Flower carpet

I went into central Bradford to see the Flower Carpet being created, another event as part of the district-wide Nature Season. A regular feature in Belgium, this is apparently the first time such a carpet has been created in the UK. (Though in Derbyshire we do have traditional 'well dressings', which are upright pictures made from flower petals and seeds.)

Around 40 volunteers were up at the crack of dawn to start creating it, using more than 300,000 dahlia heads laid out carefully to follow a pattern etched on sheeting underneath. 

Measuring 29 metres across, the floral installation was designed by Bradford artist Shiraaz Ali and draws inspiration from the city’s textile heritage and our diverse communities. The flowers were brought over from Belgium in a refrigerated truck. 

I arrived around noon, when the carpet was about 75% complete. I watched for a while and returned later, when they were putting the finishing touches to it. It was very beautiful and the colours were absolutely stunning. It was designed to 'evolve' over the four days it was scheduled to be there (hoping the weather was kind to it). In the evenings there was a sound and light display planned, and ultimately the flowers will be composted. 

There were a limited number of tickets to view it from above, through one of the windows of City Hall. They were very quickly snapped up, so I missed that chance. Standing on a low wall was as high as I could get! I'm being naughty and copying one of the photos from the Bradford Culture Company FB page, presumably taken by a drone, just because it is so amazing. (Image copyright James Speakman/ PA Media Assignments and/or Andrew Benge. I hope they'll forgive me!)