This year I seem to be blessed with the opportunity to teach my beloved sugar flowers beyond the borders of Italy. After attending Squires Kitchen’s Exhibition in England and Expotarta in Spain, last July I had the pleasure to be invited to teach a two-day class at Squires Kitchen International School in Farnham, Surrey.

Besides being my first two-day class in the UK, the course scored other pleasant records. The one I cherish the most is having the youngest student ever, a lovely, talented 14 years-old girl named Helena. In spite of her young age, Helena has already attended several classes and acquired quite an impressive experience for her age. I really admired her professional and determined approach to the course. I was also delighted to learn that another student had flown right from Ireland to attend my class.

The course was about one of my favourite combination of flowers: roses and hydrangeas. Well, I guess this might not be just a favourite of mine, since theclass sold-out pretty quickly!

Students worked hard and concentrated on techniques such as wiring petals and leaves, colouring each piece to obtain a rich, yet natural look and assembling their flowers to make them stand out.

Many of the students had little and some none-at-all experience of sugar flowers making. All made great flowers (you can judge by the picture of the lovely arrangements) and sported big, pleased smiles at the end of the course (I think this shows in the pictures too!). I felt my mission was accomplished.

Sometimes as I teach I tend to forget that I’m actually working, it is more like spending great time doing what I like the most, in company of lovely, like-minded people, sharing our love for the craft. This is literally how I felt about my class at SK’s school.

This relaxed feeling is highly supported by Squires Kitchen school environment. They provide the perfect conditions to learn in a professional, friendly atmosphere.