In the collaboration project "Seasons on the Table", the 4 sets of dried flower bouquet which are the main roles in the project are all designed and made by MUSAKO.
Let us know a little more about this brand of dried flower art with her very own style through an interview with Yu, the head of MUSAKO.
Could you briefly introduce the name of your brand “MUSAKO”?
The name "MUSAKO" is actually from the name of the place where I lived when I was studying in Japan, i.e. Koganei, which is also known as MUSAKO.
At first I thought of using MUSAKO as the brand’s name but I didn't have any clue about the Chinese name at all. After brainstorming with the others, many people felt that the pronunciation of MUSAKO in Chinese (小金舍) was easy to remember, and that "舍" meant home in Chinese, so we make "小金舍" as our Chinese name finally.
How did you become acquainted with dried floral art and chose it as your career development?
Since I was studying abroad, I couldn’t fly with fresh flowers every time I went back and forth.
Therefore, my boyfriend who wanted to send flowers to me chose to send me dried flowers instead. I started to get acquainted with dry flowers afterwards.
In fact, I never thought about becoming a florist at first. After learning floristry of dried flowers, I want to practice my skills, so I need a certain amount of flowers. However, the market for dried flowers in Hong Kong is still very small, at least there are not many places where you can buy dried flowers in the flower market, and there are not many types for you to choose as well. If it’s not easy to buy in other flower houses, it turns out that you have to buy a lot of them at once to make one work. In the whole process of purchasing, I learned more about dried flowers and the connection is thus deepened.
On the other hand, when I make my dried flower bouquet, I only choose colors that I like. Then I opened an Instagram account to show my work and try to participate in different markets. Some days later, some customers asked me to make a lot of different flower gifts with dried flowers. My career as a florist specialized in dried flowers officially began.
There’s a quote "Keep your memories alive with dried flowers" in MUSAKO’s Instagram biography. Could you share about the origin of the quote?
Dried flowers have accompanied me for a long time when I was in Japan. At the same time, I wish to continue the memories of living in Japan.
I think dried flowers can be preserved for a long time, and each flower gift represents the mind of the flower sender or contains the memory of the receiver at the time when the gift is received. I hope everyone feels the same so I wrote it.
How are you doing recently?
Recently I started to learn the floristry of fresh flowers. I first started my floristry development with dried flowers learning, and I have never been in touch with the fresh ones. However, I think, after all, dried flowers are actually made from fresh flowers. Even if someone has always said that they are two different styles, I still want to try to blend the two techniques to enrich my floristry world.
Does MUSAKO have any development plan in the coming future?
In addition to continuing to make traditional flower rituals, I will also take the challenge to make some artistic style works, as well as the decoration for shooting and so on.
In the collaboration project with harmone, how did you conceive the four different seasons on the table in terms of the selection of dried flower?
At first I thought of adding seasonal flowers to the four sets of bouquet.
In addition to matching the color, the main flower I hope to use is limited to the season.
For example, in the spring time, if you visit the flower market in February or March, you will find that Golden Wattle always appears frequently.
In the summer bouquet, Echinops, which are matched with Lavender, the all-blue breed is only seen in summer.
In addition, some common flowers that are easy to dry are especially selected this time. In this way, if the customers feel that it is time to replace the original works of flowers in the future, they can buy them at the flower market and then dry them up by themselves more conveniently.
What do you think is the relationship between MUSAKO’s dried floral art and the harmonious life advocated by harmone?
I think that flowers are a remedy in our living environment. Also, flowers of different shapes and colors can create different styles of living environment.
If you are afraid of troublesome care, and if there are pets at your home who are afraid of pollen, dried flowers would be a good choice. And as time changes, the color of dried flowers will slowly change back to the natural color of the earth,
It feels more like experiencing life changes together. These concepts fit well with harmone's concept of creating a harmonious life with different elements.
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