Cars, flowers mark 50th anniversary
Old car parts once destined for the scrap heap have been given a new lease of life.
Radiators, hub caps, and even old bonnets sprang up in floral arrangements that are all part of the 50th anniversary of the Taranaki Area Floral Art Collective held at the Quality Hotel Plymouth International this weekend.
This year’s floral entries had to incorporate a section of a 1950s cars into their floral designs.
‘‘We thought that 50 years of floral art and the 1950s’ cars were a good fit,’’ chairman of the Taranaki Area Floral Art Collective Raewyn Wolfe said.
‘‘It takes months of organisation and a long time to put together.’’
Thirty-three entrants from six floral art clubs around Taranaki entered the competition and each club decorated a car as well for the show.
Four cars, a VW kombi a motorbike and tractor were all given a floral make-over.
‘‘The clubs decided on how they wanted to display their designs.’’ Wolfe said. ’’Not one of the entries are the same, they’re all different.’’
The regional competition has four categories novice, junior, intermediate and senior categories.
Juniors had to utilise a hubcap, intermediates a spring, seniors were given a standing on the brakes theme and the open category had a ‘those were the days’ theme so they could use any
‘‘We thought that being 50 years of floral art and the 1950s' cars were a good fit.’’
Raewyn Wolfe
car part they liked.
Depending on the category, the competitors were given a size and brief to stick to that all followed rules set out by the World association of floral arts.
‘‘The freestanding all around displays are the hardest to do,’’ Wolfe said.
‘‘This can be an expensive hobby as fresh flowers can be quite expensive.’’
However, she said you didn’t need to be a flower arts guru to enter the competition.
‘‘We cater for all ages and all skill levels,’’ she said.
The floral art display is set up to run in conjunction with the floral art designer of the Year for Taranaki who goes on to represent the region at a national competition.
Last year Taranaki floral artist Judy Williams finished runner-up in that competition.