“Just imagine…

Medieval villages, sweeping vineyards and cypress-lined lanes – all against the backdrop of the rolling hills of Tuscany. This is a land of exquisite beauty – a land of rich culture, vast history and delectable food. This ancient land with its characteristic landscapes and incredible light will envelope you, as it has countless creatives before you, including some of the greatest artists the world has ever known. Here you’ll spend magical days with Françoise Weeks, learning, imagining and creating in one of the most inspiring places on earth.”

Photos: Pamela Haack

Join me for a magical workshop at the idyllic Villa Poggio alle Trese in Tuscany! This 17th century old Tuscan estate includes sweeping vineyards, gorgeous olive groves and a beautiful lake tucked into the nearby forest. The villa itself sits upon the very border of Tuscany and Umbria and is reserved exclusively for our group. Tuscany is full of rich culture, vast history and delectable food.

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It was in the summer of 2018 that I found out that I would be part of the team of Holly Chapple, to create designs for the fashion show at the fantastic annual flower event Fleuramour, which takes place at a very old castle Alden Biesen in the province of Limburg in northeastern Belgium.

For years I had followed and admired this flower event on social media; it always takes place the last week of September. In 2017, I had the opportunity to volunteer at  this extraordinary event: it turned out that the workshop that I was teaching in Sweden was scheduled the week before Fleuramour. As I was in Europe, I could not pass up to be part of the large crew behind the scenes of this magnificent event. I was blown away by the experience: I met so many brilliant designers and the installations were magnificent. It was so interesting to see the evolution of the construction of all the installations over 4 days. Never did I dream that 2 years later I would have the opportunity to be part of this extraordinary flower show.

In the previous post you can check a couple of articles about Fleuramour 2019 as well as pictures of the fashion show.

I wanted to thank Mike Boerma for taking pictures of the designs that I made for this unforgettable experience.

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photo: Susan McLeary

It was such an honor to be invited to participate at the yearly event Fleuramour. For the 24th year this spectacular flower show took place at the  spectacular castle Alden Biesen in Belgium. Super talented designers from over 20 different countries created brilliant installations in the many rooms of this castle that was founded in the 11th century ( the current buildings were constructed between the 16th and 18th centuries).

As usual Oasis was one of the big sponsors; they wrote a great article about the event.

There were 6 of us on the team of Holly Chapple (plus 10 Chapel designers who decorated the stage and assisted all of us  – we could not have done it without you) who created a total of 24 outfits for a fashion show, that took place twice a day on September 27-30.

Our team members: Suzie Kostnick, Helen Miller, Katie Noonan, Holly Chapple and Susan McLeary

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A year an a half ago Pieter Toebaert, who organizes Flower Time invited me to participate in this magnificent flower event that takes place every other year at city hall in Brussels.

It was such an honor and the experience was simply extra ordinary. Pieter suggested that I would make botanical botanical dresses, headpieces and jewelry ; his wife Lena offered to create fabulous mannequins.

My friend Sheryl Tynes came along for this incredible flower adventure. The day that we arrived we went foraging and found so many woodland treasures.We had 3 days to get everything ready and were very grateful for the help that we received from the volunteers.

The event lasted for 5 days and was an incredible success. More than 25,000 people came to see all the installations, created by designers who came from all over Europe, and from China and Indonesia as well.

Many thanks to Cohim for these amazing images! When I receive images of the installations that the other teams made, I will add them on.

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A few months ago my friend Theresa Bear enthusiastically suggested that we would do a photo shoot with Azelle Chang at Cape Kiwanda at the Oregon coast. We could not have asked for more perfect weather: a gorgeous sunny day and some crazy wind gusts allowed Azelle to play with  the fans and large pieces of fabric.

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First photo shoot with baby Oak and his dad Ryan Bear and let’s not forget their puppy Star!

Oak’s vest, covered with silverleaf and decorated with textures and ripsalis, was Ryan’s when he was about 1 year old. Fun to keep baby clothes in the family and then transform them with botanicals!

Thank you Theresa Bear for another great concept and for the fabulous pictures!

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A couple of months ago, photographer Ted Mishima introduced me to Nina Nightshade. I had seen pictures of a photo shoot that they had done together where she was wearing the most incredible raven’s head. I found out that her husband had made this masterpiece for her to wear at some of her burlesque shows. I made a necklace, ring and a scarf for our photo shoot. It was another super fun project!

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A couple of months ago I was trilled to find a hornets nest, encased in 5 large cones of sugar pine in the booth of Wreath Sources at the Portland Flower Market. And I also found a mega fungus, about 1′ in diameter as well as some beautiful small bird feathers from J.Foss Flowers. I secured both large pieces onto a 3′ long moss covered log with ferns and then decorated it with lots of textures and some hellebores. What a fun project, which was perfectly captured by Theresa Bear.

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Last November I had the wonderful opportunity to teach a workshop at The Floral Reserve in Providence, RI. Owner Semia started this magnificent wholesale business in the fall of 2017; she wanted to have access to the most stunning flowers and textures to use in her wedding business, Flowers by Semia. The high ceilings with sky lights, the white walls and a bank of large windows create the most beautiful space for her incredible display of botanical treasures. The workshop took place in that area the first day when we focused on woodlands. The second day I taught in her studio space, which is conveniently located around the corner. Photographer Kirstin Capron documented the fabulous headpieces and jewelry that the students made.

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