Doral Art and Flowers Festival
Our History
No one denies the beauty of flowers. Flowers can create a mood, breathtakingly alter emotions and dazzle the senses. Yet, artists skilled and trained in the presentation and design of floral work are often under perceived as traditional "artists." With over thirty years of experience and involvement in the art world with his own floral sculptures, Festival founder Ruben Consa saw a lack of platforms to promote Floral Art. “It does not matter what medium is used, whether is a canvas and oil paint, clay and a wheel, the moving feet and body of a dancer or flowers and foliage, all these need to be considered art.”
Realizing this void brought him to believe that the creation of an art festival with flowers was necessary to create the awareness of flowers as not just bouquets or arrangements, but as a true form of art. At the same time, he wanted to promote new talent, especially young artists and newcomers to the field giving them the opportunity to grow as genuine professional artists.
The Doral Art and Flowers Festival encourages the unlimited potential of the floral artist's imagination. Festival visitors will experience the inclusion of natural products such as exotic flowers, plants, foliage and other organic elements intertwined within structures made out of wood, steel, aluminum or any limitless other canvas bases intended to serve as the medium for Floral Art.
The goals of the three day festival are to promote floral education as a professional career, promote new emerging and established floral artist professionals and their businesses, create consumer awareness in the use of flowers as an artistic and decorative medium, and to promote the local Floral Industry and the City of Doral as the leading hub of importation of flowers in the US.
Artist: Zais Cortez, AIFD
Founder Ruben Consa AIFD, PFCI
ARE YOU CREATIVE? Is a question many of us have heard at some point in our lives, and Ruben Consa (AIFD, PFCI), the imagination behind the Doral Art and Flowers Festival, is of the opinion that we all have creativity within ourselves. The key, he believes, is just a matter of discovering or tapping into our inner inspirational emotions and to start creating and becoming original no matter the medium. “Once we follow a creative path it becomes a way of life… ART.”
The term creativity carries a kind of mystical aura, its special power imbued with a touch of the divine. After all, creativity supplies the first verb of the Bible “In the beginning, God created…” Don’t be too awed by the wonder of creativity… even a Van Gogh or Monet, did not invent the flowers – they just ran with them using them as inspiration.
Mr. Consa is an international floral artist and designer who has been involved in the floral industry for over 40 years. He is a Doral resident and his involvement in the industry has been in the areas of flower shop ownership, educator, commentator, international certified judge, consultant and promoter of floral products. Since 1989 he has been an active member of the prestigious American Institute of Floral Designers (AIFD), an organization of about 2,000 members worldwide dedicated to the highest standards of professionalism through education of floral design. He is also a member of Professional Floral Commentators International (PFCI).
In the latter part of 2010, together with his wife Yola Guz (CFD, AIFD) Mr. Consa established the Yola Guz School of Floral Design in Miami, Florida. The Yola Guz School of Floral Design is now the leading educational institution in South Florida where students can seek education and become floral designers and entrepreneurs which will include the operation and the marketing aspects of their businesses.
Yola Guz AIFD, Ruben's wife, has been a motivating force in working with the organization and the creative areas of the Festival. We usually say there's a great woman next to a great man.
