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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?
Some plants back in my garden.
Green & White Anthurium Plant
Close up shot of the green anthurium, my all time favorite. I’m not sure if this plant is a hybrid of some sort, because the flowers are in white and green color. There were some red anthurium plants beside them too, but the red ones are not as “photogenic”.
Commonly known as Pitcher Plants or Nepenthes, its name originated from Old Greek, meaning “soothing grief”.
The Pitcher Plant is a “member” of the Carnivorous Plants group that feed on insects. It has a pitfall trap which is filled with sweet nectar to lure insects e.g. flies, moths, beetles, or ants into its trap.
Another shot of the plant.
Have a great weekend!
Lilies are one of the more popular flowers around here in Malaysia. There are many types of lilies. From the more commonly available ones such as the Stargazer lilies, Casablanca lilies, and Madonna Lilies to the rarer imported ones such as the Peruvian lilies, Sumatra lilies, African Queen lilies, and Maywood lilies. Despite the vast varieties of lilies, the care for fresh cut lilies, such as those you get from your local florists is rather similar.
The picture above shows a full bloom Casablanca Lily with its stamen intact. As you can see, all the stamens have already been pollinated. These pollens, if not removed, will stain the lily petals, your table tops, hands, or clothings. Thus, it is essential for you to remove all the stamens once the lily bud begins to bloom.
The best time to remove the stamens from the lily is when the lily bud is half-bloomed and the stamens are yet to be pollinated. You can easily pull off the stamens with your fingers. However, you would need a scissors to remove the pollinated stamens if the lily has fully bloomed (like the one in the picture).
This picture is solely for illustration purpose only. Please use a pair of scissors if you do not want to get nasty pollen stains on your hand or your surroundings. =)
A “cleaned” Casablanca Lily. (Notice there’s some pollen stains on the lily petals?)
Some lilies can have more than one bud on each stem. The timing and blooming process for each bud in a stem varies. One flower may wither earlier before the other buds have bloomed. If this is the case, simply cut the wilted flower off and allow the other buds to bloom.
by Chantelle Lim
 01 Jul 08 - 1st occasion where I received a bouquet of flowers loosely wrapped with tissue paper which made it necessary for me to do something about it.
1 bouquet of lovely roses of premium quality + 1 vase (leftover from the last time I got a vase of roses) + 1 Chantelle = creativity kicked in till 1.45am.
I had a mission: to take the best shot with the best arrangement. Great deal of fun and with much success. Ode to my dear friend, Ammie, who gave me those roses, I took on with me 1 very important point. Receiving flowers in loose or in a vase brings about great flexibility as oppose to flowers in a bouquet. You can arrange the flowers a million times till you are satisfied. For me, I think I could never attain satisfaction for this cos at different angles and arrangements, the beauty is unique by itself.
True enough, having to wake up at 6.30am for work deterred me from achieving perfection or satisfaction. Falling in love with it, I brought it to work so it was working with this new owner (me) whom I think those roses perceive as fickle-minded, having toyed with it a trillion times. And still not giving up. I’m so proud in to have become its owner. Just like in food, only a cuisine connoisseur will appreciate food with great detail.
Only a flower fanatic will appreciate these premium roses. In this case, my director had a wonderful remark - “These roses are very different from the usual and very beautiful”, having to buy roses for 6 months every Sunday for her church’s centrepiece, thereby gaining tonnes of knowledge. I’m also learning more and liking every bit of it while becoming more of a vase person.
*****
Coming up next: A series of rose pictures taken by Chantelle.
These photos were taken from KLIA (Kuala Lumpur International Airport). There are about 5 floral arrangements scattered around the departure terminal. These arrangements are so depressing, it’s an eye sore to the public. I can understand why they used orchids because orchids last longer, but the arrangements are so proportionately off, with no sense of aesthetic at all. The foliages are badly arranged and messy to say the least.
Considering that KLIA is the first main point of contact with tourists from all over the world for Malaysia, I believe the airport management could do a better job than putting up such messy floral arrangements.
 
 
How do you rate these floral arrangements?
Did you know that the hibiscus is also known as the rosemallow? Even though it has no relation with the rose family. In some places, it’s also known as the “Rose of Althea” or “Rose of Sharon”.
The hibiscus also happens to be Malaysia’s national flower due to the fact that hibiscus are available throughout the entire country. It’s also due to the commonness of the hibiscus in our surroundings that you don’t see many Malaysian men sending their girlfriends hibiscus stalks.
With the best of intentions, sending the girl a stalk of hibiscus would seem a very “stingy” thing to do. Though you could have meant it “from the bottom of your heart”, it could be interpreted as “from the depths of your pockets”. Hence, it would be a better idea to leave hibiscus out of the game of courtships, and use these lovely hibiscus as ornaments instead.
Here’s a picture I took in Cameron Highlands, where these hibiscus grew in the lush greeneries, alongside the vast plantations of tea leaves.
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