Korean Flower Arrangement~ An inspiring artform

Korean Traditional flower arrangement is called KothKoji 꽃꽂이 is fast gaining popularity around the world along with the K-Pop, K- Dramas, Samsung, and well, Korea itself. Worlds apart from the Western flower arrangement- wherein the lush greens intermingle with the flowers, Kothkoji has less greens and more cleaner and well-defined lines using branches, stalks and flowers. K-Flower arrangement, I find, is kind of a midway between its neighboring cousin of Ikebana (Japanese flower arrangement) and the Western arrangements. While Ikebana is simplicity itself, with a minimalistic use of flowers, leaves and branches, K-Flower arrangement uses much more greenery and flowers but not to the extent of the Western arrangements.

Learning Kothkoji was not a simple task as it involves ripping off the leaves- which i found totally undoable and appalling, until the lines of the branches are visible. Flowers, stalks and branches are arranged the complementing each other in a triangle with a main stem, secondary and tertiary stems. There are three main styles in Korean Flower Arrangement: The Upright style, Slanting style and Hanging style. Hard as it was to remove off perfectly beautiful leaves only to put them back in the arrangement as a filler, learning kothkoji has been a rollercoaster ride into the beautiful Korean culture. However hard it was, the end result was always so beautiful, so serene and harmonious that i have come to adore this art form <3 p="">

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