Today I went to the de Young to choose the placement of my floral design.

They let us in the de Young Museum when it’s closed. That’s when I pick out the art pieces that inspire my floral design for the Bouquets to Art exhibition, April 20–24.

I choose five pieces of art and wait to hear from the coordinator which one will be assigned to me this year.

The decision reaches me in April, so I have only a week or so to conceive my design and gather materials.  

This is my ninth year and I have kept a photographic record of my Museum designs on my website.

Again this year, I will post the details of my new design here in my blog, so follow along.

Yukiko

If you already know spherical trigonometry and

if you have a compulsive desire to apply it to floral design,

then the blog design*sponge tells you how to do it.

Really, sort of. 

It’s a good article anyway, check it out here:

“weeder’s digest: you do the math.”

They’re Ugly, They’re in-your-face, They Save You Time –

     So Why Not Use Them?

When we first added PayPal to our Floral Design website, we had mixed emotions about including the “Buy Now,” or shopping-cart, buttons on our pages. 

• The e-commerce doctrine of the day told us “you really must, MUST have an electronic shopping cart” taking orders 24x7 and spewing marketing statistics out the back end.
• But they were ugly then and they’re still ugly now.  More importantly, these crass buttons detract from the upscale elegance of Yukiko’s floral designs.  Yes, but every floral website had such buttons, so all customers were conditioned to expect them.
• Well, that was then.  Now we find more of our clients prefer to call us up and talk us through some of the pictures on the website.   They ask about seasonal materials, discuss design suitability for various occasions, budgeting, and a bunch of other ideas.  

Some could get what they want from a “BUY NOW” button.   But it wouldn’t be the same, would it?

Got thoughts about our “BUY NOW” buttons?  Let us know, or try the “COMMENTS” button (above).

Oops.

The Ancient and Honorable AMEX Scams Us Again:  Peter’s ALTERNATE WORLD ENCOUNTER:  Have you ever charged something on your credit card and forgotten about it?
Many people have.

Typically what happens is the bill from the American Express credit card company arrives in the mail, and you see a charge from a couple of weeks ago that you just don’t remember.
So, you pick up the phone, call AMEX and say I don’t remember this charge, or I don’t believe I owe this, or something like that.
And the customer service personage says to you, no problem Sir or Madam, we’ll just put that on hold, have a nice day!
And you have a nice day.

Meanwhile, the merchant who accepted your credit card (that would be me) begins an Alternate World Encounter (the Alternate World is NOT nice):  our bank account (that is, Yukiko’s Floral Design Studio’s) is blocked and the credit card company impounds the money and leaves me to prove why we should get it back.  

So, the merchant (me, again) calls you and reacquaints you with the transaction.

You, of course, are a reasonable person, terribly embarrassed by this unintentional, awkward mistake, and yes, of course, you will call the credit card company to straighten it all out, and you do.

And the American Express Card’s customer service personage is very kind and understanding and assures you it will all be straightened out immediately, not to worry, and have another nice day.
And you do.

But the credit card company is American Express:   behold, the Alternate World Encounter descends to a lower level.
The merchant (meaning me, of course) knows you have been told the “hold” is being released immediately, so I ask our bank to unblock our account, get the money back from AMEX and we’ll all let bygones be dog bones, or whatever.

But no, that’s NOT going to happen.

AMEX tells our bank, NO.  They say they’re going to fight it to the limit of 75 more days.
(And by the way, AMEX holds the money while they think of what to say after those 75 more days).

The first time this happened to me, I said to myself, surely this is a mistake — a company like American Express would not LIE about a hundred dollar charge just to keep their hands on our hundred dollars for about three months.
An old and respected American institution like AMEX wouldn’t do that.  Would they? 
Well, they wouldn’t do it just for our hundred bucks.
But this second time around I realized the AMEX context:

• AMEX has millions and millions of credit card accounts, some have disputes/nondisputes like this one.
• The money AMEX holds from these “holds” adds up to a huge amount of cash in their vault —
• So much money that even a venerable institution like the American Express Company is ethically challenged to deal with it.

American Express Company’s ethical dilemma is this:

• “Shall AMEX give back the cash to all those merchants now, or later?”
• Guess what: “later” wins.

And that means that AMEX’s decision to keep the cash gives themselves a huge float of other peoples’ money (including our miniscule hundred bucks) for several months.  Some would call AMEX’s dilemma a “moral hazard,” while others might simply call it a scam.

But wait!  The Alternate World Encounter descends a further level:  is the venerable American Express Company on the list of big time recipients of US Government bailout money?
Yes, it is.
And does a substantial portion of the US Government bailout money come from merchant taxpayers?
Yes, it does.
American Express Company, have you no shame?
I mean, really.

And one more thing: when Yukiko’s Floral Design Studio asks clients if they would like to use Visa or MasterCard – there’s a reason.  And, yes, this is it.

Peter Neibert

Floral Design by Yukiko

A blog of creative advice, illustration and discussion about floral design, its artistry and business,

For people who create original flower arrangements, including floral designers, florists, photographers, illustrators, teachers and reviewers, web designers and bloggers.

Yukiko Neibert

My name is Yukiko, I create the floral designs you see on this blog. I talk about them, but not too much.  Just enough to open the discussion.

I was trained in Japan in the Moribana and Sogetsu schools of Ikebana.  Classical Japanese flower arranging informs my style in contemporary floral design.

Early training evolved into my personal design style, blending ikebana and contemporary style.

I pass this experience to others through floral design from my studio for many years.
Now I explore the internet to share my approach to design with the widespread audience of sophisticated bloggers.

Got questions:  Ask Yukiko. I invite your comments.  The comment window appears at the end of each post on this blog — please use it often.

Peter Neibert

And I am Peter, I photograph Yukiko’s floral designs you see on this blog — guest posters’ photos of other designs are individually credited.

Also, I handle the webmaster and blogmeister chores. I am learning to use WordPress more better.

Contact us through the blog Comment windows, if you please,

or Ask Yukiko by e-mail: FloralDesigner2005-Yukiko @ Yahoo.com

Or snail mail: Yukiko Neibert Floral Design Studio, 46 Berens Drive, Kentfield, California 94904

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