bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

sponsorType

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

socialHeadline

headline

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

quizIds

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

paywallTypes

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Elaine King

Enid Tsui

Name: Theresa Lam Wai-ling, flower arranger Age: 33.

Career Path: I grew up in Hong Kong and worked in a bank after finishing school. While working, I took part-time flower arranging courses as a hobby. My teachers saw I had talent and encouraged me to travel to Europe in 1985 and learn more about the art. I went to Holland, France, all over Europe, and came back in 1987 to take an advanced course at the Hong Kong Polytechnic and anywhere else they were being offered.

In 1988, I set up my own shop in Causeway Bay, and in 1989, I started the Hong Kong Academy of Flower Arrangement: it now has five full-time teachers. In the early 1990s, I travelled to Australia to get my Flower Arranging Teacher's Diploma from the International Academy of Flower Arrangement.

Theresa's day: What started as a hobby has become an addiction, and I work at least 10 hours a day, six of which involve teaching.

I teach all the advanced courses plus a Commercial Florist and Floral Management Diploma. The rest of my day is taken up with the administration and promotion of my company, as well as demonstrations for hotels and companies.

I also spend a lot of time deciding what flowers I need and sourcing them from other countries.

After years of flower arranging, I realised it was high time I started teaching others what I had learned so I set up the academy.

My own style is a blend of European and Japanese Ikebana. Although I have my own style there is an international language in flower arranging which must always be followed. Each creation involves three basic themes that must be in harmony: colour, material and texture. The trends also change each year and it is critical keep up: that's why I go on so many international courses.

I am very proud of my school. Many students joined the course as a hobby and now have their own shops. My students range from Catholic nuns over 65 to kids of 12 years old, so I always get to meet different and interesting people.

I get real satisfaction from teaching people that anyone can learn flower arranging: it's just a matter of learning the technique and applying the knowledge.

Salary: The cost of running the school is about $100,000 a month, but I do make a profit, though it fluctuates greatly.

Ambition: To start more schools and one day promote flower arrangement in China, although it is not very popular there.

Name: Leung Wai-kit, landscape gardener Age: 40.

Career path: I was born and schooled in Hong Kong and gained a Bachelor of Arts degree and Diploma of Education at the Chinese University. I then started teaching Comunication at the Technical Institute. While there, I did my LLB in my spare time from the University of London. After getting that, I started teaching principles of law at the institute.

I live on Discovery Bay and in 1988, I decided to start up my own landscape gardening business. I have always loved gardening and saw there was a niche for it. Before I set up shop, I went to Holland, Britain and Taiwan to learn all about it.

Wai-kit's day: I go into the shop every day in Discovery Bay and spend the morning doing administration, confirming bookings, making quotations and so on.

A few times a week I go to the airport to pick up plants and flowers arriving from abroad: they either go to my nursery in the New Territories or to the shop in Discovery Bay.

I spend most afternoons meeting new customers and looking at their gardens, designing the layout, discussing what shrubs and flowers are needed. We do a lot of grass laying/turfing. The type of grass we lay depends a lot on the sun and shade. Some grass is better in winter, others better in summer.

I have four experienced gardeners working for me - one of them has 30 years in the trade - and they take over once I have met the client and briefed them.

I love the physical exercise of actually working in the garden so if I have time I join in with the workers. I like laying turf, it's a real challenge to lay it better than my head gardener. It takes a lot of experience to lay grass properly, but eventually a feeling for it develops in your fingers and hands.

I spend the rest of the afternoon, and often the early evening, checking our various gardens, assessing when grass needs to be mowed, and so on.

I like my job very much because it is challenging to to create something beautiful out of an ugly or plain garden, or from scratch.

Salary: $50,000 a month or more. Enough to be able to travel frequently.

Ambition: I don't just make money. I put my heart into what I do. I always want to be thought of as a gardener who puts his soul into a garden.



parallel lives