There are worlds that exist only in the silence of hands, in the pause before a gesture, in the intuition that tells you how far a petal can bend before it breaks. The work of Cecilia Paganini, founder of La Fiorellaia, lives in this delicate space — a threshold between instinct and precision, between imagination and structure. Floral design, in her vision, is not the act of placing flowers, but the slow and exact art of understanding them. It is an artisanal language, made of choices that unfold millimeter by millimeter, where the emotional power of a composition is born from the invisible labor that shapes it.
To Cecilia, craftsmanship is not an abstract concept. It is a physical experience, grounded in discipline and intention. “It means knowing how to work with your hands. To imagine the final result and plan, step by step, how to reach it through technique, materials and manual skill. Craftsmanship is the ability to transform an idea into a real structure — solid, precise and coherent with the space.” In her practice, the hand thinks before the mind finishes speaking. Each gesture is a small decision, and the accumulation of these decisions becomes the atmosphere of an entire room.
Quality, in this world, is not a distant ideal. It is something that emerges in close proximity — in the small, nearly imperceptible movements that shape form. “Total. Every detail is born from the hands: the opening of a flower, the cut, the millimetric placement, the stability of the structure. Real quality is seen up close, in the smallest gestures, in the invisible care that sustains the aesthetic.” The beauty that people admire from afar rests on foundations they will never see, and yet it is precisely there — in the hidden labor — that the truth of the work resides.
Her techniques are not formulas but conversations with the material. “Building structures that support the flower, shaping metal wires, interlacing, technical anchoring and custom fixing systems designed for each space. Every installation requires a different technique: there are no standard solutions, there is experience, skill and adaptation.” This is the heart of artisanal thinking: responding to what the material asks, rather than forcing a predetermined shape onto it. The flower, the wire, the weight of the room — each becomes a collaborator in the process.
What the public does not imagine is how much engineering lies beneath the softness of petals. “The engineering part. Proportions, load points, balance, weight, safety — a floral installation is a micro-architecture. Before the flowers come structure, stability and feasibility. It is a much more technical job than it seems.” Behind every arch, every suspended composition, every sculptural arrangement, there is the rigor of a builder, the sensitivity of an artist and the precision of an engineer.
Even materials have their rituals. “A lot. Choosing materials, preparing them, cleaning them, hydrating them, selecting the best botanicals — these things require time and precision. The performance of the flower often depends on what happens before the installation. It is also essential to reflect on the decorative support elements if present (vases — containers — pedestals) because they play a central role in the final result.” The work begins long before a single flower reaches its place, and the success of an installation often lives in these quiet hours of preparation.
Tools, too, follow the same poetry of precision. “Hands and personal proportions. And then scissors, metal wire, tape, technical supports. But the real difference is made by the sensitivity of the touch: understanding when a flower can be opened, how much it can be bent, where it can be positioned.” The hand that touches the stem is the same hand that feels the tension of a structure, that senses the moment a form becomes harmonious. It is a form of knowledge that no machine could ever replicate.
Creativity, for Cecilia, is not a spark that appears suddenly — it is a muscle trained through experience, travel and observation. “By traveling and observing. Nature, materials, architecture, design, spontaneous forms. Creativity comes from what I see every day, but also from constant practice: the more I work with living matter, the more I find new solutions.” Floral art, in her vision, is a continuous apprenticeship — a commitment to staying open, curious and in conversation with the world.
There are techniques she has mastered and others she still dreams of exploring. “At this stage I am totally focused on designing a support that is distinctive. In terms of pure flower technique, I have experimented enough to see up close the different ways of thinking about the flower. The art of weaving, widely used in the Middle East, certainly has incredible charm (but it is incredibly complex!).” Curiosity becomes a compass — a promise that the work will continue to evolve, shaping new forms of expression.
In the end, the artisanal value of La Fiorellaia is not only in the beauty of its creations but in the profound respect Cecilia shows toward the process. Every flower is a moment of attention. Every structure is a negotiation between vision and reality. Every installation is a reminder that what looks simple is the result of a long, intimate conversation between the hands and the material they guide.
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