roses and anthuriums in water tubes and wired the stems to the branches as oppose to wiring the tubes to the branches.
The Final result
Few comments we received from people who seen Flornado at the de Young Museum.
Absolutely breathtaking!! You are an amazing inspiration, Natasha!
I went to see it today-- incredible!!
Insanely awesome!
felicitaciones es espectacular!
This is magnificent! No one does installations quite like Natasha Lisitsa and Waterlily Pond!
They're gonna need a bigger museum. So wonderful!
Gorgeous movement. Love it.
What a Pentecost bouquet!!
It looks like a wonderful flower tornado dancing the Flamenco!
just stunning and trippy and glorious!
WOW! Spectacular!
Wow. Stunning, gorgeous and breath taking.
"Another highlight is Pirouette, a dazzling floral vortex sprung from the mind of Waterlily Pond's Natasha Lisitsa that will fill Wilsey Court with 1,500 apple branches, 1,500 red roses, and 300 anthuriums. "It's like a tornado," says “Bouquets” chairperson Maggie Krill of the epic display" (from Architectural Digest online).
