Art of Flower making:
Artificial flowers have been around for ca 3000 years... They where first mentioned in the Book of Kings, part of the Old Testament.
During the Middle Ages, nuns started to make artificial flowers from silk. They used these to decorate church statues with flowers during the winter, while relying on fresh flowers during the summer.
Moreover it became a regulation by the church that silk or metal flowers where only to be used for decorating altars. Northern Italy in particular developed a whole industry for making flowers.
In the 19th century flowers were used more often in fashion:
to decorate clothing,
for hat trimmings and
in artful hairstyles.
The industry spread throughout the world. France being the leading country for fashion hosted the most important flower factories and flower artists (Monsieur Seguin, Monsieur Beaulard, T.J. Wenzel – the royal flower maker for queen Marie Antoinette).
Since the 70’s, availability of favourably priced artificial flowers from Asia – made in Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan, China and Thailand – increased. Importers were able to have collections made suited for the likes of Westerners, as wages in Asia were only a fraction of those in Europe.
Flowers made in Asia were mostly used for interior decorations.
Materials used in their manufacture have included
painted linen and
shavings of stained horn in Egypt,
gold and silver in ancient Rome,
rice-paper in China,
silkworm cocoons in Italy,
colored feathers in South America, and also wax and tinted shells.
Modern techniques involve carved or formed soap, nylon netting stretched over wire frames, ground clay, and mass-produced injection plastic mouldings.
Polyester is the major material for manufacturing of artificial flowers since 1970s. Most artificial flowers in the market nowadays are made of polyester fabrics.
