This flowering kingdom

You might wonder what the country's top flower arranger would get up to when he vanishes from the public eye for almost a year - take spoon-bending lessons from Uri Geller so he can reshape a chrysanthemum's stalk?

No, Sakul Intakul wrote a book: "Dok Mai Thai: The Flower Culture of Thailand". And if the title sounds ambitious, Sakul was at Jim Thompson House last Wednesday night to demonstrate what ambition can produce.

The place was breathtakingly aromatic with orange champak, jasmine and lotus as Sakul paid tribute to Her Majesty the Queen, with whom he's worked for more than a decade, as her 77th birthday approaches.

"I wish to convey to Her Majesty our deepest gratitude for her selfless dedication in reviving and preserving Thailand's national arts, crafts and culture," he said.

"This book also aims to record and conserve this exquisite art form while propagating its cultural value on the world stage."

The coffee-table tome mingles Sakul's experience with the official royal flower arrangers and other experts around the country with his own yen for startling innovation.

More than 200 devotees of the beautiful blossom - from palace courtiers to rural craftsmen, artists, researchers and historians contributed to the 177-page celebration of Siamese cultivation since the Sukhothai Era.

Traditional flower cultivation and arrangement are given their respectful due, but Sakul also offers his own updates to historical approaches, with an eye to preserving the art form.

Photographed by Jirasak Thongyuak, Sakul's creations grace old temples where floral arrangements of earlier eras are depicted in murals, and in fancy, modern hotels, spas and residences, and even hold their own in the midst of a botanical garden.

While the book's content centres on how flowers served the monarchy, one chapter delves into the art of flower-making in the northern Lanna kingdom and eastern Isaan. The South goes unexamined, Sakul expressing regret that he didn't have time to conduct sufficient research in the region.

Sakul determined that the oldest surviving record of flower arranging in Siam is a Sukhothai Period book, some 700 years old, written by a noblewoman of the court, Lady Sri Chulalaksana.

"The Story of Nang Noppamas" mentions the king being impressed by a floating Loy Krathong lantern made of multicoloured flower petals sewn together in the shape of a lotus.

But "the golden age" of Siamese floral art was the reign of King Rama V, Sakul notes.

"Although the popularity of Thai floral art went into decline during the reigns of Kings Rama VI, VII and VIII, as the result of economic crises and the World Wars, it was revived by Her Majesty Queen Sirikit."

Sakul studied the history of malai - floral garlands - on murals in a small crypt inside the tower of Wat Ratchaburana in Ayutthaya, dating to the 1420s. Today Pak Klong Talad is the best place in Bangkok to buy them, but flower garlands are part of everyday life.

Many people will remember their grandmothers making floral pendants called khruang khwaen to decorate homes and temples. They took on some Western influence in Rama V's day, with one that resembles a European chandelier depicted in the chapel of Bangkok's Wat Somanasviharn.

Sakul gives the tradition of wai khru - in which flowers are arranged on trays - a contemporary turn in the lobby of the Davarana Spa. His phum dok mai is made with white lotus crown-flower finials, orchid petals and small gardenias.

In a design for the Sukhothai Hotel, orange rose petals replace the customary globe amaranths. This is topped with decorative finials of orange roses and gardenias.

There's a full chapter about floating krathong and ngan baitong, with charming explanations of the Buddhist ceremonies. Isaan florists are show creating baisri from banana leaves, and other fruits along snacks.

Sakul points out that Lanna culture lives on, so its floral art has a future, but in Isaan only the elderly are maintaining the heritage.

At Chiang Mai's "contemporary-Lanna" Mandarin Oriental Dhara Dhavi, the Lanna Wisdom School trains people in the delicate techniques in the hope of keeping the craft alive.

Siamese flower arrangements have primarily used jasmine, lotus, banana leaves, globe amaranths, crown flowers, champak and roses, but Sakul has found ample applications for the orchid - the national flower.

He mixes and matches, some pieces adhering to traditional forms and colours while using "modern" flowers like the orchid, others taking on wholly new forms and arrays of hues utilising the "classical" blooms.

It's a remarkable book, a surprise to those haven't encountered the art form's breadth. Flower arranging is time-consuming, and yet the result lasts only a few days. This is a craft that demands faith as well as skill.

"My philosophy is based on the Buddhist teaching that nothing lasts forever," Sakul says.

"The happiness derives automatically from the process of making it."

Sow some seeds

"Dok Mai Thai: The Flower Culture of Thailand" costs Bt1,777 at leading book stores. Part of the proceeds from sales go to the Queen's Support Foundation.