Floral art designer Francine Thomas on world stage

Francine Thomas will be heading to Dublin for the World Flower Show. Photo/John Borren

Floral art designer Francine Thomas has won a place in the World Flower Show in Dublin.

The McLaren Falls woman will be the third New Zealander to go to the show and said she was honoured to be selected.

"It's huge, it's all the countries around the world that have been nominated to go. There are competition classes, all these different classes you can enter. There will be quite a large contingent from New Zealand going to support me," Mrs Thomas said. "I'm blown away, nervous as heck. It's the pinnacle, you're reaching the top of your game when doing this."

She was selected by the Floral Art Society of New Zealand to attend the show, which runs from June 18 to June 22.

Mrs Thomas will be competing and demonstrating as well as attending seminars. For the imposed class competition, Mrs Thomas will have to create a display using a range of supplied materials. Mrs Thomas has also designed an exhibition to represent New Zealand, which she will be creating live on stage. She has ordered flowers from Holland for the exhibition.

"I'm on one side of the stage with two other people, one from Barbados and the other from America. I can't give too much away but my husband who is an engineer has helped build a frame 2.5m tall and 2.5m wide that can be packed away like Meccano and set up so it all interlocks together."

The demonstration will be done to music and Mrs Thomas will also use her time on stage to talk about her country, particularly focusing on Tauranga and the Bay of Plenty.

She is an experienced floral art designer with about 16 years in the trade.

Mrs Thomas will get a small subsidy from the Floral Art Society towards her exhibition design and the world show committee has paid a subsidy towards flowers and accommodation. She will be paying for the rest of the trip herself, which she is happy to do.