The International Air Cargo Association (TIACA) recently held its 24th International Air Cargo Forum & Exposition (ACF 2008) at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Center last week. The Air Cargo Forum is the world’s biggest biennial air cargo industry event that rotates every two years between Europe, Americas, and Asia.

I was assigned to design the floral centerpieces for Emirates Sky Cargo and Mercator, the IT division of the Dubai-based Emirates Group. Emirates had one of the most impressive stands at the convention centre, where they built up a 2-storey display booth complete with reception desks, bars, and meeting rooms.

To complement the Emirates’ logo, the color theme of the floral centerpieces for Emirates Sky Cargo is red, white, and green. For the reception desks and bars, I’ve used a mixture of tropical crab claws, red gladiolus, white dendrobium orchids, and some fatsia japonicas in elegant frosted glass vases.

As for the meeting rooms and coffee tables, the main flowers used were red roses, carnations, and Casablanca lilies. The overall look and feel of the floral designs that I wanted to achieve was understated elegance. I refrained from using fancy vases of different colors and shapes, as I wanted the focus to be on the flowers and the round clear vases helped complete the look.

On the left (below): Small round centerpieces for the tables. The texture of the full-bloomed carnations enhanced the visibility of the tiny hypericums.

On the right (below): One of the floral displays for Mercator, a blend of golden ramsies and green dendrobium orchids, and fatsia japonicas.

It has been a busy early September for me as I was preparing for the official launch of Miel~My Boudoir, my friend’s new fashion boutique at Desa Park City, Kuala Lumpur.

The highlight of the event was a fashion show featuring this season’s latest collection by the boutique and a few local fashion designers. All the invited guests were pampered with some beautifully crafted food and drinks from Delicious by Ms. Read.

The color theme of the event was orange, white, and gray. The small tables for guests surrounding the stage were filled with vibrant floral centerpieces to brighten up the ambiance. The tables were draped in off-white linens, thus we use fresh orange roses and a tinge of bear grass to complement the event’s theme.

For the guests sign-in counter, I opted for a more contemporary design with a mixture of fresh orange roses and sweet angelic roses sans foliage, elegantly arranged in a square glass vase. I wanted to accentuate the contours of roses this way and would like the guests to capture the view of the roses from above as opposed to from the side.

Inside the boutique, green dendrobium orchids were scattered along the stony side path to draw attention to all the featured shoes by Fiorucci, Italy.

I knew great lighting can do wonders to create just the right amount of ambiance. Thus, these dendrobium orchids look amazing together with the gorgeous red pair of wedges.

Needless to say, flowers were abundant with the inclusion of congratulatory floral stands and baskets at the boutique. Pictured below is a huge floral basket filled with over 4 dozens of fresh pink roses, pink eustomas, fuchsia lilies with eucalyptus and monstera leaves. A perfect centerpiece by itself for the coffee table which is to be located right in the middle of the boutique.

Congratulations to Miel! The event was a great success!

Now, where’s my foot reflexologist?

Well, well, well…more on floral festival. Our very own Malaysia Floral Festival has officially begun yesterday, July 18, 2008. This half-month long event will run on until August 3, 2008. “Colours of Harmony” is the theme for this year’s event, where you will witness our very own beautiful blooms parading on floats, created by local and international floral designers.

The Flora Fest Parade will be held on July 26, 2008 at Putrajaya and the floral floats will be showcased at Putrajaya Boulevard for two days. These floral floats will also be competing for awards in six categories; Premier Trophy, Theme Trophy, Creative Trophy, Parade Trophy, Jury Award, and the International Participation Award.

Other events taking place during the Flora Fest this year includes Florathon, Flora Photography Exhibition, Flora Workshops, and a series of competition for Flora Arrangement and Flora Photography. So, put your sunglasses on and get your camera ready for a celebration of our country’s rich floral heritage.

Make a date with flowers!
July 20, 2008: Flora Run (Florathon) - Merdeka Square, Kuala Lumpur
July 26, 2008: Flora Fest Parade - Putrajaya Boulevard, Putrajaya
July 26–28, 2008: Static Display of Floats - Putrajaya
29 June - 21 July: Floral Photography Exhibition

Here is their official website for you to drool over the wonderful photos taken during last year’s event.

The Singapore Garden Festival is back! The much-anticipated floral event in the region will be featuring some of the top award-winning garden and floral designers from all over the world, namely, New Zealand, United States, Canada, France, China, United Kingdom, Norway, India, Australia, Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Singapore.

Some exhibition highlights include Landscape Gardens, Fantasy Gardens, and Floral Windows to the World. By the way, there will also be an Orchid Show for all of you orchid lovers out there!

Festival Dates: July 25, 2008 - August 1, 2008
Festival Venue: Suntec Convention Centre, Singapore
Opening Hours: Daily 10am to 10pm

Ticket Price
Adult Ticket: S$6 (Mon-Fri), S$12 (Sat & Sun)
Child, Student, Senior Citizen: S$3 (Mon-Fri), S$6 (Sat & Sun)
Family Ticket (2 Adults & 3 Children): S$18 (Mon - Fri), S$36 (Sat & Sun)

Visit their official website for more information.

A floral parade in Putrajaya will be the highlight of the four-month long Flora Fest 2008 themed Colours of Harmony.

Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said said at least 15 floats would be participating in the parade on July 26. The floats, which must use at least 70% of fresh flowers, would then be displayed in Putrajaya until July 28.

Flora Fest 2008, which started on March 1, is divided into seven segments including photography competition and exhibition, flora workshop, Florathon, design arrangement and decoration competitions, floral parade and float showcase and bazaar.

“Malaysia has almost 8,000 species of flowers and its flora and fauna should be given as much publicity as possible.

“Many of our indigenous flowers have yet to gain international recognition because they have not been given enough publicity and not because they are inferior in terms of beauty and colour,” she said at a press conference on Flora Fest here yesterday.

Bigger plans are also in store for next year, said Azalina who intends to make it a Flora and Forest Fest in 2009 to get locals and tourists to further appreciate nature.

“The Fest goes beyond parades. We are looking at incorporating nature walks and other eco-tourism activities for next year.

We also want it to be promoted in more destinations in the country,” she added.

Source: thestar.com.my

by Bernard Cheah

GEORGE TOWN (May 28, 2008): The Penang Floral Festival 2008 has been postponed to end of the year amid recent “clashes” between the state and federal governments over tourism promotions and funding in Penang.

State Tourism Development, Culture, Arts and Heritage Committees chairman Danny Law said the relevent parties, including federal government’s Penang Tourism Action Council (PTAC), were informed of the postponement late March.

The festival was initially scheduled to be held from last Sunday (May 25) to this Sunday (June 1).

Law told reporters today the festival had to be postponed to December because of the change in state government and the appointment of Botanic Gardens director Nor Wahida Hassan in January.

“We want to organise this properly and not just rush into it,” said Law, adding that there will be a mid-scale floral exhibition in August.

Nor Wahida said the annual floral festival had to be postponed as “we were too preoccupied with the Penang World Music Festival 2008 (May 2 to 4) which was staged in gardens”.

“This year’s exhibition will entail more preparations as it will be staged in a bigger scale. We will be inviting participants from Asia, including Taiwan, Thailand, Singapore and the Philippines,” she said.

PTAC chairman Datuk Kee Phaik Cheen, when contacted, said there should be a good reason or explanation if any event in the tourism calender is to be cancelled or postponed.

However, the information on their website (http://www.tourismpenang.gov.my/) was not updated on the postponement of the event.

“There should be some damage control by the state government,” she said, adding that flora enthusiasts should not be saddened as the Golden Anniversary Orchid Show and Sale is showing now.

Organised by the Federation of Malaya Orchid Society (FOMOS), the event in the Arena Horticulture Centre car park on Jalan Kebun Bunga, Penang ends on Sunday.

FOMOS president Shamas Mohd Sofi was aware of the postponement of the festival and decided to take advantage of the postponement to hold the orchid show which is participated by 37 stalls.

via sun2surf.com