Throughout the centuries many ways of flower arrangement have arisen from which various styles in floral art have developed. These styles usually found their origin and connection with the cultural period in which they developed. Culture, art and floral design go hand in hand in the development of floral forms and styles. Even today, new styles are regularly developed. Especially the development of new alternative techniques leads to a different design. Floral design and various types of flowers are very popular all around the world. Dried flowers also called födelsedagsblommor or beställ blommor in Swedish are very popular in the North of Europe. A few terms as an introduction to this story are useful to come to a faster understanding:

Style and design

Is a certain unity in design, color and material;Is a set of rules for a certain arrangement or method of arrangement; style is unity in the multiplicity of parts.Style group

Art movement around Mondrian and Van Doesburg; any group that advocates a particular artistic style.

Style Theory

By this we mean classes or studies on the history of art, architecture, color theory, composition and form theory. Knowledge of these is very important in the application of floral design.

Style Period

The style period is the period when a particular style was central to architecture or other arts. For example, the Biedermeier style 1820-1848.

Style Arrangement

Style design is flower arrangements made according to the rules governing that style. This style is also called Period design.

Styles and forms in floral design

There are several classifications in style arrangements possible. To each classification there are pros and cons. The most comprehensive is the classification shown here. A main classification is: Classic; Modern; Experimental.

Classic

This includes the ways of arranging as was done or developed in the past. Many of these ways are still used today. We can discover in this a number of shaping ways such as:

• Symmetrical one-sided: classic triangle arrangement (isosceles, equilateral);
• Symmetrical all-sided semicircular: Compact (Biedermeier), open with spacing, ajour (millefleur);Asymmetrical one-sided or all-sided (unequal, unequal);
• Floating bowls;S-line,
• Hogarth line;Crescent shape and circle shapes;Diagonal shapes;
• Fan shapes;L-shape;
• Oval shape.Modern.

We assume here that it refers to the stylistic developments that took place in the 20th century and especially in the second half of it. It includes many different techniques and arrangement forms such as:

Any contemporary arrangement with plant materials; all kinds of variants of: vegetative, decorative, linear, parallel, terrace forms, floating bowls, geometric-decorative forms, diagonal, horizontal, vertical and intersecting compositions. But also braids, bindings, frames, fabrics and the like.

Experimental

Doing something new, facing the unknown, soon leads to experimentation. Many of the now familiar styles arose because of experimentation. We can distinguish between:

• Free expression forms, trends, binds, threading, braiding, clamping, gluing, and weaving techniques; stacks, floral objects etc.Avant-garde forms a separate mode of experimental arranging.Styles can also be classified into:

  • A - symmetrical: classical, modern, experimental;
  • B - asymmetrical: modern, experimental (avant-garde).

Other classifications:

One-Sided, Aligned, Two-Sided;Decorative, Vegetative;Mass, Line, Mass-Line; Garden; Linear, Parallel; Thematic; Symbolic; Style Arrangements; Oriental Styles; Combination Forms;Shaved design or openwork design.