Heart floral designs came in a variety of styles and sizes, and it could be an open design or filled-in with flowers. The heart was popular at romantic occasions, such as weddings, anniversaries, and Valentine’s Day. The practice of using flowers at weddings is a time-honored tradition across cultures and religions. In the nineteenth century in America, wedding ceremonies were generally held in the bride’s home, and the floral arrangements were the primary form decoration. Set pieces such as a suspended bell, ox yoke, lock and key, lover’s knots, and monograms were popular wedding designs created using wire forms and were usually the most impressive arrangements. The set pieces were placed in the most visible locations, such as in front of mirrors or over the fireplace, and they were hung from the ceiling in doorways and archways of the bay window or elevated on the mantle. The heart flower arrangement was also a common option for the funeral in the nineteenth century. The basic heart design could also be modified to suggest a broken heart with a zigzag or crack dividing it in two. It could also be changed into a bleeding heart with cascading red roses from a point in the center. Both designs represented intense loss and sorrow over the death of a loved one.
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Set pieces or set designs were among the most popular floral arrangements in the second half of the nineteenth century. The term set piece is a usually applied to designs in a wide variety of forms, which are often symbolic in character. Shapes that expressed an overall theme for an occasion were very fashionable, such as designs made to depict the profession, associations, or hobbies of an individual. These flower arrangements were ordered for special celebrations, holidays, weddings, and funerals. Typical of the Victorian style, these designs were elaborate and massive, but unlike other forms of flower arrangement, the set piece was exclusively made by the professional florist.
Set pieces were usually made up on wire frames in the desired shape, which acted as a foundation for the floral arrangement. Commercially produced, heavy-gaged wire frames, fabricated from either plain or copper-plated wire, became available for flower arrangements between 1860 and 1864. The retail florist business was enhanced considerably by the high demand for arrangements on flower frames in the nineteenth century, and wire frames quickly became the basis of the retail florist’s inventory. The frames could be obtained for little cost to the florist, and if he managed to retrieve the skeleton after the occasion, it could be reused. Wire frames came in both straight and curved outlines and either as a box (three-dimensional frame) or flat frame. Most designs came in several sizes and could be hung or placed on a stand or were free-standing. Standard forms in wire works catalogues ranged in size from 10 to 60 inches. Outside of the standard frame designs offered in wireworks and florist’s supplies catalogues, designs could be made for almost any occasion, with some large enough to make life-sized reproductions.
Over the course of the nineteenth and twentieth century floral fashions changed. Some set pieces faded in popularity by the early 1900s, but some remained favorites well into the 1940’s. Many of these same designs are still used today, but the wire frames have been replaced by shapes made from more modern materials to save the florists’ time in making up the arrangement, as well as providing water to the flowers allowing for greater longevity.
