Elise worked in the fashion industry as a Visual Merchandiser for more than 15 years.  Now, she is a Paris-based food stylist, photographer, content creator and educator working on projects with food, lifestyle brands, editorials and books.

Exclusively for Christofle, Elise will guide us though an easy to follow DIY for a lush floral table runner. 

@thepineapplechef

For a floral table runner of 1.50 meters, use the following elements

- 5 to 6 green floral foam blocks

- shears or scissors

- plastic film to protect the tablecloth

Required quantity and style of flowers and foliage

To achieve the same rainbow colored result, you will need to use the same quantities of white, beige rosé, light pink, pink and fuchsia flowers. Elise has used approximatively 105 different flower stems in her composition, but you can reduce the quantity and use more green foliage.

You will need to use round flowers as well as pointy ones, small and big, thin and large. When you buy the flowers at your local florists, don't hesitate to use a bucket to display all the flowers next to one another to have an idea of the final result.

Next up you will need some foliage. Make sure to choose different leaves, round, pointy, large, small… or moss, as well as different greens to create some contrast. The foliage needs to alternate with the flowers and is also used to cover the green foam on the sides.

Creating the floral composition

Spread out the plastic film on your tablecloth in the middle of the table, then place the green foam blocks next to each other. The blocks have to be wet, you need to dip them in a bucket filled with water until they sink to the bottom.

Place the different glasses, vases or champagne buckets around and along the foam trail. Alternate the shapes, heights and sizes. You can sometimes create groups with small items (odd numbers for groups of things is always a good option). Add water to these containers.

Group your flowers by colors so that every single element of your composition stands out.

If you have a doubt about the final shape you want to create, you can draw the outline of the shape beforehand on several sheets of paper and place the sheets along the foam blocks.

You can create different heights by alternating shorter and longer flowers. Do not cut the flowers too much though, as you might change your mind along the way.

Keep the thinner and lighter flowers at higher levels. Keep in mind that people have to see each other across the table so keep the height of your composition under control.

Finish by obscuring the sides and any visible rest of the plastic film with foliage or moss.