Herve Frezal, winner of the French Cup 2005, Florist to the Stars, including clients U2, Elton John & Tina Turner was the guest of the Interflora New South Wales Unit in Sydney in November 2006. A demonstration was held on the first night at the MacQuarie University auditorium. Herve demonstrated many amazing and diverse arrangements, the like of which I had not seen since the Paris Summer School in 2005. His signature is so decidely French with many very pretty arrangements featuring lots and lots of flowers, something rarely possible in the commercial world of floristry. There were some new construction techniques, with many pieces made in enormous glass vases which echoed the shape of wine glasses.

The workshop the next day had about 30 participants who had assembled from Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania. We made 2 very different styles of bouquets. One was made with a German wire frame, covered with natural sisal, bound with reel wire with Corokia stems caught under the wire. A wire handle was attached and a spiral flower structure was made into the frame. We used delicate spring flowers - hydrangea, roses, tulips, lisianthus and berries. This was then placed in a glass vase.

The second bouquet also used German wire as the basis. Spear grass was woven through in random patterns and was then bent to form a wave design. Active flowers, such as callas, tulips, Xanadu etc were introduced and when complete, placed in a small glass vase. The design would look amazing on a bare timber table or sideboard.