Design Depth in Ikebana

Parallel Upright Style

Keypoints

Flowers used

  In minimal ikebana, the true challenge lies in how much depth and interest you can create with limited elements. This idea of design depth in ikebana becomes especially clear when working with the Parallel Upright style. While its structure appears simple, it offers great potential to explore subtle techniques that allow a minimal form to speak with quiet strength.

    Here are some key points to help add interest and depth to your ikebana:

1. Identify the Most Significant Feature

As always, begin by closely observing your feature flower.In this case, the most striking characteristic is the height of the stem.A long, stretched-out form expresses beauty, strength, and elegance.Using a parallel upright structure and placing your focal point high helps emphasize this graceful impression even more.

2. Maximize the Outline

The parallel upright form creates a clear rectangular outline that is easy for the viewer’s eye to follow and identify.Try to extend this outline beyond the vase—let the flowers define the form, rather than the container.By doing so, the flowers gain more visual impact, and you create more space to lay out materials, giving the design a sense of openness and scale.

3. Grouping and Negative Space

By grouping flowers, you naturally create more negative space, which adds rhythm and a sense of breathing room to your design.This spacing brings both interest and depth.With thoughtful placement and grouping, even a simple layout can become visually rich and deeply expressive.

4. Use Contrast to Emphasize Height

Adding materials like nandina leaves can create a gentle contrast against the straight vertical lines. Placing shorter flowers near the base also helps to emphasise the height of the feature flower. This contrast guides the viewer’s eye upward and adds interest to an otherwise simple, upright design.

Avoid arranging flowers in a consistent or monotone way, variation in height, spacing, and grouping will make your design more dynamic, engaging, and full of rhythm.

  Flowers used : Red stick dogwood, Alstroemeria, Nandina, Spray Chrysanthemum, and dried Miscanthus.

A simple structure like the parallel upright form allows you to focus on key techniques such as grouping, negative space, rhythm, and creating a clear outline to highlight the most impressive feature—height.Even with minimal elements, a simple design can be rich in expression, filled with quiet strength and subtle beauty.

  Author : Azumi Ishikawa /  Ikebana Master and Artist

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