Sometimes the simplest arrangement of flowers is the most effective. The Japanese art of Ikebana - translating roughly to “making flowers come alive” - is one such example of a more minimal, structural approach to flowers, emphasising simplicity, balance and negative space. Arrangements are often more asymmetrical and naturalistic, focusing on selecting the most beautiful stems and harnessing their shapes to tell a story. A flower frog or kenzan is used to anchor such arrangements, and is a great tool to have in your kit if you’re interested in arranging flowers. They are a weighted tool that usually sits at the bottom of a receptacle to hold the flowers in place with holes, pins or a wire “cage” (rather than flower foam which contains harmful microplastics) and allows each flower to sing. Since coming across handmade flower frogs made from clay, I’ve wondered how I could make my own.