THE COLOURS OF JAPAN

The Chapter workshop held on Saturday 21st April was led by the Sogetsu teacher Lara Telford. Her theme was 'Ikebana and the Colours of Japan'. Lara spoke specifically about the use of red, blue, brown, green, purple, gold and/or silver and referred to their characteristic use with cultural, historical and symbolic references. The workshop participants were allocated one of the seven colours in advance and were asked to make ikebana with the focus on that colour.

Lara illustrated her presentation with three interesting and rather difficult examples on her theme, which she did not require of the participants. 

The first, a white ikebana was called "White circles".

The second, a black and white ikebana was called "Oshirori- Geiko/Maiko’s white makeup".

And the third, a black ikebana, was called "Brush Stroke".

Lara has provided a transcript of her presentation on her blog. Below are some of the participants' ikebana. They are presented in their colour groups. 

RED

         

         

       

       

BLUE

    

BROWN

        

         

           

       

       

GREEN

      

       
PURPLE

    

        

          

GOLD

    

          

SILVER

         

Lara's principal reference book was 'The Colors of Japan'. The link will take you to an overview of the book which is brief but interesting in itself.