Despite a long history dating back to the 16th century, when botanists in England and Italy began systematic collection of specimens, the art of flower pressing still tends to be treated as a mere hobby or handicraft in many countries. In Japan, too, although the number of oshibana (pressed flower) artists and enthusiasts has increased in recent years to about 400,000 (perhaps due to the surge of interest in gardening), oshibana has not yet been acknowledged as a legitimate art form.
However, Nobuo Sugino, 34, an up-and-coming Japanese oshibana artist, is trying to change that. Organizer of an exhibition of his work and international pressed-flower artists, currently showing at Ginza Mitsukoshi, Sugino says he would like to help popularize oshibana worldwide and upgrade its status.
The Ginza Mitsukoshi exhibition features about 160 oshibana works from 16 different countries, including England, Ukraine, Iran, Korea, Taiwan and Denmark. In addition to Sugino, Japanese artists such as Kiyoko Suizenji are also represented. In some works, the flowers and plants are used in a natural way, while other works resemble oil paintings, with the flowers and plants arranged to form a person's face or a landscape.