Design
38
October | 2021
"My sense is to revamp sympathy work from the stiff ,
archaic traditional badges of honor to more creative,
individual expressions refl ecting the personality of
a person's life well lived. inking diff erently about
sympathy work and designing pieces for a life event—
sympathy design work is event work. Designs can be
assembled to last for the amount of time that they
need to look good, minimizing the use of some of the
polluting elements in supplies and making disposing
of the fl owers much more organic and decomposable."
Last spring, Gilliam and Brenna Quan, AIFD, CFD,
off ered a virtual design class during which they
explored new shapes, stylings and combinations
of botanicals for thoughtful, beautiful tributes for
celebrations of life.
Quan's cremation-urn frame featured on the opposite
page could be taken home to create a decorative
mantelpiece for the remains of a loved one, using
a combination of plants and fresh fl owers.
About her design featured on Page 37, Quan says,
" is one is for a vineyard owner or wine enthusiast,
with reeds mimicking the rows of growing grapes and
the inclusion of fresh grapevine and grape clusters."
Floral design and photo by
Brenna Quan, AIFD, CFD
e design (left) was created in memory of a lover of
gardening, Quan's "plank" design is fl oral-foam free; she
created it by attaching several " e Pillow®" Foam-free
Design Mechanics from Syndicate Sales' "Holly Heider
Chapple Exclusively for Syndicate" collection to a frame
of reclaimed wood fencing boards.
Floral design
and photo by
Brenna Quan,
AIFD, CFD
