The History of Dried Flowers

Every culture is accompanied by its aesthetics. The same thing happens with the aesthetic culture of the “West” which is often called “fashion”. Fashion is the expression of aesthetics of a period and it usually moves in the Western world in cycles of 30-50 years. That is, a fashion can last 4-10 years, then pass away until it comes back when the cycle of its obsolescence has been completed. The completion of these cycles of fashion we observe that they alternate in all areas that touch the aesthetics of “Western” culture. In clothes, in hairstyles, in furniture, in general aesthetics of the interior spaces together with the objects included in them, such as decorative utensils, objects and other items, such as dried flowers.

 

Especially for dried flowers, it is obvious from every point of view (e.g. from the media that deal with the decoration of the interior spaces of houses, hotels, restaurants or, the corresponding theme of aesthetics as presented by Hollywood, the other television media, including of course also the internet ) that, in the current period, a cycle of almost 40 years has been completed since their previous heyday and these are once again dynamically coming back into fashion, once again constituting a beautiful touch for a space or even for a gift.

Here, we must note that the diverse use of dried flowers has existed in human civilization since ancient times.

The ancient Egyptians used them in their various religious rituals, even placing them inside the funeral chambers of the Pharaohs, believing that, in this way, the increase of happiness was achieved during their expected eternal life.

The ancient Greeks and later the Romans also used dried flowers in a variety of ceremonies.

But also in Europe from the Middle Ages to about 1900, the dried flowers had a double application, i.e. the decoration of the space, combining through them at the same time the neutralization of human odor (people did not wash much at the time), which they achieved by adding to the dried variety varieties of perfumes. As a fortifying way of dealing with this stench also, a mixture of flower scraps mixed with various aromatic spices was devised. These mixtures, known to us as potpourri (potpourri) were placed in various places of houses, palaces and other crowded places.

 

After the advent of the 20th century and the parallel improvement of hygiene and cleanliness in civilized societies, the need to use potpourri as a deodorant is now considered as a type of simple fragrant decoration, while dried flowers in general serve exclusively to enhance the aesthetics of various areas of the house or , other places through which we socialize (receptions, ceremonies, conferences, hotel lobbies, etc.)

 

One of the reasons why fenalie developed in the early 80s, increasing its popularity not only in Athens but also in the wider Greek region, is due to the fact that we were the first to introduce dried flowers in Greece, at the same time as the corresponding to that period growth of their popularity in the rest of Europe.

The appeal of dried flowers was not due to our simple introduction of them, but also to our special aesthetic compositions of them for various areas of houses, hotels, and other places, in special combinations or, and in their compositions. We have also introduced the framing of various gift items with dried flowers of various combinations. These decorated items could be wine baskets, vases, bowls, small furniture, etc.

 

In the comeback with dried flowers that is developing globally during the current period in many areas of decoration, fenalie returns dynamically to its familiar field, just as it did 40 years ago, already possessing as, we believe, the required experience and aesthetics to create equal to past works of art.

If you want to see our new collection of dried flowers, click here