Bird of Paradise with tropical leaves, flowers & curly willow stretch above 6-feet

Fresh, tall,  dramatic floral designs create exciting themes for festive gatherings.  This  arrangement was installed in San Rafael by Yukiko.

Attractive steel container balances height and weight of this bright floral design ~ see other holders and tall floral designs.

Valentine ~ Original 6 foot tall bouquet by Yukiko sets theme for buffet at Smith Ranch Homes

Tall quince bouquet shown above is installed for Valentine’s  in Smith Ranch’s high ceiling dining room, on a buffet counter top — soon to be surrounded with trays of food and beverages.

In homes with regular ceilings, 5′ or 6′ bouquets are often positioned on  large coffee tables.

Either way, Yukiko’s tall designs establish the theme and tone for gatherings of friends and parties.

A Different Valentine ~ Bamboo Ikebana

A regular client in Marin browsed through our “Freestyle Ikebana” tab to find this bamboo ikebana for a distinctive, memorable valentine.  After a few seasonal modifications, it’s ready to go.

It looks like this:

Yukiko’s Floral Design Studio new page wall image

Facebook wants it this way.  We know so from a protected video, by Social Media Examiner, based on the book Face Book Marketing all in one for Dummies (paperback is sold out, but you can get the Kindle edition with a free Cloud Reader from Amazon.com).

Now we are smarter for having (1) watched the video and (2) read the book on Cloud Reader.  For example, we know now that the branding image should go in the top left hand corner of the page (that’s the only place it fits on Facebook pages).

And, beware the deadly logo image — secret studies find that Facebook users are most likely to go into pages with a smiling female face in the branding image in the top left hand corner.

Alas, not so much when you use a masculine photograph and least of all when you use a plain logo.

Our son Dana designed Yukiko’s black and red ikebana logo about 20 years ago — ever since, she has been using it as branding image for her Floral Design Studio in Marin.

Now, Facebook doctrine is to work the logo into the picture at the bottom somehow (we haven’t figured out that part, yet).  Meanwhile, we still have our new branding image in my electronic files — so, do we/you use it on your own website or blog?

If you use it outside Facebook, wouldn’t that blur the distinction between our Facebook page and our website or blog?

OR the distinction between Facebook and the rest of the internet?

Gee, whose idea was that?

Cool.

I bought lunch boxes (bento) from hawkers on the train platforms in Japan — sometimes they came on board the old trains and sold their ¥100 (28¢) bento to me, sitting next to an open window as the countryside and its flowers rolled by.

Now I sometimes make ikebana reminiscent of the bento .  I display them on my Online Florist page — they look like this:

Bento Ikebana Design Reflects Train Station Lunch Boxes in Japan

When peonies are plentiful in season, the bento ikebana may look like this:

Bento Ikebana — when Peonies are in high season

Photo creativity converts classic orchid ikebana to an attractive design.

Rising Orchid ~ Pointillist

Original image of the Rising Orchid ikebana  by Yukiko looks like this:

Original Rising orchid ikebana image

The Bird of Paradise Ikebana (at left) appears in Yukiko’s new video — a one minute showing of her distinctive style in floral design.

We placed the video in her Yelp!  listing to let viewers differentiate the artistic form of her studio craft from the generic arrangements of flower shops.

No secret: there are many commercial florists listed on Yelp!  Yukiko’s blend of ikebana and contemporary styles stand-out uniquely.

The independent floral design studio enables creative freedom.  Check it out in Yukiko’s video on Yelp!

Marin Winter Bouquet by Yukiko

Sophisticated bouquet of lilies and lily grass, with orchids and succulents designed by Yukiko with  Marin winter berries and flowers — arrangement gathered in heavy, glass vase.

Yukiko adds lily grass and curly willow to the orchids in this hand-crafted, flat vase (13″ wide, 3″ opening.

Cymbidium Bouquet

Is this design more “ikebana” than “blended contemporary style(s)?”  Let Yukiko know what you think.

Check out the new “freestyle ikebana” and ikebana gallery” blog pictures.

Got blogs?

Early flowering of quince in this mild winter weather inspires Yukiko’s  ikebana of New Year’s kadomatsu and, of course, quince with Marin’s seasonal flowers and berries.