photo Gwen Severson

Portland, OR

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday
November 11 - 13, 2019
9:30am to 4:30pm

Day three begins with a trip to the Portland Flower Market.

Price: $1495

A New Approach

For Françoise, the Woodlands sprouted from a childhood memory that took a life of its own. This workshop offers practical, hands-on experience that will further develop your own skills and increase your confidence to explore outside the box.

Botanical Couture came in stages; shoes and purses came first followed by headpieces and botanical jewelry. You will hone your artistic talents and will be encouraged to listen to your intuition and further your own vision.

Woodland Design

You will learn how to see, source, scale and shape natural works of art as Françoise will share her passion for keenly observing nature along with deeply honed architectural skills. She will impart the detail that goes into utilizing logs, barks, branches, mosses, mushrooms, seed pods and berries in rich and textural compositions.

You will build arrangements from found forest logs, burls, branches, even root balls and will learn how to cover more conventional vessels with barks, mosses or leaves and explore techniques to create woodland centerpieces, bouquets and framed designs.

Françoise will show you her methods for deconstructing plant materials such as evergreen cones, succulents and ferns. Tools to find your own vision and local bounty will be emphasized during this exhilarating, hands-on studio time.

Botanical Couture

Fashion has long been inspired by nature. In this specialized workshop natural materials and floral arrangements take their inspiration from Haute Couture. Create show stopping purses, jewelry and headpieces from flowers and textures.

Françoise is recognized for her innovations in wearable floral art and will emphasize her knowledge of the mechanics and material sourcing that are the springboard for stunning creativity.

Purses
Whether a centerpiece or a distinctive bridal bouquet, Françoise will take you through her process of creating a handbag armature that will support your floral fashion fantasies. Learn to artfully layer your purse with foliage, petals and grasses.

Jewelry
Botanical materials have all the sparkle, movement and gesture of gems and metals. Learn to innovate jewelry design using wire as a base for rings, necklaces, bracelets and earrings. Piece together the tiny and often overlooked bits of texture occurring in seed pods, tendrils, succulents, herbs and tropical greenhouse favorites. These adornments stun at galas, weddings and on the catwalk.

Headpieces
Françoise is known for her avant garde headpieces. Her dedication to unfailing mechanics and materials exploration is the key to these pieces of sculpture. Her knowledge will be shared as you construct flexible armatures and your creativity expanded as you build intricate and cascading arrangements from foliage, bark, bundles of berries, succulents and flowers. These dramatic headpieces show off all the tools and tips of the trade that Françoise imparts.

photo Sarah Collier

photo Joni Shimabukuro

photo Françoise Weeks

photo Françoise Weeks

photo Gwen Severson

photo Gwen Severson

photo Theresa Bear

photo Theresa Bear