Zen Flowers: Designs to Soothe the Senses and Nourish the Soul Hardcover – January 1, 2006

To design in Zen is to design with beauty, simplicity, and harmony in mind, and to honor the true nature of every material. When applied to flower arranging, the Zen approach allows us to discover each flower’s underlying qualities, and to use those qualities to enliven rooms, uplift spirits, and nurture lives. Zen Flowers shows both novices and seasoned designers how the ideals and spiritual values of minimalism can be applied in a very practical way to floral compositions. Author Brenda Berkley, owner of a Los Angeles flower shop, shares her holistic perspective and provides a few basic principles—rather than a strict set of rules—for making simple but spectacular arrangements. Illustrated with 125 lush photographs, this elegant book demonstrates how to get started with flowers; how to choose the perfect container; how to work with light, space, and decor; and how a flower’s color, texture, shape, and form all affect design. The reader is also invited to embrace the finer points of forming compositions, such as the proportion of flower to container. As delicately beautiful as it is quietly profound, this unique celebration of flowers shows how a touch of nature’s bounty can transform an ordinary room into a tranquil sanctuary. Read more