Lagom bouncing bouquets
- Sophie's arrangements are characterised by movement
- Her style combines romanticism and simplicity
- She is influenced by Scandinavian design and minimalism
With a background in biodynamic gardening and graphic design, Sophie Wiking decided to study floristry, too, because it was the combination of all her favourite things: working with organic materials, getting her hands dirty, and visual creativity. She admits she spent most of her training days in Malmö doing the exact opposite of what she was told. "When explaining the spiral technique, my teacher kept telling me that the bouquets had to have the right shape, round and symmetric," she recalls. "I found this ridiculous. I knew at once that I wanted to step away from the traditional way and create something more natural." Faithful to her resolution, nowadays Sophie is known for her delicate arrangements with lots of frills and ruffles. Somebody once called her the “the queen of bounce”, because her bouquets are never too compact or stiff, they are "lagom", just right, in Swedish.
Interview
- How do you create movement in your arrangements?
- By choosing the right flowers. I love the wacky shapes of the spirea branches, the wobbly, floaty feeling given by the cosmos, or the curves of a blossoming tulip. I use sweet pea whenever I can. I find it harder to work with stems that are more fixed, like hydrangeas or dried flowers.
- Have you been influenced by Scandinavian design?
- I suppose so. Scandinavian design is defined by simplicity and minimalism. In my compositions, I never use more than five different types of flowers for each arrangement, otherwise I feel it looks messy. Perhaps the Swedish word “lagom” which means “not too much and not too little” sums it up.
- What are your sources of inspiration?
- I am inspired by nature itself, as I like to create bouquets and arrangements that imitate how flowers grow in real life. When I use cosmos and salpiglossis, for example, I bear in mind that in my garden they grow taller than the other species, while dahlias stand very firmly and closer to the ground.
- How easy is it for you to grow most of your flowers in your garden?
- Here in Skåne, the climate is warmer and the growing season longer than in the rest of Sweden. Yet, in winter I have to work with imported or dried flowers. I spend a lot of time anticipating spring. As Audrey Hepburn once said, "To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow."
Sophie Wiking is an expert artisan: she began her career in 2015
