Boston by Storm

This time Boston was not invaded by land or sea but by 800+ floral designers from around the world! It truly was a Revolution in design! The attendees were bombarded with new ideas in design, trends for the years to come and new products that were so new that many were unveiled for the first time at the Partners Expo!
104 new candidates tested for their Professional Floral Design Evaluation in hopes of achieving test scores of 3.2 to achieve the distinguished CFD – Certified Floral Designer accreditation or 4.0 or higher to achieve an invitation to join the most prestigious floral design group in the world! Candidates are usually notified in the early fall and then will be inducted in July of the following year. We wish them all luck!
This year 40+ members were inducted into AIFD in their special Awards Ceremony. This brings AIFD to slightly over 1,300 members worldwide! What a great group of floral designers who are recognized as THE leaders in the floral industry!
All the educational programs were so well attended! Christmas designs from Bert Ford AIFD to sympathy work from Leslie AIFD inspired many right at the beginning! Attendees were then treated to designers from France and Germany. Michael O’Neil AIFD shared a few designs that were used for the Philadelphia Flower Show that is held each spring in Philadelphia.It is now wonder that AIFD always wins such prestigious awards!
Tuesday was equally filled with fantastic ideas from both American designers such as Brad and Kelly Harnish and Talmage McLaurin sharing the American Trends Forecast. What a great way to learn about what is going to be happening for the next two years in consumer demands! International designers also shared wonderful ideas to “Raise the Bar” in floral art.
Canada was represented with a Carnival of Revolutionary designs on Wednesday morning. The house was packed to see Rich Salvaggio AIFD present the most fabulous Marriage of Harmony wedding program. Flowers from Florabundance combined with the talents of designers from around the country to showcase nearly 100 wedding bouquets and floral accessories! Thunderous applause followed a 60+ minute program of one beautiful and mind-boggling idea after another. This is the first time in AIFD history a 200lb dog worked the runway as well as 20 beautiful models, hundreds of thousands of dollars in jewelry, and a custom bridal gown worth over $7,000. Needless to say it brought a wide range of emotions from tears to shouts of excitement and everything in between! What a dynamic ending to a great symposium.
Next year promises to be even better if that is possible. Mark your calendars early and plan to attend Imagine that will be held in San Francisco next July. Visit AIFD.org to find out more information for next year’s symposium as well as purchasing the DVD’s from this year’s Revolution! Special thanks to Florabundance and all the other vendors who made this possible. Your product never looked so GREAT!