Fleurop - Interflora World Cup Berlin Day 2 by Ahti Lyra

Flowers have more than just a decorative purpose. In many cultures, and that includes Estonia, flowers have served a wide array of purposes: they helped to cure diseases; they had a strong symbolism, linked to beliefs and superstition, bringing good fortune, casting away bad spells or omens, helping to bring about love or fertility, or sending hidden messages. My objective is to bring back some of that attention and wider meaning and show people the power that flowers have.

One of Estonia‘s most famous myths and legends tells the story of “Kratt“, a restless and hard-working half-beast, formed from harvest or household leftovers by the master it serves, who in turn had to give three drops of blood as a sacrifice in order to bring it to life. Once alive, the “Kratt” must never be left without a task, or it will cruelly turn against its master and in the end burn itself. “Kratt“ symbolically stands for much of Estonia and its history and rural beliefs and ties in well with what I am trying to express more broadly – the North, its mythology, its sense of vitality, its history. My idea was to create a bouquet that resembles such a beast as “Kratt”, and I chose heliconia as the main flower – they have something “beasty” and mythic about themselves. For the rest of the material, the only criterion was the length and for the colors to be dark.

This bouquet goes to somebody who is very strong, clever, who lives a free life, free of fear, and ready for whatever life has to offer. But handle the bouquet with caution – “Kratt” has a downside: if in the wrong hands, it can turn against its owner.

I have used bones and old wood from rail tracks. Both materials are organic and they are recycled in the sense that they give new life to the organic waste until it eventually decomposes entirely. The cow bones are from organic farms in Southern Estonia. The railroads wood is from the railway that was built in 1902 between the Estonian capital of Tallinn and the resort city of Haapsalu. Estonian history will reveal the hidden message in these wooden pieces. That same wood has seen aristocrats, holidaymakers and deportations, joy and streams of tears, cheering crowds and monstrous evil inflicted by humans upon others humans. The railway was demolished in 2004 and its paths are nowadays used as narrow walking paths and rambling trails in the unspoiled nature by holidaymakers from all over the world.

The techniques I used were from my grandparents – cleaning the bones like people still do in the countryside, with a sharp knife. To bring the wood into shape, you need to be skilled at using a hand saw, which is something that most rural Estonians are still quite good at.  

The knowledge I used for all of my tasks is basic knowledge and a skills that kids will typically learn in 5th grade, so it was really more about remembering my biology, chemistry and physics classes. If there is one lesson - don’t miss the school, kids; you may need it 20 years later at the World Cup!

To speed up the natural decomposition process of tissue around the bones I had to be creative – basically you have to raise the temperature in order to activate bacterial life – people from the countryside will know the principle. The process is cumbersome, but it gave me time to test the mixture of beeswax, carnauba and linseed oil to fill the little pores inside the bones.