This bridal bouquet has been designed in a purple and pink palette. Midnight calla lilies are absolute protagonists with their deep hue, softened by the contrast with pink and white flowers.
©Akiko Usami
©Akiko Usami
©Akiko Usami
©Akiko Usami
©Akiko Usami
Akiko Usami
- Flower designer
- Paris, France
- Master Artisan
Contact
French, English, Japanese
Hours:
By appointment only
By appointment only
Phone:
+33 699086700
+33 699086700
©Akiko Usami
Ikebana with french dressing
- • Akiko makes non-traditional ikebana
- • Her style mixes Japanese and French influences
- • She draws inspiration from art and food
Akiko Usami's style is so peculiar that she even invented a name for it: “Wafuka”. It is a mix of Japanese and French and is Akiko Usami’s signature: “It’s ikebana with a twist”, she explains. Born and bred in Shizuoka prefecture, close to Mount Fuji, she moved to Paris a couple of years after graduation. “I had already been there on vacation and I had fallen in love with the city’s flower boutiques. I found a job in one of them. But customers kept asking me for ikebana, thinking I was an expert just because I was Japanese. Yet, I knew nothing about it. So I went back to Tokyo and studied ikenobo, the most ancient school of ikebana, for two years.” In 2008, she was back in Paris and by 2012 she was ready to launch her out-of-the-box studio.
Read the full interviewWorks
Photo: ©Akiko Usami
Bridal bouquet
Photo: ©Akiko Usami
Wafuka arrangement
The orchids and clematis are arranged in “wafuka” style, Akiko Usami’s version of traditional ikebana. While the Japanese would use a single flower, here there are many, beautifully harmonised in a low vase.
Photo: ©Akiko Usami
“Wafuka” arrangement
This harmonious arrangement of white orchids in “wafuka” style, is half way between Japanese ikebana and Western flower design. The flowers are framed by long, flexible stems made into a circle.
Photo: ©Akiko Usami
Bridal bouquet
A simple, harmonious bridal bouquet with calla lilies and other fresh flowers, in a soft palette dominated by white.
Photo: ©Fred Frety
Ikebana
This ikebana arrangement of Japanese quince is simple and minimal, with few flowers and branches balanced on a wooden base. Compared to others Usami’s works “wafuka-style” – the style she invented to mix eastern tradition and western taste – this one is closer to a traditional Japanese ikebana.
Latest Instagram posts
You may also like
Organised by
Under the high patronage of
In partnership with
