Holiday settings with style and beauty
“I don’t think Christmas is the traditional red and green, silver and gold anymore,” says floral arranger Orysia Krywiak.
This “anything-goes” philosophy is Krywiak’s own, honed after several decades in the arranging business during which time she has garnered a reputation as an innovative stylist with an unerring sense of beauty.
So when Krywiak creates a breathtaking medley of reds in one arrangement, it looks perfectly acceptable that she has combined tones of dark pink, red, burgundy and fuchsia with a touch of orange.
She has been perfecting table settings in preparation for coming workshops on making holiday arrangements, and shares some of her trade secrets.
Grouping similar types of flowers in a floral centrepiece is one of them.
The round, low arrangement in a red glass container holds a mass of fruit and flowers, and no greenery at all, Krywiak says.
You can opt for more fruit to keep the cost down, she says, in this case red Delicious apples and pomegranates, buffed to get a shine.
“You need fruit that will last, so don’t use oranges or pears.”
And when you arrange the flowers -red amaryllis, carnations and tulips and tiny orange spray roses, dogwood branches and frothy evergreen skimmia -group them in bunches for effect, she says.
“Whether it’s two or six, grouping them together forms colour tones.”
In a red container filled with wet oasis cut about an inch above the top edge, she starts with the two amaryllis blossoms then the fruit, skewering the apples on a bamboo stick or piece of dogwood, beginning with the biggest. The pomegranate is also impaled, like the apple, to the depth of about one inch.
Then come the carnation, roses and dogwood, inserted in masses as you keep turning the arrangement, she says. “Grouping makes them look more lush.”
Beyond the arrangement itself, the table continues the colour theme and magical appearance. Glass tumblers hold votive candles floating in cranberry filled water, and tea lights twinkle in red-toned glasses in other shapes and sizes.
“Candles are important in any celebratory setting and the water-filled glasses magnify the light,” Krywiak says. “I like to use a combination of tumblers, wineglasses, anything that I feel is fun and will look good with little tea candles.”
The red tray holding the arrangement is also strewn with small glass ornaments in shades of red, and each place setting is another medley of reds topped with a couple of Christmas ornaments (red, of course).
Texture is another element Krywiak plays up in her arrangements.
“I like to use fruit, different flowers, branches and berries,” she says. “Often, you can get what you want from your garden, or from the produce section of the supermarket.”
If the table is too big for a solo arrangement, Krywiak will add other floral touches in addition to a medley of votive candles.
“On this table, I’ve made a muff of carnations accented with a small red ornament,” she says, “in a squat stemmed glass.”
To do this, she cuts a small piece of oasis that she wraps with a lemon leaf tied with raffia, then fills it with a rounded arrangement of carnations.
Tone on tone is pleasing, spiced with a touch of a complimentary colour, says Krywiak.
She likes adding a touch of orange to her red centrepiece, or a touch of turquoise to a green arrangement. She would never, ever, load white with colour.
And it’s unnecessary to use flowers in a holiday centrepiece, she says.
Her green on green setting in tall silvered goblets, lightened with touches of silver and turquoise, has been almost entirely made from cuttings in her garden.
“This is all about winter greenery -pine, cedar, spruce, flatberry eucalyptus, hydrangea, ivy -and leaves from house plants like begonia,” Krywiak says,
There are textures and different shades of green in this arrangement, including small green mums that are available in many shops, she says.
However, a few special touches focus the eye in these tall arrangements -one or two pale, chartreuse tipped orchids, their stems held in individual water picks, variegated ornamental cabbage, pale green hydrangea and shiny turquoise ornaments.
“I chose turquoise for the same reason as the fuchsia and orange in the other arrangement,” she says. “It’s a great combination that you wouldn’t think of, and the combination of turquoise, green and chartreuse is so beautiful.”
After adding these to the arrangement, starting with the cabbage and hydrangea, Krywiak tucks in green accents -moss, begonia leaves, small green pears, berries, and a few silver-sprayed walnuts skewered on toothpicks.
You can use a lot of different types of leaves and greenery, she says, as long as there are different shades and at least five different types -like cedar, spruce, house plants, moss, ivy, branches, nuts.
Beyond the arrangements, the table is decorated with etched green wineglasses both for drinking and holding tea lights, mossy stones and silver and green ornaments.
She has also made complimentary “puff ball” ornaments for the table or each place setting by shaving Oasis into a small round that is soaked and then studded with small lime-green mums cut short so they can be made into a ball.
“It’s best with these mums because they’re relatively flat and can be made into a tight arrangement,” she says.
“Decorating like this is all about taking the tradition and putting a twist in it,” Krywiak says.
“It’s the perfect setting for a holiday celebration.”
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