Ikebana Belgium

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Ikebana Belgium

Ikebana connects you to nature while your creativity breathes new life into flowers and branches.

Slow down, Be Creative and Enjoy Nature

Ikebana, Japanese flower arranging, is more than just arranging flowers. It is a philosophy and lifestyle that helps you slow down and find inner peace by developing creative skills to make beautiful living art. We love to do projects with other like-minded artists and ikebana teachers, thereby growing a community to spread the ikebana way of living. Contem

porary or Japanese inspired decorations for shop windows, restaurants, or companies are our favorites.

30/08/2026

🔻Let the Leaves Take Over🔻

Leaves are often given a supporting role. This time, the flowers can take the day off.

Here, aspidistra leaves do all the work. Their broad surfaces curve into loops and folds, creating volume and movement. Dark, glossy greens meet yellowing edges and brown markings, while the yellow container picks up those warmer tones.

In ikebana, the Japanese art of arranging botanical materials, leaves offer much more than a background for flowers. Even one kind of leaf gives us plenty to explore.

Last week, we invited our newsletter readers to send a photo of their own arrangement with leaves in the leading role. Haven’t sent yours yet? There’s still time! Send us one picture per person before Monday evening. A new arrangement or an old favourite from your archives, we’d love to see it.

Not receiving our newsletter yet? Sign up through the link in our bio for more inspiration and invitations to join in.

Material: Aspidistra leaves.

#生け花

29/08/2026

🔻 Balance Does Not Need Symmetry 🔻

Balance does not always mean equal.

In this arrangement, most of the visual weight sits on the left. The hydrangea and foliage create a dense, compact area, while one branch reaches far out to the right.

There is no attempt to mirror one side with the other. Instead, balance is created through the relationship between visual weight, direction and space.

That is one of the interesting lessons in ikebana, the Japanese art of arranging botanical materials: an arrangement can feel balanced without being symmetrical.

Sometimes a single line can hold its own against a much heavier group of flowers and leaves.

Take another look at the arrangement. Does your eye feel that it is balanced, even though both sides are completely different?

Follow for more ideas about looking at branches, flowers and space in a different way.

Material: Rhododendron, hydrangea, Brunnera, Heuchera

#生け花

28/08/2026

Not Every Branch Should Behave

When I look for material, I am not necessarily searching for the straightest branch or the most perfect flower.

Quite often, I am looking for the opposite.

This lavender came from my father-in-law’s garden. It had been left to grow rather freely, so the branches had developed curves, angles and little side shoots of their own. In gardening terms, perhaps slightly unruly. For me, that was exactly what made them interesting.

In ikebana, the Japanese art of arranging botanical materials, pruning is important. I remove leaves, flowers and branches to simplify the material and make its strongest qualities more visible.

But simplifying does not mean correcting everything.

If I were to remove every curve and irregularity, I might also remove the character that made me choose the branch in the first place.

So I prune with a question in mind: what can I remove to make the interesting part more visible?

Sometimes good design is not about making nature behave.

It is about noticing where it already has something to say.

#いけばな

27/08/2026

Iedereen Welkom - Everybody Welcome

23/08/2026

🔻When the Eye Cannot Rest🔻

Follow a curved line and your eye travels smoothly. Follow a zigzag and the journey is repeatedly interrupted. At every corner, your eye must change direction.

That is why zigzag lines can evoke tension, agitation or excitement. They keep us alert because they offer little visual rest.

In this arrangement, the large angular structure creates that restless movement without becoming chaotic. The open space and limited number of materials keep the tension controlled. The soft willow catkins temper the sharp angles, while the curved green stem of the Ornithogalum introduces a gentler movement.

In Japanese botanical art, a line does more than create structure. Its direction and character can influence how an arrangement feels.

Which emotion do these zigzag lines evoke in you?

Follow for more insights into creativity with nature.

Material: Ornithogalum, willow branches and willow catkins

#生け花

22/08/2026

🔻Teach the Principles, Not the Result🔻

There is a time in every student’s training when I tell them exactly where each branch should go.

In the basic arrangements, lengths, angles and positions follow strict rules. This is essential. Before students can make confident creative choices, they need to understand proportion, balance, depth and technique.

Later, the role of the teacher changes.

For this class, we worked with wildflowers and weeds. I created this arrangement as my own response: long leaves and stems were folded and bent into open structures, while the small yellow flowers introduced a softer, less predictable rhythm.

It was one possible answer, not a model everyone had to reproduce.

At this stage, my task is to explain the principles, ask questions and help solve technical problems. The students must gradually discover where their own choices lead them.

The foundations may be shared. The results should not be identical.

Good teaching is not about reproducing yourself through your students.

Follow this account for more thoughts on creativity, nature and the Japanese botanical art of ikebana.

Material: Wild grasses, long leaves and yellow wildflowers

#生け花

21/08/2026

🔻Fall in Love with the Tricky One!🔻

Ever fallen for the one that’s harder to love—just because it’s more beautiful when it finally works?

Let me introduce you to nageire, the tall, graceful challenge of ikebana, the Japanese floral art. Unlike moribana, which uses a shallow container and a spiky metal holder (called a kenzan) to keep the stems in place, nageire relies on invisible fixations inside tall vases. It’s trickier, yes—but that’s also part of its magic.

So why might it win your heart?

First, its elegance: when done well, nageire arrangements look as if they float—effortless, serene, like nature whispering in midair. Second, its minimalism: fewer materials, more air and space. And third? Practical beauty. While moribana needs a wide base, nageire fits easily on a narrow shelf or cabinet, bringing refinement to even the smallest corner of your home.

It’s not easy to master. But once you do, you’ll never look at tall vases the same way again.

Follow me for more insights into the Japanese botanical art of flowers and branches.

#生け花

16/08/2026

🔻Two Pairs That Make Each Other Stronger🔻

Why does the orange seem so vivid? And why do the yellow flowers almost seem to glow?

Part of the answer lies in the colors beside them.

Blue and orange are complementary colors. So are yellow and violet. Placed together, each color strengthens the impression of the other.

In this arrangement, both complementary pairs are used at the same time. The blue container intensifies the orange wooden strips, while the violet alliums make the yellow sunflowers and gerberas appear even brighter.

Color in ikebana, the Japanese art of arranging flowers and branches, is not only decorative. It can become an important part of the structure and expression of the arrangement.

Here, the colors help create that unmistakable feeling of high summer: warm, bright and full of energy.

Follow for more ideas about looking at flowers, branches, color and space in a different way.

Material:Sunflowers, gerberas, alliums, wooden strips\

#生け花

15/08/2026

🔻Holding Together, Giving Space🔻

Everything begins from one narrow point.

The stems stand close together at the base, but as they rise, they gradually find their own direction. Some stay upright. Others cross, bend or reach far into the surrounding space.

That contrast is what makes this arrangement interesting to me: **holding together without holding back**.

And perhaps that is also a fitting thought for Mother’s Day here in Antwerp today. Supporting someone does not always mean keeping them close. Sometimes it means giving them enough confidence, and enough space, to grow in their own direction.

In ikebana, the Japanese art of arranging flowers and branches, space is not simply what remains between the materials. It is part of the composition. The lines need room around them to become visible and to express their individual character.

Maybe people need a little of that too.

Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers celebrating in Antwerp today. One Mother’s Day a year was apparently not enough for us. 😊

Follow for more ideas about creativity, nature and Japanese botanical art.

Material: Helenium, bulrush and wild flowers

#生け花

14/08/2026

Do you already know the answer?

Here is the simple test I mentioned in the video.

The next time you begin an arrangement, stop for a moment before placing anything.

**Do you already know where it is going?**

If the answer is yes, that is not necessarily a bad thing. Experience gives us solutions. We know which techniques work, which combinations feel balanced, and which choices are unlikely to go badly wrong.

But sometimes our hands are simply repeating an answer they already know.

That is when I try to interrupt myself.

I might turn the container around, choose the branch I would normally leave behind, look at another artist’s work, open an old book, or ask myself one simple question:

**What would happen if I didn’t use my first idea?**

You don’t need to forget everything you have learned. Experience gives you the foundation.

But growth often begins when you step, just briefly, beyond the familiar.

So try the test.

If you already know where you are going, perhaps look somewhere unfamiliar first.

#いけばな #草月

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Antwerp
2020

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