film documents the weaving of thousands of flowers into an ephemeral carpet in brussels

in a video titled ‘flower power’, filmmaker, director and producer joerg daiber documents the weaving of more than 500.000 flowers into an ephemeral, 1.800-square-meter carpet at brussels’ grand place. since 1971, ‘flower carpet’ (see previous coverage here) takes place every two years in the historic center of the city, where a hundred volunteer gardeners put together this monumental piece of public art in less than eight hours. though the 2020 edition has been cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, daiber’s recently-uploaded film of the 2018 ‘flower carpet’ offers an alternative viewers can enjoy until the next edition takes place. 

all images (video screenshots) courtesy of joerg daiber unless stated otherwise

image of the 2018 edition (also header image) by gaston batistini

joerg daiber uploaded the film in his little big world youtube channel for viewers to enjoy until the next edition of ‘flower carpet’ takes place. the timelapse video documents the making of the 2018 carpet, which was devoted to guanajuato, a mexican region with an exceptionally rich culture, history and flower tradition. the 70-meter-long by 24-meter-wide floral masterpiece combined more than 500.000 begonias and dahlias in its creation. mexican graphic designer roo (ana rosa aguilar aguado) produced the original design of the carpet, which incorporated lots of typical symbols, natural elements and motifs from guanajuato’s traditional culture. afterwards, mark schautteet, the brussels flower carpet’s permanent designer, translated her design into a floral creation in life-size format.

flower carpet is organized every two years by the non-profit association tapis de fleurs, which, together with a committee of professionals (illustrators, graphic designers, landscape architects), comes up with a different theme for each edition. once the theme has taken shape in the form of a model and symbols, the number of flowers is calculated and the combinations of colors are established. the 2018 edition, which adopted the reddish-brown colors of guanajuato, also celebrated the 20th anniversary of the grand place, where ‘flower carpet’ takes place, was recognised as a unesco world heritage site.

image by wim vanmaele