Brussels Flower Carpet Reimagines Hokusai’s Great Wave With 700,000 Flowers
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BRUSSELS, August 16 (Saudi Arabia Breaking News) — More than 700,000 flowers cover Brussels’ Grand-Place in a carpet designed by Japanese artist Hiro Sugiyama, whose composition reinterprets Katsushika Hokusai’s The Great Wave off Kanagawa.
The installation forms the 24th edition of the Brussels Flower Carpet and marks the 160th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Belgium and Japan. It comes a decade after the two countries’ first Flower Carpet collaboration in 2016.
Sugiyama spent eight months developing the composition. He initially planned to use more colours but was limited to a palette of 16 because of time constraints.
"To be honest, at the beginning, I was pretty nervous about [the limited colours palette], but once I came here and saw the design and the flowers laid out, I was very excited and realised that I didn't need to worry about it at all, because it looks beautiful already," Sugiyama said.
The finished carpet measures 70 metres by 24 metres and consists of dahlias, begonias, grass and bark. Most of its flowers are dahlias.
Organisers selected the colour palette and calculated the number of flowers required before a full-size version of the design was drawn on a large cotton canvas placed across the square.
More than 100 volunteers worked for approximately six hours on Thursday to arrange the flowers according to Sugiyama’s design.
Japanese Ambassador to Belgium Takeshi Osuga joined the volunteers in laying flowers.
"A lot of Japanese sponsors contributed to this event and I wanted to contribute by laying out the flowers," Osuga said.
Richard Poncint, a member of the Brussels Flower Carpet Organisation, described the installation as both an artwork and a meeting point between cultures.
"Culture events show people that we can work together, we can do interesting things together and that's one of the things we do here also with our Japanese friends," Poncint said.
The Brussels Flower Carpet has returned to the Grand-Place every two years since its first display in 1971. Visitors can view the installation from the square or from the balcony of Brussels Town Hall.
The 2026 Flower Carpet is on display from August 13 to 16. Online tickets were sold out, while tickets could also be purchased at the Town Hall entrance during opening hours.
Source: Euronews
