Tips on using the Grande Vila Dish for Foam-Free Floral Installations

A larger version of our original Vila Dish, the Grande Vila Dish is a sustainable and reusable go-to method for creating abundant aisle florals, ground garden installations, dreamy centrepieces, and the perfect piece to group around the base of arches and floral “towers”. All our ceramics, including our Grande Vila are designed to be used without the use of floral foam and are oh so easy to use.

We’ve put together a few useful tips on how to use your Grande Vila Dishes for creating full, organic look at the base of a floral arch or installation:

1. Depending on your desired look, we recommend using 3-5 Grande Vila Dishes per side — imperfectly staggered around the base of your structure. If you have more dishes or low containers, dot a few not too far from the installation, and if it works for what you’re creating, at the back too. This will help to create a feeling of depth.

2. To create a natural look, overlap the flowers used in your Grande Vila Dish with varieties that you’re also using at the base of the installation structure. You’ll need to use longer stems for this area of your design. If your stems are too short, this will create an unnatural, rounded shape, taking away from that rambling and seamless feel.
You can also weave small buckets or containers of different heights between your Grande Vilas for more height variation and fullness. Add a ball of chicken wire with large holes into your buckets and tape down before filling with water. This will help give more structure and security when placing in your stems.

3. Use fluffy and full foliage branches or sheets of moss around the edges of your vessel to help to conceal your mechanics. Palms, Murraya and Olive foliage work great for this.

4. Don’t see the Vila Dishes as individual arrangements — look at the installation as a whole. This generally means you may only have a few varieties of flowers or foliage at different heights in each dish. You’ll also want the majority of your stems to be quite tall and whimsy to mimic as they’d naturally grow in a garden.

5. Try placing fruit, floral garlands or large tropical leaves placed around your vessels for a fun and unexpected finish.

Got Questions? Ask us in the comments!