Hanneke Frankema, assisted by Max Van de Sluis and Erika Oldenhof has taken the top place in the long awaited 2022 Europa Cup Competition held in Poland.
With a stunning collection of designs – her table was simply magical - Hanneka was tipped for the top by many but it was a hard fought battle with some incredibly gifted florists snapping at her heels throughout the heats, notably Gábor Nagy of Hungary
and Michael Liebrich of Germany who came 2nd and 3rd respectively.
Hanneke's winning entry above
And whilst the British representative Caroline Crabb may not have made the final six she created some stunning work and certainly did the UK proud.
Because to say the competition was fierce would be an understatement. These were 16 of the very best designers under one roof and whilst the camaraderie was strong it was still about the winning!
For Caroline it was an amazing experience and one she will remember for a long time. Commenting on her Facebook page just after the finalists were announced she wrote “Well what an experience! Doing what I love! I didn’t make it to the final 6 but WOW I’m so proud that I represented Great Britain.
Going on to thank Flowervision Bristol for their support and sponsorship and assistant Tracy Rowbottom for being by her side, she thanked Florist Window, Direct2Florist, The Florist Magazine and BFA for their help and support and paid tribute to her team at the shop for everything they have done to help her. Final and massive shout outs went to Morgan Douglas Nuth and the deputy Mayor of Bodmin, Mike Barbery for driving her to and back from Poland!!
What they had to do
The 16 contestants had to complete five tasks – shown below. These were judged and the six highest scoring contestants were selected to complete a second surprise item in front of the gala dinner audience of florists and supporters.
From these six the top three winners were chosen.
1st Hanneke Frankema, The Netherlands
2nd Gábor Nagy, Hungary
3rd Michael Liebrich, Germany
Nicu Bocancea, Romania
Stefan van Berlo, Belgium
Fabrizio Panone, Italy
TASK 1 : Inspired by the contestants favourite piece of music – Caroline Crabb chose Shiveuropaers by Ed Sheeran - they had to create a table decoration for a reunion of 6 school friends
TASK 2: A free standing design to represent the beauty of dance and movement of which 50% of the material should be placed in Oasis® Floral Foam.
TASK 3: Working to the theme 'Life is much like a song' contestants had to create a hand tied – carry-able by one person – that reflected the emotions aroused in the florist by the song Espana Forever by Maanam
TASK 4: A wearable floral body decoration that reflected the musical track supplied by the organisers, the design made on a pre-supplied mannequin but had to be wearable by a human as well.
TASK 5: Working the overall theme of music and dance contestants were given a surprise package of flowers and sundries and an hour to create a finished design using as many elements as possible.
We are grateful to Morgan Douglas Nuth of Old Oak Floral Designers and an Ambassador for Good Florist Guide and Floral Fundamentals and Nicole Moore of The Floristry Trade Club for keeping us supplied with as it happened pictures.
The Europa Cup was so much more than just the competitions and a real showcase of amazing floral design. To see all the designs up close and personal visit the Europa Cup Face Book page here.
