Fionne Tan

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Fionne Tan

Flower loving Story-Teller. Transcending all things Ethereal to Eternal.

29/07/2024

Moving on to embrace RED in hot mid-summer

red roses

29/07/2024

The little things.

flatlay of boutannaire buttonholes

22/07/2024

Exploring new colours, textures and forms that I would never imagine myself choosing. Who knew that purple with dusty yellow in muted tones will turn out this good?

20/07/2024

Celebrating nasturtiums in light. I had been eyeing them for weeks now, wondering if I will ever be able to make a bowl purely out of it (well, I did snuck a few pieces of heuchera in 🫢).

a bowl of nasturtium flowers

19/07/2024

A little red poppy moment.

17/07/2024

On a windowsill. I’m not sure if I like it on the inside or outside more though.

flower bowl arrangement on a windowsill

11/07/2024

Urn on a windowsill.

flower urn arrangement windowsill

09/07/2024

The light hits differently at every corner, at different times of the day.

a handed bouquet of British flowers in vase

03/07/2024

Windowsill with leftovers flowers

ikebana inspired flower arrangement in a windowsill

29/06/2024

The little things I love 🫶🏻

26/06/2024

This time round I resisted the urge to take it apart and let the urn age and dry up over time, taking time to observe how it changes day by day. I even had to bear the stench (can anyone relate to this?) from the murky waters of the rotting stems.

This is what I had observed:
🌷: Nectaroscordum heads will close up when dried
🌼: The curves of linaria, lupins and snapdragons changes and moves along the days; has it got to do with light?
🌺: The arrangement “moves” and becomes looser and “see-through” as days go by
🌸: Foxgloves grow upwards with new flowers shooting out from the top. Call me ignorant but I didn’t know that. They are really lasting as well; I had some stalks that lasted for 3 weeks and counting. It might be my new favourite flower for now.
🥀: Colours fade and the palette gets darker and darker

Quite surprising, I liked the shape of the urn better when it’s left to do its own things. Five days in, I raised my white flag and took it apart; and it’s quite a satisfaction taking them down.

25/06/2024

Yesterday, I took Stubby for a long walk around the neighbourhood in the evening. The weather has gotten a lot hotter this week. I observed and heard the sounds of children playing; people rushing back home after a day at work; neighbours tending to their plants on their patio; the occasional stop for a chat to familiar faces along the way. The smell of freshly cut grass with hot air from the afternoon sun emitting from the concrete paths, mixed in together with the cool evening breeze lingers on to me. It’s a familiar feeling I had when I commute back home from work Singapore. It all felt very nostalgia and made me miss home a little more.

evening walks observations and nostalgic thoughts of hometown

19/06/2024

She told me that she doesn’t like or appreciates flowers. But I secretly saw her to plopping them into a vase of water when it was left on the table for a while with no water source. This made my heart full. Indeed, who doesn’t love flowers?

13/06/2024

Our little boy turned TWO at the end of last month!

I baked a strawberry cheesecake for him and created a small table scape full of British flowers. This might be more of a treat for me though, as I got to play with all these leftover goodness from a workshop I helped out earlier the week. We got all his best friends to gather together and had a little birthday celebration for him.

Two years on, and Stubby still doesn’t like to play or be with other “real” dogs; thankfully he is neutral amongst them. I used to worry if there this is a behavioural issue or trauma that he had; but I think it might be that he is an extremely introverted dog (like me lol).

Thank you little Stubby for coming into our lives; you have given us so much joy and rewarded us so much more than we thought we can have. May there be many more flower parties in years to come!

With love, Mummy and Daddy

13/06/2024

Stubby’s Birthday Party incoming…

03/06/2024

Occasionally, I do love buying flowers for myself as the possibilities of what I can create with them are endless. With no particular brief or look, I get inspired by anything around me and use the same flowers for a bouquet, before taking them apart into a bowl arrangement, another smaller bowl arrangement, with bits and pieces of vase arrangements dotted across the house; taking my time to observe all the small frilly bits that changes as time passes each day. No comparison, no judgment, no worrying about what others may think; just me and myself with what I liked.

Flowers from lovedayblooms (unable to tag) and foraged. Thank you for the beautiful flowers.

01/06/2024

Beginnings: The excitement and thrill of not knowing what the outcome will be.

01/06/2024

May last year; when it wasn’t quite the time for many focal flowers to arrive yet. The start of the season where I began to observe what is around me other than the usual flowers you find in the markets. Also, I peculiarly fell in love with this gap of the season, with only having all the frothy little details I can play with. It just doesn’t get quite enough!

28/05/2024

These were the words I jotted down as my after-thoughts for this; I felt “very heavy but at the same time light-hearted”, “I wanted to cry but I can’t”, and most importantly “this is not the most perfect thing but its the feelings that matters most”. I did a little reel on my inner thoughts of this creation some time ago if you would like to hear more. Fionne ###

18/05/2024

Prior to creating anything I never knew how it will end up looking like. There is a mix of having both thrill and anxiety to it; excited of what I can possibly create, and worried of what injustice to the beautiful flowers I may do to them. Likewise, this wasn’t exactly what I had envisioned myself doing when I was picking the flowers. I was initially drawn to the dark purplish frilled tulip and Aquilegia, and had wanted to build a dark rich palette hue around it (I did at last - see my earlier post!). As I was getting down to work, only one out of the three tulips opened up to show its inner beauty whilst the other two were still in its closed green buds to fully show its colour. I did consider reflexing them, but it won’t be as natural looking as I wanted them to be. At the same time, I was equally drawn to the peachy tone ranunculus and was having a little debate on how to bridge them up; I thought I’ll find some answers in the foliage choice. But it’s spring now with tons of fresh greenery around me; I had difficulty finding the golden bronze rusty tone I was looking for (except for one which was a pleasant surprise find; if you can spot and guess which is it?), and ended up with tons of fresh greens. That said, I’m always reminded that this “challenge” is exactly why I love working with British flowers; because I will never know what I can find and what I can do with it.

All this cannot be done without the beautiful flowers from , Clare from lovedayblooms (I’m unable to tag her here) and bits and pieces that I’ve found around me.

thought process of a spring bowl arrangement made up of British grown flowers

17/05/2024

🦋🫶🏻

📷:

16/05/2024

A bowl of sweet dried crinkled dead flowers… with love.

14/05/2024

Inspired by a piece of pilea peperomioides that I’ve broke from the plants while I was repotting it; together with a pile of rocks hoping all who are lost will find their way out eventually.

Flowers by and foraged

a simple arrangement made of British tulips and aquilegia and foliage

03/05/2024

Although I recall the warm feeling of hers enclasping into mine, I didn’t had any chance to take a closer look at the hands of my grandma; that is until I took close shots of it and began to observe it in detail as I was editing them.

I see the beauty of her hands. They are the ones that held my hands tightly when I am down, carried me in her arms when I was young, cooked, cleaned and provided the best she can for me. And before I knew it, this precious hands of hers has aged. So much. But still so beautiful to me.

families elderly aged hands gifting and creating memories together with flowers and photography of my grandmother because she deserves it

30/04/2024

The arrangement made with the flowers cut from my small outdoor patio. The stems were a little short, and a few of them were at the verge of its end; It’s a little tricky getting them to hold in place working with a pin holder balanced on an uneven plastic bottle base that moves constantly (I didn’t stick it down). Because of the small collection of plants I have, the flowers were all flowering at different stages and I wasn’t certain if there will be a time where I can harvest them all to put it into an arrangement. I’m glad I manage to make something out of it. Granted, not all were grown from seed by me; but there were a few plants that I thrifted at discounted price when it wasn’t looking at its best, and cared for it through the harsh winter. Especially the geums, I had thought there was no hope after it turned brown over winter; I’m thankful that I held it out and didn’t bin it. I’m beginning to understand why people found it such a joy to grow their own flowers; even if it’s a little bit here and there.

When I showed my husband what I was up to, he asked if I had already cut them or was it still in their pots. I guess I can say this is a successful garden inspired arrangement? Heeee x

30/04/2024

Spring in a bouquet

30/04/2024

What I could do with just nine stems of anemones on hand.

dark and moody anemone ikebana inspired flowers

30/04/2024

At the edge of crumpling … towards the end.

flower urn arrangement British tulips

30/04/2024

All cut in the early morning from my little outdoor patio. I think it will be a little bit of a stretch calling that space a garden. Although I’m thankful it, the long narrow dimension made it less efficient for any growing to be done. It is fully made up of concrete slabs littered with cardboard boxes as pot bases; and I’m in constant battle with strong high winds, direct afternoon sunlight, spider webs infestation, pigeon poo, soap water/cigarette butts, green algae, dead leaves and dust from the construction site next to us.

But I’m going to try growing in some containers this year. It’s hard, growing only with recyclables such as strawberry punnets, toilet rolls and egg cartons. So far, I’ve lost most of my cosmos seedlings from the strong wind (my bad, I didn’t water them enough or held them down). But I’m remaining hopeful for the phlox, nasturtiums and eschscholzia californica (please please grow!). And now it’s back to checking every hour or so to ensure that they don’t fly away from the wind, shifting it around from the direct sun, taking them out in the morning, and bringing them back in the evening, and figuring out the next step of knowing when they are “big enough” to pot them up. Maybe I should include in a singing session. I have turned these ingredients into an arrangement, which I’ll share in my next post.

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http://www.fionnetan.com/

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Videos

Chronicles of the frosted salmon poppies; from when it first pop till it dries up. #sgfloristinlondon #poppies #chroniclesofaflower #flowerjourney #salmonpoppies #alittlebeautyeveryday

My lovely stubby to brighten up your day 😉 #sgfloristinlondom #stubbymongmong #maltesedog #bowlarrangement #britishflowers #bowlflowers #nofloralfoam #grownnotflown #sustainablefloristry

A week ago, I came to this place. Dark gloomy clouds overcast the skies, the winds were cold and harsh. We were unsure if it will rain and didn’t have the chance to walk down the river. A week later, the sun hung brightly above us; and everyone was out with their pints. The flowers shone more brightly than ever; the tides higher than normal and the ducklings came out to play. Even the flowers in the water were swaying along with the water current more beautifully than ever. Summer is coming indeed. #summeriscoming #ukweather #strandonthegreen #chiswickw4 #riverwalk

As the day surrenders to the night, under hues of soft pastels of dusk, I’m trying to perfect my flower spin; several attempts were made to capture that perfect spin; before a disaster happened where I toppled it when I spun too hard putting a stop to the spins (finally!). No pictures of the spill included :x Flowers from @bellersblooms lovedayblooms (can’t tag her here) and foraged around. #sgfloristinlondon #flowerspin #grownnotflown #localflowers #seasonalflowers #sustainablefloristry #nofloralfoam

After battling with the jet lag, a drastic change in temperature, feeling homesick, running around with chores and spending time with Stubby; I’m finally back. Here is a little glimpse of what my November looks like, and maybe a little advertisement to my hometown ;) There is so much to share from the trip that I don’t think this will be the only update. So thankful for all the time spent with family and friends, over the catch up sessions and laughters which hasn’t been fully encapsulated in this short clip (well, you all know who you are!) November has been good! Can’t wait to be back home :) God Bless. With love, Fionne #sgfloristinlondon #singapore #novembervlog #familytime

Peachy-pink lemony bronzy tone, with a subtle sash of raspberry reds made of Dahlias, Chrysanthemums, Asters and a whole load of late summer flowers on a slow afternoon; with gentle streams of light peeking into @aesmestudio. Thank you for letting me make such dreamy bouquets with your beautiful flowers. . . . . . #sgfloristinlondon #bouquet #weddingbouquet #seasonalflowers #localflowers #britishflowers #latersummer #dahliahs #chrysanthenums #grownnotflown #london #westlondon

Thirty-one days of Summer in July Outings with Stubby @syonparkofficial @chiswick_house @chiswickflowermkt and a new groom for Stubby, encountering the heaviest rain I have ever experienced in UK, reunited with my favourite tree in @doddingtonhall, the English rose season, working on my first English wedding outside of London with @aesmestudio, playing with flowers, taking leisure walks around the neighbourhood, the first few flower that bloomed in my (garden) space and ending off the month with a food festival by @thebrentfordproject where Stubby snagged free food from a lovely stall vendor! That’s what I’ve been up to in July. All shots from my iPhone raw, unedited and unfiltered. . . . . #sgfloristinlondon #summer #july #flowers #bouquets #arrangements #unfiltered #raw #dailylife #maltesedog #stubby #stubbymongmong #london #brentford #westlondon #syonpark #chiswickhouseandgardens #slowliving #thisthingcalledslowliving #writingitalldown #summerdays

#sgfloristinlondon #ukflorist #londonflorist #spring #springflowers #nofloralfoam #britishflowers #localflowers #seasonalflorals #sustainablefloristry #floralinstallations #meadows #artofslowliving #slowlivingforlife #embracingslowliving #ofsimplethings #thesimpleeveryday #calmcollected #healingjourney #imperfectionism #selflovejourney #thisthingcalledslowliving

And in summer, I spent a day walking around Hampstead and exploring the area. Clearly, my time had been frozen in the warmer days. Here’s me sending some warmth in this cold winter 🥰 #london #hampstead #inspiredbynature #flowersmakemehapoy #londonflorist #kenwood #hampsteadheath

▪︎something sweet is brewing▪︎ Sometimes you don't have to go far to discover to find something precious. Instead of looking at what we don't have, look at what we have here. The nearer it is, the easier it is to miss it out.