Flowers that Bloom under TV lights

by Molly G. Elliott

From the New Zealand TV Weekly January 2, 1967

The magnificent flower arrangements that form a decorative background for women appearing on AKTV2 are-plastic. Under hot studio lights real flowers would wilt, says Joy Cherry of Glasgow, who finds the display of rigid plaslic blooms a difficult exercise in flower arrangement.

Auckland viewers frequently notice beautiful, yet unobtrusive, flower arrangements complementing women announcers. Glaswegian Joy Cherry, who arrived in New Zealand three years ago, creates these displays out of artificial flowers from Italy and Hong Kong, changing them every week.

Joy works in a large studio in an old Hobson Street building. Shreds of foliage litter the floor and a huge trestle table while shelves hold completed arrangements, some in troughs, others on flat copper dishes. Most of these facsimile blooms one can immediately identify, but others look as if they might have fancy-folksy names like lady's hemstitch or deadly lampshade. Several have the mouths of old men. Wearing slacks and an overall, Joy conjures exquisite symmetrical compositions from this plastic flora.

Although Joy works happily on her own, she also likes to feel enthusiasm round her and reacts sharply, sometimes painfully, to the prevailing emotional climate. She loves her work, regarding it as the most important component in her life.

In Wellington, she worked with fresh flowers although she admits that she can name few varieties. When her employer shifted to Auckland, Joy came, too. She finds life difficult for florists in New Zealand. Those that own their own shops must also do their own work and cannot always employ staff. In Britain, businessmen usually own flower shops as sidelines with florists to manage them. Nevertheless, she finds floral art standards very high here.

Joy trained as a florist in Glasgow, paying £40 for six months' tuition. Of her teacher's 20 pupils, only she became a florist. Though regarded as a "nice" talent, floral art does not generally rank as a career in the United Kingdom.

Then Joy went south to London for three years, first taking a job with a landscape gardener. No one before had conducted Continental exhibitions with fresh flowers and plants taken from England. These, with florists including Joy, filled four vanes-and visited Paris and Zurich. She also demonstrated to groups all over England and also at Earl's Court exhibitions like the Ideal Homes. Before training, Joy spent a year window dressing in Glasgow. This proved to her that she had a flair for design and arrangement which later exceeded her interest in wedding bouquets and wreaths.

Therefore, she got a job with a firm which created and hired out artificial flower arrangements. A Granada TV sideline, this company had its own artificial flower factory in Italy and a London studio employing about 40 designers. There, Joy averaged 40 designs a day; in Auckland, she does about 100 a week. Here, she knows her clients; there, she never did. One, a ballroom, spent £400 a year on floral decorations.

Working with artificial flowers demands definite creative effort. Joy admits they look awful raw. You must work to achieve beauty with them; natural flowers have beauty built in and do not offer such a challenge. Their malleability and flowing lines fall easily into place; artificial flowers' rigidity presents a problem. You can't swot up their arrangement from a book but must contribute a great deal of yourself. You can, of course, learn from others while developing your own style. You must in fact create an artificial arrangement much as you would a painting.

Joy's arrangements certainly have a picture's charm without the paint in furled ridges. They stand in hotels, restaurants, beauty salons, frock shops, airline offices-and TV studios. Most are changed every fortnight. Some of the largest have the same sumptuous brilliance as rococo architecture or circus horses.

Often Joy includes dried natural foliage like papyrus heads, lichen and seed-pods with sealed orders. She finds suitable dried items more prolific and artistic here than in Britain.

Joy does not appreciate constant praise. Reluctant to criticise, New Zealanders always admire her work, never tell her that they would prefer this lily taken out, that rose substituted. Therefore, she feels that this country offers her insufficient challenge. Shortly, there-fore, she intends prospecting the Australian scene--prudently leaving someone behind to continue supplying arrangements for AKTV2.

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