Congratulations To The Newest AIFDs!

And people assume florists just DO flowers.

American Institute of Floral Designers (AIFD)

That’s hardly the case for the 116 florists who took part in the Accreditation Evaluation Session (AES) of the American Institute of Floral Designers (AIFD) at the yearly Symposium held this year in Kansas City, Missouri. 46 of the 116 earned the AIFD accreditation and can now say that they are AIFD certified florists. Flower Shop Network would like to congratulate all of the new AIFDs, but 5 individuals have earned a special pat on the back.

Flower Shop Network is very proud of the following members who earned their AIFD accreditation at the 2009 AES:

• Candy McNeil Cannon (The Flower Studio, a flower shop in Sun Prairie Wisconsin)
• Frances Davis (The Flower Merchant Ltd, a Springfield Missouri flower shop)
• Jeremy R. Estes (Kents Floral Gallery, a flower shop in Columbia Missouri)
  
• Janet Frye (The Enchanted Florist, a creative flower shop in Asheville North Carolina)
• Christy Langone (Langone’s Florist and Greenhouse, a Westfield Massachusetts florist)

The AES is not a contest and no winner is declared. However, it’s not easy either! Florists are judged on 10 points of professional floral design including mechanics, balance, color, theme, line and creativity. This is something that takes many hours of preparation (days, months even) and has earned its elite reputation partially due to the difficulty of the AES. When a florist earns his or her AIFD, they should be heartily congratulated at the least.

We at Flower Shop Network want to extend our congratulations to our good friends above and to the other florists who participated in the session. The 46 floral designers who earned their AIFD accreditation will be inducted officially at the 2010 AIFD Symposium in Boston, Massachusetts.

69 of the remaining 70 participants earned the Certified Floral Designer (CFD) accrediation which is the AIFD’s newest designation program. Among these were three Flower Shop Network members who deserve a feather in their cap:

• Anthony Swick (Bay Bouquet Floral Studio, florists in Tampa Florida)
• Connie LeBlanc (Hearts Desire Florist, florists in Houma Louisiana)
• Joseph Farrington (Delorice’s Florist, florists in Douglas Georgia)

Congratulations everyone!

Click the photo above to view the official AIFD press release and see a complete list of newly accredited participants.