Floral Mechanics w/ Lea Romanowski

“Your foundation is the most critical part of anything you build,” says Canadian florist, Lea Romanowski CAFA, AIFD, CAFD. “If your foundation isn't good, if it isn't strong and true, it will affect the entire outcome of the design.” Lea has learned, through the years, the importance of excellent floral mechanics.  

Lea - owner of Designing on the Edge, has made an art of pushing the boundaries of design. Lea built the business using her carpentry, painting, metal work and electrical skills earning her the nickname "MacGyver, a fixer of all things visual." 

She offers tips and techniques for precision floral mechanics in everyday use, or evaluations and competitions, including AIFD’s PFDE. Lea represented Canada at the 2023 Interflora World Cup in Manchester, England and shares highlights of her global experience.

How we Bloom podcast is an oasis of flower ideas. Host Sharon McGukin of Smithers-Oasis North America interviews floral guests who dare to do things differently. We listen, learn, explore new opportunities and that's how we bloom!

Transcript

Lea Romanowski: 0:05

Your foundation is the most critical part of anything you build. And if your foundation isn't good, if your foundation isn't strong and true, it will affect the entire outcome of the design.

Sharon McGukin: 0:19

Welcome to How We Bloom, an oasis of flower Ideas. I'm your host, Sharon McGukin,AIFD, AAF, PFCI and I believe that every great success story starts with one simple idea. That's why we interview those who dare to do things differently, inspiring people who plant seeds, grow ideas, and bloom to their full potential. In this podcast, we listen, learn, explore new opportunities, and that's How we Bloom. During her 40+ plus years in flowers, Lea Romanowski, CAFA, AIFD, CAFD has made an art of pushing the boundaries of design. In 2000, she founded Designing on the Edge, offering structural floral art, event design and decor. Along with a gifted sense of design, Lea has built a business using her carpentry, painting, metal work and electrical skills earning Lea, her nickname"MacGyver, a fixer of all things visual." Lea recently represented Canada at the 2023 Interflora World Cup in Manchester, England. She showcased her talents with her floral interpretation of the theme,"Our Natural World." Describing her experience of competing against elite floral artists from 19 nations, Lea says there is"no better place than World Cup, a three day global event, to learn and compete at the same time." One thing that Lea has learned through the years the use of excellent floral mechanics. Today, we'll talk with Lea about that ability and the importance of precision mechanics and everyday use for evaluations, competitions, including Lea thank you for having me, I'm pretty excited to be here. I was excited when I heard that you were representing Canada in World Cup. I really want to talk a lot today about your expert floral mechanics but I know you had some valuable experiences from World Cup. So we'll blend that in as we go. One thing I'd like to do is shout out to Nicholas Peters for being crowned into Floral World Cup Champion in 2023. That's quite an accomplishment. Congratulations. Amazing. Amazing designer. And you had the opportunity to work with him. That's amazing too. I did and we chatted a bit on Instagram before and I got to meet him and I am so inspired by him. As a person and a designer. Do you think that's one of the really great benefits of being in major competitions is the talent that you have the opportunity to work alongside? Absolutely. When I think of the designers that are representing their countries, I am so excited to see what they come up with what their creativity is going to show us, learn from their mechanics, learn from their vision. We compete, but we compete really against ourselves. I learned more about the world and I did about myself. It was fantastic. In a lot of ways, the other competitors are your peers and you're really competing against the time clock and the design table. All in that same experience. It's true. You do beautifully designed work. I have written a blog about your work in the past and have, worked with you at events I know you to be exceptionally talented, but the thing that I always love most is your precision in design mechanics. Where did you learn the importance of floral mechanics? I fell into this by accident. I wasn't going to be a floral designer. I was going to be an architecture or paramedic, so I loved design, I loved building, and I fell into the flower shop and I never left.

Lea Romanowski: 4:45

Foundation is the most critical part of anything you build. And if your foundation isn't good, if your foundation isn't strong and true, it will affect the entire outcome of the design.

Sharon McGukin: 4:57

And in fact, that grows, that potential for failure grows with the size of the design. Because if your foundation is secure, then as the design expands, that security expands. If it's faulty, those faults expand also. So you are right, it starts at the foundation and works its way up. Experience is the best teacher, even though sometimes it just feels terrible. I want to learn those lessons.

Lea Romanowski: 5:29

You should be able to learn from a hard lesson the first time. You shouldn't have to repeat it 10 times to get the point that you need to fix it.

Sharon McGukin: 5:39

One of the things that I feel a little sad about today is we are not having as many design opportunities of basics for designers to learn from the base up how to achieve those, mechanical aids. Somehow it's a little harder to gain watching videos than it is to be in person when your hands and the hands of your teacher are side by side, creating that particular mechanic. I know you teach classes in your area and that's a blessing to your students, but there are areas there's not that opportunity, and it can be harder to learn online. Do you have any suggestions about how incoming designers might gain better mechanical skills? Michael Smith told me when he was preparing for Sylvia Cup, he spent 30 minutes every afternoon after work trying a new design application. And then when some of those things were the requested design, he was ready because he had been practicing. Let's talk incoming new designers. If you are in an area where there is no opportunity for you to attend classes, obviously online is the way, No one's going to do it for you. I've had to self-educate because there are times when I didn't have the opportunity. So I would That was the best time spent. Crying. Crying and doing. As an instructor, I do my very best to solidify in their minds the importance of the mechanics. Teaching mechanics from the basics to intermediate to advanced and making sure they have a hold on that. And know the rules before they decide to break them. Things taught long ago, most importantly mechanics are everything. And learn from your mistakes. I agree

7:41

E.

Sharon McGukin: 7:41

when you were at World Cup, you had an experience that highlighted to you the very importance of excellent mechanics. You want to share that with us? I would love to share that with you. Now, I personally didn't see it, but a few of my designer friends were. outside my booth while the wave design was being judged. Tell us what the wave design is. The wave design, you had to interpret our ocean waves. It was a dinner for two or a table for two, and it had to incorporate some type of a tabletop and it had to be within certain parameters of size. Now, when it was being judged, of course I wasn't in the booth. But other people were watching as it was being judged. And the six judges, as they're standing around, two of them take hold of part of that wave and they shake it. Evil judges. a really good example of when your mechanics are going to be tested and your mechanics will be tested in competition work by the judges. And when you send a design out to a home, well, it's going to be tested by the people who move it around, put it from here to their delivery driver. It moves and shakes. That is testing your mechanics. If something falls apart, it means your foundation, your base were not good. Especially bridal bouquets. Think how much abuse a bridal bouquet gets. The mechanics are exceptionally important there because it is handled so much. I have a story about a bridal bouquet for a competition. Would you like me to share that, Sharon? Sure, I'd love to hear it. Okay. Recently, the Gateway to the America Cup, when I was in, one of the components that we had to do was a bridal bouquet, and we were allowed to redo the components of the structure for the bridal bouquet ahead of time. Now, I made a mistake and decided to put the pieces together before I got to the competition that morning, and then realized my error. Now here's where it gets interesting, because I took the pieces apart, I was unclear on exactly where the pieces went back together. So when I did put it back together, one of the components was not attached properly. It was a little bit loose. And so after completing the design, then leaving for the judging time, when I came back after I saw a piece of the structure was beside the design. Oh, no. So it had fallen out and I was almost completely undone emotionally that something had fallen out of my piece. Oh, bless you. Oh. It was okay. Thankfully, I only had three total marks removed and it was good. People think of competitions as very glamorous, but they also can be very humbling And they're stressful. And what it does is a competition. We really test your abilities, your ability to think fast. How do you solve a problem? How do you come up with an idea? So it is really growing you as a person and as a designer. And you have to know more than what is known in your area, and that includes your country, for example. I saw a comment where you said how important it is to be up to date on European design trends for international competition because color and competition design is judged differently in Europe than in North America. Explain that to us because we think it is the same globally and apparently that's not true. It's not true. You're correct, Sharon. now. That's how I decided to design one, however. When I looked at the colors and the color harmonies that were used for World Cup, there was such a difference with the European designers and much more interesting color combinations were used, and those had higher marks. In the end, they had much higher marks. So how can a future competitor prepare for that? Interesting, you should ask that. So I've already thought about that. I have all the marks from all the competitors with respect to every category, and I think, okay, I'm missing something with respect to how color is judged. So I did a little bit more research on how the Europeans use color. And it is definitely much different than we do here in North America. So I'm educating myself, with Per Benjamin's book one and a couple other resources on a different way to look at color and how to creatively use color in unexpected ways. Well, you'll have to get back to us once you figure out that plan. You've said something that I hear from everyone who does love to do higher competition, and that is"I educated myself before on what was to be expected. I did the very best that I could. I studied the score sheets to educate myself in new ways to prepare for the next time." You just said the same thing basically. Yeah. However, with World Cup, I let the themes dominate my thoughts, and there's a few things I really wasn't paying attention to. The markings in other categories, and those are where I lost some points, I did very well. I did better than any Canadian has ever done, but I could have done better, and that was a lesson that I needed to learn about really focusing on that judging sheet. The judging sheet is the magic in the mix. It truly is. It's the holy grail. Let's talk about creative problem solving on the spur of the moment. You are in a traditional shop and you're racing against the clock to get a design out. You are in a competition and your time is running out and you've got to go more quickly. How can you best prevent yourself from taking shortcuts on mechanics because that's what tends to happen. People get really nervous and get a little behind the clock, whether it's in the shop or on the stage, and take shortcuts. But shortcuts sometimes can cause designs not to be as sturdy. Let's say, for example, taking the time to wire in place things that need to be wired in place, taking the time to remove foliage, so there's nothing but the stem in the floral foam. Any suggestions of double checking your work, preparing in advance how you would do a particular design? Well, preparing for World Cup, I had the best advice from a designer in Europe, Neil Whitaker. He said, break every design down into three parts of time. The first, third is foundation, the second third is doing flowers and anything you add to it. And the last third is finishing checking your work. It helped. That is fabulous advice that helps you create a plan to follow. And when you're stressed in the moment, having a plan you can fall back on is like having a safety net. Excellent advice. Thank you. Neil Whitaker, shout out to you. In one quote that I saw, you mentioned adaptability, creative problem solving skills and positive attitudes are your greatest tools. Very often people think we carry our tools in a toolbox, but realistically, our tools are our approach to whatever situation we're in. Not just flowers, but in anything that we strive to do. What were you thinking when you mentioned those particular things? Adaptability, problem solving, and positive attitude. Positive attitude will always keep you moving forward. So if you have a negative attitude, it's not to help in a a situation where you need to solve a problem. So I have this statement that I use all the time. There are no problems. There are only solutions." Now in my toolbox, what I have is actually 41 years of experience. Every time I fail at something, every time I learn a new technique, every time my time is tested and I have to work faster. That toolbox is a combination of your experience. The more experience you have, the more successful you will be in time of a crisis. Though I believe personally that experience trumps talent in a competition when there's a crisis, I do agree with that. I think that is a very true statement I think that's why sometimes in a competition some one will come from out of the blue and take the competition, and there are designers who are expected to do well because their experiences. But if that outside designer has had greater experience in that particular area, not a flower competition, but a competition in life, how to manage competing for yourself. Sometimes that's why the newbie steps up and just takes it away Probably. Yes, and I think the newbie is more willing to take a chance at something they haven't done before and that can work out very, very well for them or not. It can go either way. That is very true as well, because they don't have the reputation that they're guarding, they're expanding into a new area. And so it's fun. And when something's fun, we're more relaxed and more, willing for the challenges. Now, one of the things at World Cup that was a problem for you was that the fresh order was only 80% confirmed due to supply issues. And I think that's our new normal. We've always known you were never going to get everything on your list. So be careful with your procurement. Even more so now, you're never going to get everything on your list. As we fight the the new supply issues, how important it is to be able to think on your feet and change to a new concept. If you can't get the flowers you want, use the flowers you get with experience. Okay. Well, with, with regards to World Cup, when that happened, I arrived early, I went to the wholesalers that were providing the majority of the materials for the competition and had a look just to make sure everything was fine and I was more than happy. their product was, was amazing, fantastic. However, for the one piece, we could not guarantee the materials I needed. And so I had to think, what could I do instead? Okay. First, the Tillandsia came in and it was fine, but the pieces that were supposed to be with it, nothing came in. And there were almost no other things that I could replace it with. An interesting quote that I read from you with World Cup was that your fresh order was only 80% confirmed due to supply issues. Well, today we have lots of supply issues. So one of the things that we have to do as designers is learn to think on our feet and make a new plan, and sometimes that's really difficult. How did you manage that? What would you like to encourage other designers to do? What I would encourage designers to do is have a backup plan and a list of substitutions, if necessary. Now, sometimes when you're dealing across the world with product, you have to deal with time differences, which is difficult, and sometimes also language barriers. Now, how to manage this is when you get to where you have to go. Visit the wholesaler, see what your order looks like, add anything, or subtract anything that isn't good while you're there and make sure you have a really good handle of the product coming in. If the product comes in and you're missing things, this is where that toolbox comes out of your ingenuity and your ability to solve a problem. You need to be able to take material from other projects. And use them in the project that's missing product. You have to be able to creatively juggle your materials. That's excellent advice and something that I think might not come to mind on someone who is lesser experienced in competitions. Another quote that you offered was,"when you think you are prepared, think again. Not everything is in your control." Care to expand on that? Absolutely. You might think that the product that you have ordered looks like this and the characteristics for this and what you're going to use it for will work. Then when it comes, it's totally different than what you expected and not suitable for the, the technique or the task that you need it for. So how do I change it? How do I fix it? That's again, where you have to bring from years of experience and figure out a solution. What are some of your favorite go-to tips or tricks for competition? There are some people that like floral wire. Some people like lots of glue and then you get to a competition and there's no glue. What do you do in that spot? What are your favorite go-to mechanics? Personally, I love natural mechanics. If I can do something without specialty wire, without glue, and I can use the technique of compression. So using compression in a container with the branch, I know that the compression of that will hold it in place. I know that it's very secure. That is going to judge better because you're using a natural mechanic. You're not using an extra something. Explain your concept of compression because people may not understand exactly what you mean about utilizing the compression of materials, how would you anchor that? For example. Okay, think of Kubari or a Japanese technique where I have a vase. I don't want to tape it, I don't want to add any glue to it, but I need to partition spaces. So I would use a branch cut that's a little bit bigger and I would force it gently into the container. So it would give me natural compartments to design in. And that is a great look. Not only is it stable, but it's a great look. Clean. Very clean, and as you said, very natural. Any other favorite tips like that? Favorite tips? Oh, I've got a million. Natural. I like weaving material together, braiding things together and designing through. I like manipulating leaves. A lot of leaf manipulation. I also like looking at a container or looking at a material. that makes a statement. I think that's a really big key in competition. If you watch cooking shows on television where they compete, the one who wins is the one who used that particular item in a different unexpected way. And I think that's true for flower competitions as well. That's one thing I hope you would allude to. Your foliage manipulation. I've seen you do a lot of that expertly through the years and that is something you do very well. Any tips for how you make that work? What do you do to hold your foliage in place, in manipulation? I look at the manipulation that is happening, I look at what the best tool would be to fasten or secure. It could be anything from Oasis wire, bullion, UGlu regular wire. Every one of those little type of tools I will use it in everything, but not five tools in one. I'll pick the most appropriate for that application. Don't you think you do that in competition? You pick the most appropriate mechanic instead of trying to show you know how to use everything in competition design, the biggest mistake a designer can make is to show every tool you have in your box in a design. Or every trick you have in your mind. Absolutely. You need to have control and you need to have clear thought and purpose with the design. Show two or three amazing techniques, and don't expand on that. Don't do too much extra because the more you do, the more points you have the opportunity of losing. Creative flair. The goal in competition is that the design is well made and then you used some mechanics or elements in a different way. It's not that the whole thing is drastically different. Correct. You want to showcase one or two or three things, but not a hundred mm-Hmm. I agree. Have you ever had a floral disaster averted by the quick thinking of a alternate mechanic? Like, I was going to use this. It's not working. Give me that. Absolutely. And I must say that Smithers-Oasis UGlu strips have saved my life. I agree. I agree. It's amazing the different ways they have saved us. World Cup. I used two and a half full boxes of UGlu strips. Wow. Wow. For securing the mechanics. And they held, and it worked wonderfully. Right. Fantastic. I couldn't pull it apart if I wanted to. This is true. This is very true. have you ever had a mechanic fail you in a situation that all you could do is just learn from the experience? Yes, sadly, about 10 years ago. And we won't talk about it. Well, that's okay. Our viewers just wanted to know it happened to you too. I learned and that was a dramatic one, but there have been small failures and if you say you've never failed in anything, you're lying. You haven't experimented much. That's right. When it comes to mechanics, do you have a favorite resource of information? A favorite book or a favorite, a great place to go to get new information, videos online. Well, Oasis has a great blog that shows wonderful designs and step by step information, and you actually do that blog, don't you? Yes. What we do is the podcast and the blog of the same, inspired designer because some of our people like to listen and some of our followers like to read, so we do the same information in both ways, and that way you can choose the way you want to get that. We've done the blog for about five years and we've done the podcast for about two and we find it works. The very best response is by giving both readers and listeners the opportunity to get the same information because we have like yourself, inspired designers who are doing things very differently. And when it comes to floral mechanics, for example, you can think of a lot of designers that you've worked with. Donald ym for example. That's what I think our viewers and followers need to hear because there's not always a class nearby that they can attend. I love your suggestion that they travel to events and to symposium, I don't know if you ever participated in this, but many years ago there was in Charlotte, North Carolina, a huge design show that had three levels of designers on stage. They would fill the gymnasium floor with designs. Four commentators. it was Southern Retail and it was that's wonderful. It was just heaven for a young designer like myself going through and learning, There just was so many people going through those designs. And I'm very sad that designers don't have that opportunity today. Sharon, I have to tell you that the first AIFD symposium I attended was the same symposium that I did my PFDE. Mm-Hmm. I had never been to anything that large. I came out of there and my body was vibrating. My mind would not shut off. I was so excited. I couldn't even talk. I, I just didn't even know what to do with myself. I couldn't wait to get home. And I got off the plane and I was taken to the Stampede here. We had a competition I was supposed to be in, and I won that competition. You were so inspired. Yeah. I, and I will tell everybody, you have to attend this once in your life. If you only do it once, you do it once, but you should go to more. Absolutely. You are speaking of AIFD symposium and yes. A good idea is to go the year before and see how it all runs but you did it blindly and came out successful. So good for you. Thankfully. because it was an expensive little gold pen, but it was worth every penny. I say I would pay my dues just to get book, the directory with everybody's names and numbers and emails in there, because I may not know the answer to everything, but I know somebody who knows the answer to everything, in that book or in my phone. If you just had the opportunity to tell the audience what you want them to hear. What would you like to share? I, I want to say something on what Michael Smith said, because I listened to his podcast and I think I listened to Jenny's, I listened to a few. I would like to say being prepared, always trying new things. So if you're preparing for a competition or you just want to be a better designer, you want to be faster, have more of a skill level, definitely try something new every week. Try a new technique. learn that technique. Practice that technique. Get it proficient at it. If you can't find something in a book. Attend a class online. Let's say Gregor Lersch. Let's say it's Hitomi. Let's say it's the Floos network, F-L-O-O-S. They have amazing designers and interesting new techniques that you can learn that are European. Take the time to educate yourself, invest in yourself, invest in your future, invest in your design abilities.

Lea Romanowski: 34:46

And if you don't try, you never learn. You never get better. You never grow, and you're going to make mistakes, and that's okay because mistakes make us better at what we do and they keep us humble. And then we can keep sharing the love of flowers and design with the world while making a profit. And, that's very helpful to make the profit. It is. Yeah. It's not just a hobby. It's our, it's our life choice of a career. It's our passion. I think we do our design work, pay our bills. We compete for our soul for the love.

Sharon McGukin: 35:32

I agree. And I found it very interesting that your career paths that you explored were architect, EMT and florist. But in some ways, in each one of those areas, you're building relationships. You're reaching out to another person, whether it's through care for them directly or comfort for them through flowers or some structural aspect of it. So I thought that was very interesting that you thought those were three great choices and, chose between them. I think flowers chose me and I'm truly thankful because they've given me a wonderful life. And I teach because I want more people to have this life. Well, it's always, a beauty to design for yourself, but it's even more beautiful to share the ability to design with others. Yes. We have the opportunity to help mold and help the designers who are coming up new and young. And they're gonna take our place at some point. So whether it be listening to a blog or reading the blog or taking a class, we have the ability to help those people be inspired and educate them. That's our mission, I think. There's a time that you are the designer, then you teach, encourage the designers and then you inspire the designers. And there's a different position for you in each one of those stages. In the beginning it's about your learning. And in the end it's about you sharing that learning with someone else. Actually a lot of designers use their design as their philosophy. The way a person structures their design says a lot about their personality. Ooh, how so? Think about it. If you think about the country and who you know from different cities, you'll see. For example, I'm a southern designer. I tend to be very gardeny. That's what surrounds me. But I have friends who are architectural designers with their structures because they're from New York or Boston or Chicago. And that's what surrounds them. I have friends, in the Southwest that do such wonderful things with potteries and sunflowers and vivid colors because that's what surrounds them. Our environment trains our design eye, I think. when I tell people where I'm originally from, they go, ah, that makes sense. I come from a little tiny island off the coast of British Columbia called Salt Spring. And it has the highest concentration of artists in all of Canada. I think that explains it because you learned at a early age, being surrounded by art, that art is a way of speaking with the soul. It is, I agree. We are truly fortunate, Sharon, that we are in this business. Yes. To do what we love and call it work. Very blessed gift. It really is. I thank you so much for being with me, Lea. I can't wait to share the podcast with our audience because you've given us some really good ideas and inspiration. Thank you for sharing Well, can I thank you. I thank, Smithers-Oasis for being a sponsor that actually helped take me to World Cup. I'm truly thankful for the opportunity. It was the honor of Smithers-Oasis to get to do that. In closing today, Lea, I just thank you for sharing your tips with our audience. Mechanics are everything. We found that out through the years and we strive to learn more ways to use materials to create our foundations that support our structures. So thank you for your professional tips to help our audience grow their ability to think on the spot and use floral mechanics to secure their designs. I thank you very much for being with me. Thank you, Sharon. I appreciate it. Thank you for doing this. To our audience, Smithers-Oasis North America, Lea, and I want to thank you for joining us today. If you've enjoyed this episode, pLease share it with a friend and be sure to hit subscribe. You don't want to miss the inspired solutions our upcoming guests will share with you for your personal or business growth. If you have topics or guests you want to hear, please message me. We'd love to hear from you. Until next time, I'm Sharon McGukin reminding you that like the unfurling petals of a flower, we grow by changing form, soaking inspiration in like raindrops, absorbing energy from others, like warmth from the sun. This growth opens us up to new ideas, and that's How we Bloom.