Gaetan Jaquet: The power of lilies in a floating composition

French floral designer Gaetan Jacquet is known for his sculptural style that combines technique, emotion and symbolism. In his work, he often explores the relationship between structure and movement, where flowers are not just decorative, but tell a story. As Bredefleur Friend, he finds in lilies a perfect source of inspiration: flowers that are both powerful and refined and lend themselves perfectly to expressive and spatial creations.

For this creation, created for the Bredefleur BFF Contest, Gaetan works with lilies as the starting point for his design. In the composition, he explores the balance between strength and an airy construction, where the flowers seem to float in a dynamic structure. In this blog, he talks about his creation and what lilies mean to him personally.

In floral art, the lily is never just another flower. She is presence, elegance and history all at once. With its powerful form and refined petals, the lily has a special balance between strength and lightness. This duality is a source of inspiration for me again and again.

For this creation, I wanted to explore exactly that field of tension: combining the lily's majesty with movement and lightness. Although the flower is often seen as stately, it also possesses a remarkable suppleness. Its lines naturally follow space and can be beautifully integrated into a spatial composition.

Bredefleur's lilies lend themselves perfectly to this. Their strong stems, elegant shape and rich flower opening make it possible to work with volume, rhythm and structure without the flower losing its natural look.

In this design, I chose to have the flowers interact with each other. The lilies support each other, so to speak, creating natural calyces and sheltered forms. The volumes interlock and create a rhythm that feels almost organic. Nothing seems to stand still; everything moves gently in space. The lily Watch Up by the way, is perfectly suited for this thanks to its chalice-like shape.

In doing so, the structure had to remain light and support the flowers without being dominant. Therefore, I worked with reinforced raffia, a natural palm fiber used in floral work to bind flowers and create light structures. I formed this material into curved lines. Bundling and bending these elements created a structure that follows the movement of the wind.

The result is a composition in which the lines seem to flow forward, as if an invisible force is pushing the whole thing forward. The structure carries the flowers, but at the same time allows them to move freely in space.

My love for lilies goes back to my childhood. In my grandmother's house they were often in vases, their recognizable perfume filling the rooms. My grandfather grew them in the garden, along with gladioli and colorful dahlias.

As a child, I thought the lilies were huge. Their height impressed me and their fragrance had something almost solemn about them. They were present at important moments: birthdays, holidays and family gatherings. The lily was part of those memories.

I can still see myself planting bulbs in the garden with my grandfather. The fresh earth between my fingers, the quiet pace of the work and his voice that said:

“You see these, my boy? We didn't have those yet.”

In those words was curiosity, expectation and the promise of a new season.

Today, when I see the enormous diversity of shapes, colors and textures that growers continue to develop, I often think back to that moment. I imagine my grandfather would smile and say again:

“We didn't have these yet.”

For me, this makes the lily much more than a flower to work with. She forms a bridge between past and present, between technique and emotion.

In this creation, I wanted to show exactly that feeling. The lily as a symbol of elegance and strength, but also as a carrier of memories and movement.

A flower that not only fills space, but also carries stories.