Ikebana - Bringing together art, architecture and nature

The TOTO London team has hosted a series of events recently in the Clerkenwell showroom including one centered around the art of Ikebana. The team lead by our UK General Manager, Kazuki Osugi, invited influential architects and interior designers to learn all about this art form. It was also an opportunity to get real life experience of this famous Japanese craft and understand the philosophy behind the design - the seven principles of the Ikebana flower arrangement: silence, minimalism, shape and line, form, humanity, aesthetics, and structure.

We were ably guided through the whole process by our teacher; leading Ikebana expert Toshiko Lizuki a highly skilled and well-known practitioner

Ikebana is counted as one of the three classical Japanese arts of refinement, along with kōdō for incense appreciation and chadō for tea and the tea ceremony.

Our guests were impressed with both the authenticity and the complexity. Ikebana arrangements may look minimal, refined and simple but the reality is that the composition is a rigorous and precise process. Flowers must be placed at a specific angle whether it is a vertical or horizontal display.

The simplest rule of Ikebana is the rule of three also known as Moribana style. In the middle is the longest stem, Shin. This stem represents heaven. On the left side of the Shin there is Soe which represents earth and on the right side there is the shortest stem called Tai.

Materials used included living branches, leaves, ferns and flowers. The beauty of the arrangements comes from combinations of natural shapes, graceful lines and the overall form of the composition. Asymmetry and the use of empty spaces between the flowers can be as important as the flowers themselves.

As well as the design we also learnt about the tools and vessels required. For our workshop we were supplied with a hand crafted shallow ceramic Kaki (vase), Hana-Kiri (special scissors) and Kenzan (base) - a metal pad with pins to allow stems to be placed at any angle.

Our Ikebana experience was deeply rewarding bringing harmony to both mind and space. Its beauty lies in its simplicity—every stem, leaf, and blossom carefully chosen and positioned to reflect balance, seasonality, and the quiet elegance of nature. TOTO combines these wellness virtues in bathroom spaces too where you can also contemplate the fleeting beauty of the natural world.

By hosting an evening of Ikebana at the showroom we bought together the concepts of Omenotashi, (hospitality), and Kiyomeru (the art of purification) - the ritual cleansing for inner and outer peace which mirror TOTO’s own guiding principles.