Love at First Tight

By Susana Chan

You will never know your talent unless you try. Tiffany Choi Sao I, who has six years of experience in floral design, shares some tips with us.

Tiffany recalls, “It's just like magic, I got enthusiastic about floral design with the first trial in binding flowers during the recreational course. From then on I was attracted to it.” Sometimes, a trial may help us discover a different experience in our life and also lighten our life.

“Different kinds of materials can be stylized to make people feel happy,” says Tiffany, “you can bind all kinds of pretty things together with your hands, making people feel delighted.”

Materials found from daily life can be used in floral design. According to Tiffany, she once used straws in her design for making good use of its different colors.

Tiffany’s own style of floral design presents the flowers and materials in different shapes with the ideas of construction theories. According to her, structure ranks the most important thing in floral design.

To breakthrough the boundaries, rules and traditional methods are also very important in floral design, as new ideas are required in every design. Thus, “You should keep in mind that you need to always upgrade yourself and strive for excellence.” Tiffany suggests.

In Tiffany’s opinion, talent is not a must for the success in the floral design industry. She thinks that success and the realization of a floral designer’s dreams are products of perseverance and diligence, combined with a degree of generosity and compassion.

For Tiffany, participating in international competitions is a golden chance as it can make her more mature. The World Skills Competition is one of those she has participated. It is held every two years all around the world. This competition is like the Olympic Games in the floral design field. Moreover, Macau participants began to participate in the World Skills Competition since 1993, even earlier than those participants from Hong Kong.

According to Tiffany, there is always challenge during the competition. “You need to be alert to make changes on the use of materials or flowers as the materials you planned to use may not be provided.” She adds.

In addition, as Tiffany describes, floral design can be presented in different ways, such as presented in fashion shows, where body decoration can be created with flowers and presented on the models.

“Adding some different elements into a bunch of flowers makes the difference.” Tiffany says. Tiffany encourages people of different ages to join the floral design industry, especially teenagers. “With just a try you can experience the difference and get crazy about it.”