Teacher's Workshop at Sogetsu Headquarters

Lesson with Kawana sensi at Sogetsu HQ, Tokyo was an exercise in pushing the boundaries. The reason behind the theme is to stimulate the viewer’s interest in capturing their imagination.

I inserted the King Protea into the container for two reasons, firstly the flower was looking a little worst for wear so making use of this I cut the stem very short to push it further into the vessel. This gave the appearance of the flower emerging from the gorgeous wood fired container. The addition of Horsetail (Equisetum), rises from the floor, stepping onto the table then into the container and out again continuing the steps towards the blinds behind. Kawana sensei said I could have taken it further by having the Horsetail enter the side of the container – how by some smart engineering and tension.