entioned the word flower and Jun Alday's face lights up immediately, indicating that 'flora' is his pet subject and watching the enthusiasm with which he describes their beauty,
he could easily convince the most unsympathetic listener that life is not worth living without the presence of flowers.
Jun is probably better known for his outstanding interior designs and, he points out, people are often surprised to learn that he has in fact, been involved in the art of silk flower arranging for almost seven years now. Jun talks about life being divided into cycles and, having come to end of one cycle, a time when he felft he had reached a level of maturity in interior design, he thought that the opening of a new cycle was an auspicious moment to move in a slightly different direction.
Why silk flower arranging? Well, while his mother was pregnant with Jun, she developed an insatiable yen for flowers, (a perfectly understandble craving when you consider the bizarre yearnings of some pregnant women!) and he supposes that he must have inherited this passion. In addition to this, Jun had become rather weary of the 'conveyor belt' effects which were beginning to take place in interior design, and silk flower arranging seemed like the ideal outlet for Jun to practise a more personal and creative artform.
He sites several reasons for choosing silk flowers over their real counterparts; firstly, he noticed that there was really no one else involved in the artform and thus he found the novelty factor most attractive. Even today, seven years later, he has found that there are still relatively few people engaged in this activity and Alday says that he would like to do silk flowers what Jim Thompson did for Thai silk. He dreams of his name being synonymous with silk flowers! Of course, there is the obvious advantage that silk flowrs have over the ephemeral fresh variety in that they are everlasting, though they do require some loving care, and as a result, they are less time-consuming and are only a fraction of the cost of fresh flowers. Furthermore, the superior quality of present day silk flowers means that there is no compromise on the level of beauty either.
There are two principal qualities which characterise Jun's work;
the first being his preference for Western style flower arranging (as opposed to the simple approached used in Ikebana, for example) which consists of gradually building up a bouquet, flower upon flower; abundance is his policy. Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, is the way Alday creates a bouquet to harmonise with an interior space. This means a steady and laborious process of dying silk flowers individually, the colors on his palette being based on the interior in question.
Alday likens the accumulation of flowers to the art of sculpture or hairdressing; there is nothing incidental about his work for every petal has been steamed, teased and blow dried immaculately into place. It is clear from the authority with which he speaks that this is a man who has spent years passionately studying the color and form of flowers. Moreover, he stresses that one has to be familiar with flowers and the way they grow because one cannot simply extract them from their packaging and open them up unthinkingly. To begin with, no matter how carefully they have been packed, silk flowers are so delicate that they nearly always suffer a litttle in transit, so they have to be steamed in order to return them to their original condition and much thought has to be applied to the way in which they are opened as it should resemble the natural unfurling which occurs by sunlight.
It should be noted, however, that silk flowers do not take kindly to direct sunlight like fresh flowers do for it causes their discoloration (even though this can sometimes produce a pleasing effect) and dust is a second problem which can be easily remedied by using delicate paintbrush and, once again, Jun recommends the steaming technique.
Alday does not discourage the use of fresh flowers because they do have their own special value; he, on the other hand, offers a cheaper version yet without compromising aesthetics and quality for there are more and more unusual species evolving in silk flowers and their unusual colors are developed scientifically so as to imitate nature more exactly.
Of flowers he says that they used to be regarded as special and luxury purchase but in the flourishing economic climate of Hong Kong, flowers, without losing their special qualities, have become an everyday consideration, an integral part of life. Everywhere you look, hotel foyers, restaurants, and homes are enhanced by blooms, silk or otherwise and Alday himself feels incomplete without the unique language of flowers in his life.
Mentioned the word flower and Jun Alday's face lights up immediately, indicating that 'flora' is his pet subject and watching the enthusiasm with which he describes their beauty,
he could easily convince the most unsympathetic listener that life is not worth living without the presence of flowers.
