In the newly released book from Studio Mondine, Ikebana Unbound, authors Amanda Luu and Ivanka Matsuba present a modern and comprehensible perspective on Ikebana, the centuries-old Japanese art of floral arranging. Through a combination of theoretical fundamentals, history, and floral recipes, readers find the tools to work at their own pace, following step-by-step or improvising with their own designs. Amanda and Ivanka make Ikebana approachable enough for even a complete novice (like me) to follow.

“We encourage you to let go of expectations and instead take a sort of outcome-neutral approach to arranging, with complete acceptance of what will greet you on the other side of the process—it’s where the greatest surprise will find you.”
-Ikebana Unbound by Amanda Luu & Ivanka Matsuba

I was nervous about attempting Ikebana myself. Although I’ve successfully created other basic arrangements in the past, even the idea of selecting materials intimidated me. The recipes laid out in the book are stunning and I was and continue to be eager to dive in and re-create each of them. I wanted to test and build some basic practical techniques first. This led me to a delightful morning wander through the flower district.

The biggest challenge for me turned out to be actually getting started. Since I wanted to work on a more improvisational piece of my own, when I got home and set out my market haul, I had no idea where to begin! Falling back on design school practices, I began with a sort of warm-up, making several quick thumbnail sketches of arrangements I loved. This helped me get an idea of the basic shape and proportion I wanted to achieve, and it was just the ice-breaker that I needed and the resulting arrangements were a success.

I can’t wait to get started on some more.
- Aneka Yamada