Today ‘the luck of the draw’ challenged all of us because we had to work with unseen and unknown container and material. This meant we had to work outside our comfort zone, so how do you tackle such a situation?

The third, Iemoto Hiroshi Teshigahara, said if you have 1 hour to complete your work – 40 minutes is spent studying your material and container, and if possible sketch your idea/s. The remaining time of about 20 minutes is to execute your design.

Personally I think these exercises are invaluable because it stretches our creativity as well a heightening our technical skills and problem solving. The other reason it prevents us becoming a little complacent (if I may be so behold as to use that word) with our ikebana. Each arrangement should be an exciting journey of discovery

You will notice in the images below some of us executed a second arrangement trying to use the same material in a different style