Our last meeting for the year will be held at Khandallah Presbyterian Church Hall, 33 Ganges Road, on Sunday December 7 at 2pm until 4pm. Masako will lead the workshop arranging material for celebrations. Masako has provide the following notes:

“Sogetsu textbooks refer to arrangements for festive occasions (Book 1-20 and Book 2-20), specific occasions or spaces (Book 4-19), and celebrations (Boo 5-11). 

Please choose one occasion to arrange an ikebana to make someone or group of people feel special. 

Rather than following such so-called taboos, be flexible and put the first priority on making the recipients happy. 

You can choose any materials or vases for this workshop”

Our November workshop will be held on Sunday 9 November at 2pm - 4pm in the Khandallah Presbyterian Church Hall, 33 Ganges Road.

For this workshop choose a vase that is pre-loved, maybe something you found at an Op Shop, a family hand-me-down or something you bought from another ikebanist. It may have special significance for you when you consider it’s past.

Sandi and Helen will lead this workshop and hope to have another member also demonstrating. You may choose any style of arrangement for your ikebana, but it should showcase the vase.

On Sunday 12 October, 2pm - 4pm, a workshop led by Helen will be held in Khandallah Presbyterian Church Hall, 33 Ganges Road.

Helen has provided the following notes:

For this workshop please cut your own materials, branches, leaves and/or flowers and observe how they were growing. It is then easy to make an ikebana arrangement, whether upright, slanting, or horizontal.

Over the years that I have been studying and teaching ikebana I have noticed that students who pick their own materials learn ikebana more quickly and show the materials to best advantage.

The idea for this workshop came to me from Julie Middleton. Julie studied ikebana with me for most of the last 10 years and I can’t remember her ever buying flowers.

She was an expert gardener and used materials from her garden in her ikebana. She also helped others with their garden maintenance and collected flowers and branches from these gardens. I would like you to use materials you pick yourself for this workshop as I have noticed that ikebanists who cut their own materials plan their ikebana ahead and don’t waste the plants.

 Julie had special places to pick if she needed a certain material and you may find that you can do the same. If your neighbour has a branch that you want to use, do ask them first and usually people are happy to share.

Our September workshop will be held on Sunday 14th September from 2 to 4pm in the Khandallah Presbyterian Church Hall. Kate will demonstrate how to use bamboo in our arrangements and will bring bamboo for us to use. Kate has provided the following notes about Bamboo: 

“It was the Third Iemoto Hiroshi Teshigahara who brought bamboo to the fore in Sogetsu Ikebana. He created large-scale works of undulating and bending bamboo which included straight and curved lines.

The current Iemoto Akane Teshigahara has continued to present large scale bamboo works often incorporating branches and flowering material.

In this workshop we will work on a much smaller scale. We will experiment and play with bamboo to discover ways to use it in our ikebana. I will bring a variety of pieces and sizes of bamboo some cut and some for you to cut or shape yourself.

Please bring some branch and flower material along with some wire. You may like to bring 1-2 containers as your ikebana will be dependent on the bamboo pieces you decide to use.”

Our Ikebana workshop will be held on Sunday August 10, from 2pm to 4pm in the Khandallah Presbyterian Church hall. Setsuko will lead the workshop. It will be an opportunity to practice your arrangement for our September Exhibition at the Begonia House. Setsuko has provided the following notes on her theme:

"Through your flower arrangements, your sensibility blooms, and your love for flowers blossoms into confidence.” “How can we achieve that?  Please read through the following quotes as your reference.

Sofu Teshigahara wrote about ‘Good Ikebana’ in one of his Lesson notes (Ikebana Sogetsu No. 256 June 2001).

“Good ikebana has movement within it. Plants don't move, but they should look as if they're moving. In Sogetsu ikebana, a feeling of movement comes from the arrangement. Green colour gives the impression of movement because when we look at a plant, we react instantly to its green mass.

‘Beauty’ is an abstract word that refers primarily to colour but also to shape. Beautiful shape is a product of lines and mass. Remember that lines move but mass doesn't when you decide where to give emphasis to movement and mass. It is important to remember that ikebana is not just about lines and mass. The originality and sophistication of the artist are also important. 

Of the utmost importance, however, are the three major ikebana techniques: ’cut’, ‘fix’ and ‘bend’.

• Cut until you get blisters. Let your fingers bond with the scissors 

• Bend branches and other vegetation to a form you like

• Fix the flowers and branches without using a kenzan (needle point).

Practice these three techniques until you come to be known as an expert.”

Akane Teshigahara wrote that “Flowers embody the essence of the heart” (Sogetsu quarterly Summer 2025 No. 365). "How are we to express that formless and invisible essence of the heart?”

I think about this constantly and try to put it into practice through a process of trial and error.  Above all, I try to be true to myself and to the flowers.  I believe it is essential to open our hearts and minds to the changing shifts and currents of society. “My ikebana” must give rise to emotions that extend far beyond accumulated knowledge and established practice through such an attitude.  The past Iemotos (headmasters) have conveyed this thought in their various words and expressions, and I believe they themselves practiced throughout years."

I encourage you all to practice the above techniques at the monthly workshops and prepare yourselves for the Wellington Botanical Garden Exhibition.

Kind regards,
Setsuko

Our Ikebana Wellington Workshop will be held on Sunday 13th July in the Hall at Khandallah Presbyterian Church at 2pm - 4pm.

Sandi has provided the following notes and photos.

“Winter is a great time to explore different branch materials when leaves have dropped. By emphasising branch or vine lines the creation of beautiful arrangements are still possible - especially if the branches are lichen covered and unusual green-grey or even orange colours are more prominent. 

I would like you to create an arrangement that contains at least one bare branch or vine. You can still make use of NZ native evergreen plant material or add conifers or flaxes.

Flowers can be kept to a minimum though some of you may be lucky enough to have camellia in your gardens or even berry material.  You may like to bring a second small container to light up a more intimate corner.”

Our Ikebana Wellington workshop will be held on Sunday May 11 at 2pm in Khandallah Presbyterian Church Hall. Kathy will demonstrate from Book 4 lesson 2, ‘With Leaves Only’.

Kathy suggests:  ‘Leaves Only’ arrangement focuses on using a variety of leaves to create a unique and visually interesting composition, encouraging creativity and freedom of expression, allowing for manipulation of leaves like folding, rolling, or tearing to highlight their different textures, shapes, and colours.  This lesson encourages exploration of the hidden beauty of leaves by presenting different sides and exploring the plant material. 

Our workshop on Sunday 13th April at Khandallah Presbyterian Church, 33 Ganges Road, will include the AGM of our Sogetsu Branch at 1:30 - 2:15pm. We do not need to have a full election this year, except for the position of Secretary as Sandi Hurnard has resigned from the Committee. If you would like to join the committee as Secretary, get in touch and Helen will tell you more about the position.

Straight after the AGM, Adriana will lead a workshop on the Book 5 lesson, Miniatures Ikebana. Miniatures have been part of Sogetsu studies for many years and were a speciality of the second Headmaster, Kasumi Teshigahara. The Book 5 lesson suggests that we use several of our smallest containers and group them on a base plate, tray or paper.

On Sunday March 9, 2pm we will meet in the Khandallah Presbyterian Church, 33 Ganges Road for a workshop lead by Els Schnabel. She will demonstrate various methods of fixing material in a variety of containers.

We will meet on Sunday February 9, at 2pm till 4pm in the Khandallah Presbyterian Church, 33 Ganges Road.

Our first workshop of 2025 will focus on using gladioli in our ikebana. There are plenty of gladioli in the shops at present or you may have some in your garden. Think of ways to showcase these majestic flowers and celebrate summer. Your choice as to moribana or nageire.

Our last workshop for the year will be held at 2pm till 4pm in the Khandallah Presbyterian Church Hall on Sunday, December 1st. The workshop will be taken by Takako Oshima on Celebration Flowers. There are several textbook arrangements for celebrations as often we arrange ikebana when guests are coming. A Christmas or New Year arrangement is appropriate for this time of year, or maybe a wedding celebration or Christening this summer.

Takako has provided the following special notes about Ikebana for New Year:

In Japan, New Year's arrangement is the most popular arrangements for celebrations.  New Year’s arrangements typically include auspicious items such as pine, sacred berries like senryou (Christmas berry), and nanten (nandina), along with kiku (chrysanthemums), which are believed to have medicinal properties promoting longevity. As you select the materials and vase for your arrangement, I hope you will consider what occasion or celebration the flowers will represent, reflecting on the meaning and significance behind the choice.　

Book 5 tells us “Make an arrangement to express the wholehearted feeling of celebration”. And “Never forget that arrangements for celebrations are made primarily for showing your congratulatory feelings to the recipients”

Book 5, lesson 11 Arrangements for Celebrations
Book 4, lesson 19 Specific Scenes, Occasions or Spaces
Book 1, lesson 20 and Book 2, lesson 20 Special Materials and Arrangements for Festive Occasions

Our next workshop will be held on Sunday 10th November in the Hall at Khandallah Presbyterian Church. The hall will be open from 1:30 and our workshop will be from 2 to 4pm.

There are several textbook arrangements using 2 or more containers: Book 2, lessons 17, 18 and 19 and Book 3, lesson 4.

We usually look for containers that match in shape or size for this, but challenge yourself to use containers of different shapes and sizes, or perhaps to use one of the containers as a sculptural element rather than a vase for flowers. The material in each container can be used to co-ordinate or contrast the containers.

On Sunday September 8 in the Khandallah Presbyterian Church hall at 2pm - 4pm, a workshop will be held to practise arrangements for the display at the Japan Festival. Members will organise a roster for helpers on Saturday September 16.

On Sunday August 11, our workshop will be held from 2pm to 4pm in Khandallah Presbyterian Church hall, 33 Ganges Rd, our new venue. It will be lead by Setsuko Kennedy.

Setsuko has provided the following notes:
”I want to lead the 11/August workshop with the 49th principle of the 50 principles of Sogetsu:  “the four principles of ikebana are a fresh approach, movement, balance, and harmony; the three elements are line, colour and mass. In Sogetsu Ikebana, the line is particularly important among these three elements.  So, after considering the four principles mentioned above of Ikebana, please refer to the lessons of Book3 - lessons 5, 6, and 7, and you can choose one of those three lessons:

Book 3-5: composition of straight lines,
Book 3-6: composition of curved lines,
Or Book 3-7:  composition of straight and curved lines.

I look forward to enjoying ikebana with you on Sunday.”

A reminder:
Spring Festival Ikebana Wellington Exhibition
Wellington Botanic Gardens, Begonia House
Saturday 31st August - Sunday 1st September
10am to 4pm
Free admission

Our July meeting will be held on Sunday 14th at 2-4pm in the Khandallah Presbyterian Church Hall, 33 Ganges Road.

Adriana Nickless will lead this workshop and has provided the following notes:

Book 4 lesson 13 - Dried, Bleached, or Coloured Materials. For this lesson, you can use dried, bleached or coloured materials alone or combined with fresh plant material. The important thing to note is the dried, bleached, or coloured material must be plants. For example, you can use materials such as dried and painted leaves, bark, driftwood, seed pods, dried seaweed or mosses. However, the materials should not be heavily processed (e.g. painted bamboo skewers, cork, paper), which you would instead use in an unconventional material arrangement (refer lessons 4.11 and 5.7).

The plan for the workshop is for everyone to bring a selection of dried, bleached, or coloured materials that can be shared. You may recall the same approach for the unconventional materials workshop last year. While challenging, this encourages more spontaneous arrangements using materials you may not have tried before.

The teacher’s class at Elizabeth’s have been working with dried materials recently and the photos in the gallery are from that class.

Our June workshop will be held in the Khandallah Town Hall on Sunday 9 June from 2pm - 4pm. Masako will demonstrate how to arrange flowers and branches in a suiban container without kenzan, Book 4, lesson 18 and Book 5, lesson 8.

Masako suggests:
Devise a way to support your flowers and branches without kenzan.  Fixing tools to make the main structure steady can be anything for heavy branches and delicate flowers.  Bending techniques are useful, too.  Without kenzan you can show the beauty of the vase and water feature.
“Explore a new creative style of composition in which the plant materials are rising vigorously from the container.”  

If you have other ways to support materials in a container rather than suiban, you are welcome to show to the group. However, this does not include nageire styles. 

The next workshop will be on Sunday 12th May 2 to 4pm at our usual meeting place, Khandallah Town Hall.

Elizabeth McMillan will lead this workshop on the lesson “Leaves only” Book 4, lesson 2.
To quote from the textbook:
“Make an arrangement only with leaves of two or more kinds,… Leaves can show different characteristics by rolling up, tearing or overlapping them. The same leaves can give an entirely different impression by presenting their reverse side…Try to discover new characteristics of the leaves”.

Elizabeth suggests we may like to use autumn leaves if available.

Our Sogetsu Wellington AGM and Workshop will be held on Sunday 14th April  2-4pm at Khandallah Town Hall.

This year is an election year for our club's committee.  After two years in the role Kate has decided to step down as Chairperson; as has Setsuko as the Deputy Chairperson. They have both enjoyed their time over this period and look forward to contributing to and supporting the club.  

This will allow for some new members to take over the roles as it is always valuable to share in the running and knowledge of the club. As we are a Branch our Chairperson must be a teacher and member of STA Japan and the deputy must also be a member of STA Japan.

Please see Kate’s latest email for the AGM and nomination form.

Our March workshop will be held in the Khandallah Town Hall at 2pm till 4pm. Helen Wareham will demonstrated how to create an arrangement using a variety of materials.

Book 4, lesson 5 - A Variety of Materials. Prepare an ikebana arrangement using at least 5 materials. The textbook suggests mainly flowers but Helen suggests using grasses, maybe from the roadside, to celebrate the end of summer.

When I first studied this arrangement it was called  ‘Maze-zashi’, the Seven Grasses of Autumn’.  A basket or a rustic container would be suitable.

Our first workshop for 2024 was held as usual in the Khandallah Town Hall at 2 - 4pm. Kathy Kerry demonstrated how to create an arrangement using only agapanthus.

Useful information can be found in:
Book 4, lesson 4 - One kind of material
Book 4, lesson 9 - Disassembling and rearranging the materials
Book 4, lesson 12 - Focusing on the uses of water.

We said farewell to Misako Ito who is leaving New Zealand to begin a new posting with her husband in Greece. Misako will be missed.

Our December 3rd workshop will be held in the Khandallah Town Hall from 2 until 4pm. Setsuko will demonstrate arrangements for celebrations from Book 5, lesson 11, and Book 4, lesson 19.

The theme for the workshop is Celebrations. "The idea is to show that the arranger joins in the celebration mood by means of ikebana."

 ‘Celebration’ includes any seasonal festivals, Christmas, Easter etc.  Consider the colours of your material and the shape of your arrangement. A spreading wide open fan shaped arrangement is supposed to symbolise a prosperous future and increasing good luck.

Pine branches represent longevity, good fortune and steadfastness. Pine is commonly linked with virtue and long life.

The use of Mizuhiki (paper strings) is effective for arrangements as they add to the special atmosphere.

"Whenever you get a chance, make an arrangement from your heart for those celebrating the occasion."

Our November 12th workshop will be held in the Khandallah Town Hall from 2pm to 4pm. Masako will demonstrate how to arrange seasonal plant materials for ‘Welcome’ ikebana. This work is from Book 5, lesson 1.
Masako has sent the following information for us:

“My presentation is based on the welcome ikebana for the Karori Cemetery Office I have been doing for 5 years. I will show what I do and share what I have learned. I look forward to everyone’s welcome ikebana, big or small.”

Ikebana has ‘power and impact..on people’s minds.’ from Book 5- lesson 30.

Our October 8th workshop will be held in the Khandallah Town Hall from 2pm until 4pm. Misako will demonstrate simplified arrangements/special flower arrangements for Japanese Tea Ceremonies. She will also explain the difference between the tea ceremony’s flower arrangement and the Ikebana arrangements. Please bring materials and containers based on Book 4, lesson 8.

This Sogetsu Wellington workshop will be held as usual in the Khandallah Town Hall on Sunday June 11, at 2pm - 4pm.

Adriana will focus on Book 4: lesson 11 - Using both fresh and unconventional materials and Book 5: lesson 7 - Composition using unconventional materials.  Adriana suggests the following:

Please can everyone bring along at least one unconventional material. This can include paper, fabric, plastic, metal, glass, etc. and can include items that can be used as containers (have a look at lesson 5:7 and photos below for examples). However you will not be using your material for your own arrangement. Instead, to enable more spontaneous arrangements, we will be sharing these materials with each other.

Please also bring along fresh material and extra containers for this so you can have a go at incorporating this into your arrangement. To assist with working with unconventional materials, also bring along cutting implements, fixings (e.g. tape), and gloves.