Darcy Paul: Museum of tranquility

After saying his opening speech presenting Sensei Fusako Hoyrup with a proclamation honoring the 48th anniversary of her school and helping with the ribbon cutting event, Cupertino Mayor Darcy Paul was finally able to walk around the showroom. He admired the different ikebana displays made by both adult and children artists. For Paul, who spends a lot of time in the Quinlan Community Center, seeing the center rearranged to accommodate the variety of ikebana is fascinating and something he describes as a “museum of flowers and tranquility.”

Paul has attended Wafu Ikebana showcases in the past, but this year, he’s able to memorialize his official tour in a different way.

"I actually have one of the new iPhones, and they have this portrait mode and ever since I realized it was there, I thought 'Wow, the flower show would be perfect for this,’” Paul said. "So I've been waiting for that ever since I got the phone."

Though the displays based on people’s individual aesthetics pop out a bit more to him, Paul finds something to appreciate about each and every display — from learning about botany, the arrangement to the general philosophy of peace and tranquility.

On a larger scale, Paul sees the showcase as an event that is well appreciated by the community. Both in his role as mayor and as a community member Paul appreciates the time and effort the members of the Wafu School of Ikebana have put into setting up the display and can appreciate the amount of passion that comes from the artists both in creating the flower arrangements but also in volunteering for the event.

“It's precisely the kind of thing that you want to promote as a community member,” Paul said.

As for the event he had to attend after the showcase, Paul may continue to find use for his new iPhone’s portrait mode.

“I actually would've brought my family except my older daughter has her birthday today,” Paul said. “I'm going to go and help prepare for that.”

Calvin Wong: Engineering a passion

Calvin Wong has been doing ikebana for a long time, 20 years to be exact. An engineer by trade, Wong started to make flower arrangements instead of buying ready-made ones as a way to save a little bit of money. He then spent a year learning a Western style of flower arrangement until he got to the point where he was able to make arrangements similar to those in grocery stores. Looking for a way to advance his skills, Wong stumbled upon ikebana classes.

“And at that point I didn't know what ikebana was. So I said ‘Ok, it's flower arranging, I'll see what I can learn there,’” Wong said, “And after that, I got hooked on, and the rest is history.”

It took Wong around six years of classes, once a week, to advance to a teaching level, and he now teaches classes during the week and also helps with demonstrations during exhibitions. Wong hopes to continue as long as he is physically able. For him, the classes serve a dual purpose. The day of his class he is forced to leave work early so that he can make it to classon time, in that way it helps force a better work life balance. Once the class has begun, and Wong begins creating his arrangement, the class helps him relax and destress. There needs to be a certain amount of focus to create a flower display that distracts him from thoughts of work or deadlines.

While creating his arrangements, Wong is particularly aware of the color combinations he chooses. One of Wong’s sons is red-green colorblind, and combinations of the two colors are washed out to him, appearing as shades of brown. This awareness also extends past flower arrangements to Wong’s work with web designs.

At the showcase Wong served alongside Mayshine Hwang as a demonstrator, teaching a crowd of more than a hundred people, all packed into a repurposed dance room, how to do ikebana. Placing twisted kiwi branches as the foundation in his first arrangement, Wong laughed as host and fellow teacher Thanh Nguyen shared an anecdote.

“We normally say that the tall, medium and short [foundations] — one, two and three — [are] man, heaven and earth,” Nguyen said. “I have some children in my class. And when I explained to them, a six year old girl said, ‘What happened to women?’ So now we can’t call it heaven, man, and earth. [We use] human, little human.”

Mayshine Hwang: The souls of plants

For ikebana teacher Mayshine Hwang, flowers are much more than simply decorations to gaze at, rather there is something more profound to them. In fact, she likens plants to people: some are easy-going and require low maintenance, while others may require a little more nurturing and attention. Regardless, both people and plants possess souls of their own. As the life of a plant comes to a close, its seeds are blown by wind, taking root in another location and reincarnated as another form of life.

“So just like people,” Hwang said, “when they die, they cremate and become dust. But when we die, we don’t know. There’s reincarnation [that] goes to another life. But on this life, like today, I [happened to] meet you. So we cherish this moment right? [But] the next life? I don’t know you anymore.”

Laughing, Hwang mentions that she often tells her children they should cherish one another, because in the next life, they will be different people in different locations and may never encounter one another again. She relates this appreciation back to her ikebana roots: one must make sure the their garden of family and friends grows strong and healthy.

Ikebana is a kind of stress reliever for Mayshine and her arrangements often reflect her current mood. If she is happy, her designs are characterized by bright colors and shiny flowers, while the occasion of a marriage calls for a more romantic flair.

“You look at your vase and then [how you’re] going to do the arrangement, what style,” Hwang said. “It's your idea. And then branch, flower, material, you pick all of this and then just do it.”

Hwang first started flower arranging as a teenager in Taiwan, her home country, but it wasn’t until she immigrated to America that she learned the ikebana style of arrangement from Fusako Hoyrup, her sensei and the President of Wafu School of Ikebana California Chapter. Hwang considers her a strict and excellent teacher.

In order for an artist to earn their teaching degree, they must first earn their sensei’s recommendation. Afterwards, the according paperwork is sent to Tokyo, Japan, the headquarters of Wafu Ikebana. The headmaster in Japan then presents the ikebana artist with their flower name, and the artist must be compliant with whatever name they are given. Hwang’s flower name is “Musei,” which signifies that she has achieved the level of an ikebana teacher.

After her 24 years at the school, Hwang achieved her “Somu” degree in 2012, the third-highest teaching degree one can receive and something that could be considered equivalent to that amount of work needed for a PhD.

And each round of claps after her finished demonstrations is certainly a testament to her skill.

Thomas Arakawa: Foundations of the flowers

Although not always in the spotlight, pottery manufacturer Thomas Arakawa’s creations are an indispensable part of ikebana arrangements at the showcase.

“The vessel shouldn't look too glamorous because the flower is main [sic], and we keep it down on the design element but still make it look interesting, and that's always a challenge,” Arakawa said. "Usually artist likes to make their piece to come out [sic] in front but we're in the background to make the main look good.”

Although Arakawa initially worked as an accountant, he began attending pottery class on Saturdays, and has now been manufacturing pottery for eight years and making vases for six. Arakawa and his wife Cathy Lee Arakawa make everything from dinnerware to succulent pots, and work with around four different ikebana schools.

However, it wasn’t always easy for Arakawa — when he first started making vases for ikebana schools, most of them were rejects. The challenge to making flower vases, Arakawa says, is the functionality. The vessel has to brace the flower, requiring certain shapes and rules to make it work. In addition, Arakawa has to account for the different styles of every flower arrangement school in his creations. To do this, Arakawa interviews each customer.

“[Some don’t] just [say] ‘This is not good.’ They'll say why and what color is good and the height and specifications,” Arakawa said. “They spend a lot of time and especially Fusako sensei had a biggest arrangement. She spent days talking to us about what could be [sic].”

However, the constructive criticism is much appreciated. According to Arakawa, the people of the Wafu School of Ikebana have truly invested their time in him and his pottery, a driving reason for his dedication to this specific school.

“We're making [a] living just doing this,” Arakawa said. “Just because of this community.”

Student Arrangements from the Showcase