Saying it with flowers!

Orchids and marigolds make an exquisite combination at gorgeous ceremonies

Only a couple of years back, the decorations depended on the artistic instincts of family members or on the lucky couple's friends studying at the art college. Katabon near New Market thrived on decorating the bridal chambers and wedding cars; it wasn't uncommon to see double parked cars all along the road, and people swarming over them, plastering strings of flowers with scotch tape.

The pioneer in the field of floral arrangement was a boutique called Ikebana which was set up in 1992. The creative duo behind Ikebana, Enu and Nina, have since then enjoyed tremendous success in popularising this art form.

Nina has been a flower enthusiast since her childhood. Going back in time, she recalls helping her mother in gardening; planting and nurturing different types of flowers in their backyard. "I used to copy the floral arrangements that I saw in the calendars," she says.

"In 1972, I signed up at the Japanese Consulate for a course in floral arrangements," she adds. Soon, she started her preliminary training under Kazoi Zoha, a Japanese teacher who was an expert in this field. After finishing this course Nina took up advanced training and completed her course in floral decoration from the Ikebana School of O'Hara in Japan.

Later, Nina joined Kazoi as an associate and started a flower club offering training courses. Here she continued for more than a decade. It was a matter of time before Nina and her childhood friend Enu, decided to take their passion a step further and set up Ikebana.

The name Ikebana refers to the Japanese style of floral arrangement. Though the initial designs were made with fresh flowers only, they soon started experimenting with dry flowers, twigs, hay, corn, dried seeds, leaves, colourful ribbons and even translucent shamiyanas.

The small gift shop gradually became the talk of the town. Wide eyed couples getting married eagerly wanted their wedding halls to be decorated by Nina and Enu's artistic patterns. Often during the busy wedding season, their team had to work on five venues at once. To meet the demand for exclusive designs, Ikebana started to fly in exotic flowers and plants from neighbouring countries.

Ikebana now employs a staff of over 50 and offers not only home services but also landscaping services to the corporate offices. However, flowers are still their main focus and they continue to take charge of floral decorations at grand weddings, State programs, banquets, conferences, spectacular archways, prestigious venues such as the Bongobhobon, Gonobhobon and other State guest houses.

The highlight of their work came when they were chosen to decorate the conference centres for Saarc Summit in '93, Saaf Games in '94 and the D-8 Summit in '98. Given the sheer scale of the project, the work was amongst the most challenging that they had undertaken.

Ikebana has now almost become a household name. The two gifted ladies, Nilufar Faruque Nina and Enu Shamsuddin, take great pride in their work. In their view, their work should reflect not only the mood of the occasion but also appeal to the viewers as a piece of art. Starting off on a whole new concept, Ikebana over the last 12 years has managed to combine both local and foreign art forms into one taking the age-old tradition to newer heights.