Behind the scenes: How our Flowers of Celebration are made
Emma from our Fundraising team spent the day with ceramicist Hanna Salomonsson to see how she creates each flower ready to be delivered to the Hospice.
Hanna Salomonsson (Oknytt Ceramics) has worked with the Hospice for the last five years, designing and creating our beautiful Flowers of Celebration keepsakes which go on sale each summer. Emma, our Legacy and In-Memory Officer visited her in her studios in Lea Bridge earlier this month to see the magic behind the flowers.
Hanna uses porcelain clay to shape the flowers. The small petal details are created using a sharp, needle-like tool, whilst the textured middle is made using a tea strainer.
The flowers are created one at at time, which is why each flower is slightly different from the next. They are then ready to go in for their first firing to harden the clay.
The flowers are then glazed with the darker yellow colour on the petals and fired again at a higher temperature. For the centre of the flower, transparent glaze is mixed with a stain to create the buttery yellow centre.
You can see here the flowers at the different stages. Note the difference in size after each firing.
Hanna delivers the flowers to the Hospice in June, ready for our team to plant them in the Garden of Celebration, which opens on Saturday 11th July.
Emma said “It’s amazing to see the work that goes into creating each flower. We know how important they are to our supporters, many of whom have taken part since Flowers of Celebration began in 2022, who treasure their flowers as a way to remember their loved ones.”
Hanna said: “It’s really special to me that all of these flowers represent an individual, and that it gives people the opportunity to come together at the Hospice to remember the person that they’ve lost.”