Ikebana Belgium

Ikebana Belgium Ikebana connects you to nature while your creativity breathes new life into flowers and branches.

Slow down, Be Creative and Enjoy Nature

Ikebana, Japanese flower arranging, is more than just arranging flowers. It is a philosophy and lifestyle that helps you slow down and find inner peace by developing creative skills to make beautiful living art. We love to do projects with other like-minded artists and ikebana teachers, thereby growing a community to spread the ikebana way of living. Contem

porary or Japanese inspired decorations for shop windows, restaurants, or companies are our favorites.

🔻 How a Form Can Control Many Lines🔻Long, fine lines can create movement, but when too many of them compete for attentio...
06/09/2026

🔻 How a Form Can Control Many Lines🔻

Long, fine lines can create movement, but when too many of them compete for attention, an arrangement can quickly lose its focus.

Here, the dark paper rolls form a compact form in the centre. They give the eye a place to stop before it follows the grasses outward in different directions. Its visual weight is enough to bring structure to the many lines around it.

A focal point can anchor the composition, while the lines create movement, rhythm and direction.

Follow for more ideas about composition, materials and Japanese botanical art.

Material: grasses, papyrus, black paper rolls

#生け花

🔻Are You Still Looking or Already Arranging?🔻The longer we work with flowers and branches, the faster we recognise possi...
05/09/2026

🔻Are You Still Looking or Already Arranging?🔻

The longer we work with flowers and branches, the faster we recognise possibilities.

That experience is useful. But there is also a small danger: sometimes we see a material and almost immediately decide what we are going to do with it.

A broad leaf becomes a surface.
A straight stem becomes a line.
A small flower becomes a filler.

And before we know it, our hands are arranging from habit.

With this arrangement, I tried to keep looking a little longer. The patterned Aucuba leaves could easily have remained supporting foliage, but their strong surfaces deserve more attention. The snapdragons create movement, while the limonium brings a very different, denser texture.

In ikebana, the Japanese art of arranging botanical materials, observation comes before placement. The more carefully we look at the character of each material, the more possibilities we begin to see.

Perhaps the next time you start an arrangement, don’t ask immediately: Where should this go?

Ask first: What else could this become?

Follow for more reflections and practical ideas to keep your arranging fresh.

Material: Aucuba, limonium, snapdragon
Container: POTS Bottega e scuola di ceramica

#生け花

04/09/2026

When did you last surprise yourself?

The longer we practise something, the easier certain choices become. Our hands remember. We know what works. We recognise familiar solutions.

That is useful. But it can also become a little too comfortable.

In ikebana, the Japanese art of arranging botanical materials, repetition is important. We return to techniques and principles again and again because that is how they become part of us.

But repetition and habit are not quite the same thing.

Sometimes growth begins when something unfamiliar enters the room.

A different branch.
A new technique.
An arrangement by another artist.
A question you have never asked yourself before.

You do not need to change everything.

Often, one new idea is enough to make you look at familiar materials differently.

And that is perhaps the simplest way I know to interrupt a pattern: keep giving yourself something new to respond to.

What do you do when your own work starts feeling a little too familiar?

#生け花

🔻Let the Leaves Take Over🔻Leaves are often given a supporting role. This time, the flowers can take the day off.Here, as...
30/08/2026

🔻Let the Leaves Take Over🔻

Leaves are often given a supporting role. This time, the flowers can take the day off.

Here, aspidistra leaves do all the work. Their broad surfaces curve into loops and folds, creating volume and movement. Dark, glossy greens meet yellowing edges and brown markings, while the yellow container picks up those warmer tones.

In ikebana, the Japanese art of arranging botanical materials, leaves offer much more than a background for flowers. Even one kind of leaf gives us plenty to explore.

Last week, we invited our newsletter readers to send a photo of their own arrangement with leaves in the leading role. Haven’t sent yours yet? There’s still time! Send us one picture per person before Monday evening. A new arrangement or an old favourite from your archives, we’d love to see it.

Not receiving our newsletter yet? Sign up through the link in our bio for more inspiration and invitations to join in.

Material: Aspidistra leaves.

#生け花

🔻 Balance Does Not Need Symmetry 🔻Balance does not always mean equal.In this arrangement, most of the visual weight sits...
29/08/2026

🔻 Balance Does Not Need Symmetry 🔻

Balance does not always mean equal.

In this arrangement, most of the visual weight sits on the left. The hydrangea and foliage create a dense, compact area, while one branch reaches far out to the right.

There is no attempt to mirror one side with the other. Instead, balance is created through the relationship between visual weight, direction and space.

That is one of the interesting lessons in ikebana, the Japanese art of arranging botanical materials: an arrangement can feel balanced without being symmetrical.

Sometimes a single line can hold its own against a much heavier group of flowers and leaves.

Take another look at the arrangement. Does your eye feel that it is balanced, even though both sides are completely different?

Follow for more ideas about looking at branches, flowers and space in a different way.

Material: Rhododendron, hydrangea, Brunnera, Heuchera

#生け花

28/08/2026

Not Every Branch Should Behave

When I look for material, I am not necessarily searching for the straightest branch or the most perfect flower.

Quite often, I am looking for the opposite.

This lavender came from my father-in-law’s garden. It had been left to grow rather freely, so the branches had developed curves, angles and little side shoots of their own. In gardening terms, perhaps slightly unruly. For me, that was exactly what made them interesting.

In ikebana, the Japanese art of arranging botanical materials, pruning is important. I remove leaves, flowers and branches to simplify the material and make its strongest qualities more visible.

But simplifying does not mean correcting everything.

If I were to remove every curve and irregularity, I might also remove the character that made me choose the branch in the first place.

So I prune with a question in mind: what can I remove to make the interesting part more visible?

Sometimes good design is not about making nature behave.

It is about noticing where it already has something to say.

#いけばな

27/08/2026

Iedereen Welkom - Everybody Welcome

🔻When the Eye Cannot Rest🔻Follow a curved line and your eye travels smoothly. Follow a zigzag and the journey is repeate...
23/08/2026

🔻When the Eye Cannot Rest🔻

Follow a curved line and your eye travels smoothly. Follow a zigzag and the journey is repeatedly interrupted. At every corner, your eye must change direction.

That is why zigzag lines can evoke tension, agitation or excitement. They keep us alert because they offer little visual rest.

In this arrangement, the large angular structure creates that restless movement without becoming chaotic. The open space and limited number of materials keep the tension controlled. The soft willow catkins temper the sharp angles, while the curved green stem of the Ornithogalum introduces a gentler movement.

In Japanese botanical art, a line does more than create structure. Its direction and character can influence how an arrangement feels.

Which emotion do these zigzag lines evoke in you?

Follow for more insights into creativity with nature.

Material: Ornithogalum, willow branches and willow catkins

#生け花

🔻Teach the Principles, Not the Result🔻There is a time in every student’s training when I tell them exactly where each br...
22/08/2026

🔻Teach the Principles, Not the Result🔻

There is a time in every student’s training when I tell them exactly where each branch should go.

In the basic arrangements, lengths, angles and positions follow strict rules. This is essential. Before students can make confident creative choices, they need to understand proportion, balance, depth and technique.

Later, the role of the teacher changes.

For this class, we worked with wildflowers and weeds. I created this arrangement as my own response: long leaves and stems were folded and bent into open structures, while the small yellow flowers introduced a softer, less predictable rhythm.

It was one possible answer, not a model everyone had to reproduce.

At this stage, my task is to explain the principles, ask questions and help solve technical problems. The students must gradually discover where their own choices lead them.

The foundations may be shared. The results should not be identical.

Good teaching is not about reproducing yourself through your students.

Follow this account for more thoughts on creativity, nature and the Japanese botanical art of ikebana.

Material: Wild grasses, long leaves and yellow wildflowers

#生け花

21/08/2026

🔻Fall in Love with the Tricky One!🔻

Ever fallen for the one that’s harder to love—just because it’s more beautiful when it finally works?

Let me introduce you to nageire, the tall, graceful challenge of ikebana, the Japanese floral art. Unlike moribana, which uses a shallow container and a spiky metal holder (called a kenzan) to keep the stems in place, nageire relies on invisible fixations inside tall vases. It’s trickier, yes—but that’s also part of its magic.

So why might it win your heart?

First, its elegance: when done well, nageire arrangements look as if they float—effortless, serene, like nature whispering in midair. Second, its minimalism: fewer materials, more air and space. And third? Practical beauty. While moribana needs a wide base, nageire fits easily on a narrow shelf or cabinet, bringing refinement to even the smallest corner of your home.

It’s not easy to master. But once you do, you’ll never look at tall vases the same way again.

Follow me for more insights into the Japanese botanical art of flowers and branches.

#生け花

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