Morris at the Manor event
“Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful”
A creative collaboration
I was delighted to be asked to make some individual porcelain display bowls for my friend, Amy from Ava Event Styling who was planning a special Morris themed event with the owners, Fiona and Paul from Hampton Manor for wedding planners and specialists.
Amy had been planning this event for a long time, but was keen to involve local artisans since that was very much part of Morris’ ethos. Together we came up with a simple but different design which would be used to show off the exquisite tulips and spring blooms supplied by Anna Brown Flowers.
Thrown on the wheel in porcelain the display bowls are then altered so that the rims form the ‘petal shape’ and turned to reveal a small elegant foot; I then glazed them in rose pink and sea-green to compliment the William Morris colours that Amy had chosen for the event.
Photo from Katie Ingram Photography; featuring one on my mini porcelain petal bowls
It was such a treat to be invited along to part of the day; to have some delicious snacks in Hampton Manor and take part in a workshop that Amy delivered showing the invited guests how to style a display bowl.
The flower workshop took place in Smoke, whose head chef is local Brummie, Stuart Deeley, winner of the Masterchef The Professionals 2019.
How to style a flower bowl
There is not right or wrong way to style flowers in a bowl. A flower pin frog is very useful though and is held in place with 3 balls of floral clay.
For bowls of between 5 and 7 inches you only need 7-9 blooms (odd numbers look better). Start the arrangement by choosing a tall flowering stem (in this case I used Spiraea), and then worked my round filling in the gaps with specialist tulips, Hesperis, narcissi, general foliage and finally some small grape hyacinth.
Image of Katie Robbins, potter, holding one of her handthrown porcelain petal bowls, which were also used to style the flowers at the event. Photo from Rebecca Searle Photography
My photos really don’t do justice to the beautiful Morris inspired tablescape created by Ava Event Styling and her team.
I wanted to give a shout-out to the amazing cake with its sugar-crafted tulips made by Ben, The Cake Man and stunning Morris inspired stationary from EYI Love Stationery.
Dream team with Amy Chin from Ava Event Styling and Jordan aka @thebeardedbotanist.
As a creative who works on her own from her garden studio, it was so fun to be invited to the beautiful venue of Hampton Manor, to chat with the other creatives involved with the event and the wedding planners who attended.
And if ever my long-term partner of 30 years popped the question, then a spring wedding at Hampton Manor would definitely be my venue of dreams!
Morris at the Manor event, styled by Ava Event Styling at Hampton Manor; photographed by Rebecca Searle Photography
Image shows display bowl from Kt Robbins Ceramics at Hampton Manor wedding venue.
Postscript:
I have added a soft-duck blue bowl to this range and they will be available on Saturday 4 when I launch my next spring collection.
Image shows new duck-egg petal bowl from Kt Robbins Ceramics. Available as part of the spring collection (launch date March 4)