ABOUT ME

My name is Anna and I started learning Ikebana in 2012 in Tokyo following the Sogetsu School curriculum. Before that,  I worked as an urban planner with more than 10 years experience in project management, strategic planning, technical cooperation, capacity-building development, and events coordination.

In 2017 I received my Third Level Teacher’s certificate (Sankyu Shihan) and still continue to study the art up to the present under Takayama-sensei. I also participate in exhibitions (on-site and online) since 2013 in Japan, Italy, Ecuador, Singapore, and Australia. In addition, I  had my own exhibitions together with a pottery artist – 2016: Okaeri! (Welcome Home) in Tokyo; and 2017: Voyage (An Ikebana and Pottery Exhibition) in Yokohama.

For more than 10 years now, I have been conducting Ikebana workshops and has created arrangements for events in Tokyo, Manila, and Hamm in Germany. I also give face-to-face and online Ikebana classes inside and outside Japan. Also, I create floral designs for private events and special occasions for the international groups in Japan including those organized by the Serbian and Philippine embassies.

Some of my works received awards and recognitions from florist organizations based in Europe and Asia. In 2015, one of my compositions was voted as Ikebana Gallery People’s Choice Award. This is an annual contest organized by Ikebana Gallery – an Ikebana  community based in Melbourne, Australia. That same year, another of my arrangement was featured in International Florist Organization’s Facebook page. Last May 2010, two of my Morimono compositions (Ikebana using fruits and vegetables) were included in an article on Headline Daily in Hong Kong. And in 2021, three of my arrangements were commended by Tomas de Bruyne, an international floral designer from Belgium, during his online lectures for a global florist community. In May 2023, three of my Morimono creations were featured in Amaranth, an online journal for food writing and art based in India.

As part of my continuous learning and honing my skills, I joined the European Master Certification (EMC)  under Tomas de Bruyne and has finished the foundation course under the mentorship of Keith Stanley and Jorge Uribe.