Jackie & Daughter Flower Shop owner Shawn Brown CFD, Kutztown, recently participated in the American Institute of Floral Designers professional floral design evaluation in California. Brown is now an internationally certified floral designer.
“It’s very cool,” said Brown about earning her floral certification, which is the first step of the Professional Floral Design Evaluation; the ultimate goal is to become an accredited member of AIFD. “It was exciting to go to California and be among all of my peers. There were probably six different languages (spoken).”
In addition to Americans, Brown said there were people from Korea, Asia, and Australia, to name a few.
“It’s cool because we all do the same thing. To talk to people from all over the world, you know them because we all do this,” she said. “That was probably the best part.”
First passing a written test, Brown was invited to go to the hands-on evaluation in Annaheim, Calif. this summer.
“You can’t take anything in with you,” she said, noting that phones were prohibited.
Brown was allowed to bring five tools, including a design knife, stem cutter, wire cutter, needle nose pliers. Held in a large ballroom of a hotel, the 140 design candidates each had their own design table.
“You have no idea what you’re going to have to make or what product they’re going to give you to make it until you step into the ballroom,” she said. “So it’s crazy. It’s just so intense.”
Brown walked in nervous and found out what five designs she had to make within four hours.
“They start the clock. You’re not allowed to talk. No one’s allowed to speak to you,” she said.
Finishing her first piece in 20 minutes, Brown’s confidence was boosted.
“Four hours were like gone in no time,” she said.
Once completed, she cleared her table, placed a cloth on the table and presented her five pieces. The next day, judges evaluated the designs based on 10 points of professional floral design including mechanics, balance, color, theme, line, and creativity.
“Then you don’t find out the results for like three weeks, which is torture,” said Brown, who returned home after attending the AIFD National Symposium “Inspiration” in Orange County, Calif. held a week after the evaluation.
“They do these fantastic presentations and it’s just their time to play basically,” she said.
Brown enjoyed the experience taking the evaluation.
“It’s like getting an education. It’s testing your skills, honing your skills. What we do in that evaluation is nothing that is done day to day in a shop here,” she said. “The level of techniques you use, that makes it really interesting, too. It’s bringing you up a higher level.”
For Brown, it was about educating herself and becoming a better designer. To maintain the professional designation, CFD designers must accumulate 25 hours of floral design continuing education or serve in floral associations.
“It pushes you to learn new things,” said Brown. “It opens up new doors for me.”
Brown has been working in the floral industry for 30 years of which Jackie & Daughter Flower Shop has been in business in Kutztown for 20 years. She trained at Hixson School of Design in Ohio about 30 years ago.
