The Ikebana Practice 間 is a practice dedicated to exploring ikebana as both an art form and a way of seeing. Rooted in a tradition of over 560 years, it approaches ikebana not only as decoration, but as a disciplined study of line, space, and the relationship between natural materials and their environment.
Based in New York and operating across the greater New York metropolitan area, the atelier works with individuals, groups, and organizations through private sessions, workshops, and spatial engagements. Each offering is thoughtfully composed to cultivate attention, clarity, and a deeper awareness of form and presence—creating a sense of calm, focus, and quiet connection.
Ikebana Atelier is led by ikebana artist and educator Yiwei Zhang, whose work bridges classical Japanese aesthetics with contemporary contexts, including well-being, cultural programming, and creative practice.
Ikebana
The history of Ikenobo is the history of ikebana.
Ikebana began with Ikenobo, and although over 560 years many other schools have branched off from it, Ikenobo is considered the origin of ikebana. Ikenobo’s history encompasses both the traditional and the modern, the two continually interacting to encourage new developments in today’s ikebana.
People in every era have loved flowers, but our predecessors in ikebana felt that flowers were not only beautiful, but that they could also reflect the passing of time and the feelings in their own hearts. When we sense plants’ unspoken words and silent movements, we intensify our impressions through form—a form which becomes ikebana.
We arrange plants cut and removed from nature so that they are filled with new beauty when placed in a new environment. Rather than simply re-creating the shape a plant had in nature, we create, with branches, leaves, and flowers, a new form that holds our impression of a plant’s beauty, as well as the mark of our own spirit. Ikebana should also suggest the forces of nature with which plants live in harmony—branches bent by winter winds, a leaf half-eaten by insects.
Ikenobo considers not only an open flower, but also a flower’s bud to be beautiful, for within the bud is the energy of life opening toward the future. Past, present, future…in each moment, plants and humans respond to an ever-changing environment. Together with plants, humans are vital parts of nature, and our arranging of ikebana expresses this awareness.
Like a poem or painting made with flowers, Ikenobo’s ikebana expresses both the beauty of flowers and the beauty of longing in our own hearts. Ikenobo’s spirit has spread not only in Japan but throughout the world. It is our deepest hope that the beauty of Ikenobo will increasingly serve as a way of drawing people around the world together.
About Yiwei Zhang (Kaylee)
Ikebana artist and educator with 10+ years of practice
First Vice President of Ikebana International New York Chapter
Work exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Currently teaches Ikebana at the New York Botanical Garden
Creative producer with 12+ years of global production experience across North America, Europe, Oceania, and Asia
Contact Us
For inquiries regarding sessions, programs, or collaborations, please leave a message, and we will be in touch.