WHAT ARE REAL TOUCH ARTIFICIAL FLOWERS

Artificial flowers are popular household goods and occupy a large market in the world. They are commonly used as gifts or interior decorating items. However, many people perceive artificial flowers as low quality and cheap because they do not look and feel natural. This was once true because artificial flowers were generally produced with plastic, cotton or silk materials. They didn’t display vivid colors and didn’t have the same soft moisture feel as a real flower. But such perceptions no longer hold true because today’s technology has made it possible to have high-quality artificial flowers that are very close to mother nature.

At Flovery™, we have done extensive research with our customers for more than a decade. We started with the low-quality artificial flowers many years ago and decided that those are very unsatisfying.

Let’s start with the history of artificial flowers

Many manufacturing processes were invented back in the 1950s to better structure artificial flowers using a combination of metal and plastic. In the early 1980s, a few companies started to use a plastic stem molded around a reinforcing wire. Petals were made of silk and mounted on the terminal of the stem. The same technique has been used for several decades with minor improvements. Those artificial flowers may easily get deformed or damaged during the transit, storage, and usage process. These have many problems due to the unnatural look and feel. They tend to lose their color and luster easily and quickly. That’s why when people refer to artificial flowers, they think about super cheap silk flowers. Over time, the public has come to agree with this sentiment.

In 2006, a new artificial flower manufacturing technology transformed the industry. This invention used polyether polyurethane (PU) foam instead of plastic or silk to offer a more natural look and feel, which sometimes can be mistaken as a real flower. During the process, a mixture of polyether and polyurethane compose a lightweight foam that is poured into the molds to form artificial flowers' components. Paste in various colors is injected directly into the foam, then additionally sprayed onto the surfaces and heated to cure the desired colors permanently. It is not done manually as the process is computer-controlled. This new line of product effectively solves the problems mentioned above and meets the demands of the growing market for artificial flowers. Over a decade, this new methodology has been adopted by various manufacturers to create a wide range of flower designs. Today “PU” flowers are often referred as “real touch” flowers.

To quickly compare, the photo below shows a traditional silk flower head:

What are the top reasons to choose real touch flowers?

First, let’s clarify to clear up any confusion. Real touch flowers are also called natural touch flowers, life-like flowers, realistic flowers or high quality artificial flowers. They may or may not refer to the same manufacturing process. At Flovery™, our designers know how to pick out the best flowers and materials to meet the high standards of our customers. There are also many other fabrication processes using pure latex or silk with latex coated to mimic the look of real touch flowers. Some of them have very high quality and high resemblance of polyether polyurethane flowers, especially calla lilies.

Real touch flowers are appealing for not only their touch and feel but also their texture and vivid color. Their characteristic is amazing because the flower head is not easily broken by folding. Furthermore, as a flower material, polyurethane is stable and does not change easily. It can retain the memory of its initial shape after being subjected to external forces such as squeezing and pressing. The flower petals and plant leaves can be made to show vein-like lines. A variety of additives, for example, such as scent, fragrance, and flame retardant can be conveniently added to the formulation. The additives can have long-lasting effects within polyurethane.

REAL TOUCH ARTIFICIAL FLORAL TREND IS HERE TO STAY

Orchids, lilies, calla lilies, roses, buds, tulips, amaryllis, plumerias, peonies, and gerbera daisy are the most common types of real touch flowers. The main reason is that those flowers’ petals are a little thicker so they are easily fabricated using real touch materials instead of silk. That is why the real touch petal edges don’t fray or shred like pure silk.

FAUX FLORAL ARRANGEMENTS USING REAL TOUCH MATERIALS ARE PERFECT FOR RESIDENTIAL AND COMMERCIAL DECORATION

Many Flovery’s customers buy our products for home décor, real estate investment property uses such as model home or staging home, office, hotel, retail stores, and restaurants. They love our real touch faux arrangements and centerpieces because they never have to water the plant and they look great for years. These beautiful faux centerpieces are a low-maintenance way of bringing the exquisite splendor of nature into the interior space.

REAL TOUCH FAUX DESIGNS ARE NOT THAT EXPENSIVE

We should not compare the price of stem by stem although it’s true that some faux flowers are less costly than average real flowers (such as real touch calla lilies). We have to look at it from the value perspective, considering the fact that they can be reused and kept for a lifetime. It doesn’t seem like a bad investment!

Why real touch flower arrangements for Doctor and Dental Office decoration

As a doctor, imagine your patient sitting on an uncomfortable chair in the waiting room of your office for almost half an hour. Sitting next to her is a middle-aged man who is watching videos on his phone at full volume. Your patient decides to move to a new location but the only option she finds is to sit next to an old woman who is constantly coughing. Feeling migraine and frustration at the same time, she is hoping for her appointment to begin soon.

Being a good and professional doctor, you’d never like to see your patients going through this situation every time they visit you. So, your waiting room is the first chance to make your patients feel that you care about them. Upgrading your waiting room as well as your office with some flowers and plants can greatly improve the overall look as well as help distinguish your practice from the rest of the doctors.

Flowers add charm to your medical office decor

There’s a special charm that flowers and plants bring to a place. They quickly turn your mood around and make you feel fresh. But, real plants and flowers need a lot of attention and care to survive.

If you feel like you would not be able to take good care of the real plants but still want to upgrade your office decor with some color and freshness, this is where real touch artificial flowers come to rescue. Some of the top benefits are listed below:

1. 1. Low Maintenance - Artificial flowers require little to no maintenance to look beautiful every day. You never have to worry about watering them or keeping them in sunlight.
2. 2. Affordable - The best part about artificial flowers is that you just need to invest once in good quality flower material and you are good to go for the next 2 to 3 years. They are much reasonable than real plants and easy to clean as well.
3. 3. No Expiry Date - As the flowers are artificial, they do not carry any specific expiration date. They look bright and beautiful all year long. Besides that, you can also reuse and repurpose them to style different sections of your office without buying new plants every 6 months.

How a Flower-Equipped Doctor Office Help Patients

1. 1. Reduce the Perception of Pain - Placing flowers throughout a room help patients in diverting their focus away from pain and illness. They help them in relaxing their body and in turn reduce the level of pain.
2. 2. Provide Positive Distraction - Creating a soothing environment in hospitals is necessary for targeting the body, mind, and soul. You can design your hallways and rooms with artificial flowers to give an inviting and fresh look. Flowers provide positive distractions and create an atmosphere of calmness and peace.
3. 3. Buffer Noise - Noise is a popular source of stress in hospitals. Hospitals are constantly working to improve soundproofing within their environment. Plants and flowers are also considered helpful in reducing noise levels in hospitals.
4. 4. Increase the Quality of Care - Decorating the interior of your hospital with flowers is a cheap and affordable way of increasing the quality of care for patients. Greenery reduces the feeling of fear, anger, and sadness. It also elevates confidence thus boosting up the recovery process.
5. 5. Add Beauty to Your Place - Placing flowers with different colors in locations such as receptionist counter, corners of the waiting room, tables in your office, and hanging from the ceiling can add a lot of beauty and modernity to your place.

Should I choose artificial flowers for my event?

This is always one of the key questions for you when you are preparing for the big event such as birthday, anniversary, Thanksgiving, Christmas dinner or wedding. Flowers are just one component of event planning, but adding more choices can get overwhelming very quickly. It's no question that fresh flowers would look excellent and natural. Most people don’t like artificial flowers in general because (1) they have a "cheap look", (2) they are not real, and (3) good products are extremely expensive. We can assure you that those perceptions should no longer exist. Here are top 12 reasons why you should consider artificial flowers:

1. 1. It's more convenient to order ahead of time versus fresh flowers because if you keep fresh flowers for too long, they won't look the same. Time is just what you don't have for your wedding.
2. 2. It works for allergic people. You definitely don't want to look bad from fresh flower allergy on that special day, do you?
3. 3. They are everlasting and you can keep them after the event for memory.
4. 4. You can reuse the same artificial flowers for event photography or after that.
5. 5. There is no need to worry about non-seasonal flowers. With artificial flowers, you can get any type of flowers and any color.
6. 6. It's actually lighter to carry artificial flowers than fresh ones.
7. 7. They don't attract bees and other insects.
8. 8. If you have the event in an extreme weather area (too cold or too hot), artificial flower is perfect. Real touch flowers can sustain high temperatures of the summer time without changing shape.
9. 9. It's very easy to transport artificial flowers during your special day. The flowers won't break or get torn off.
10. 10. You can put them in a suitcase. Imagine people running around and someone may damage your fresh flowers! That probably won't look good.
11. 11. You can re-use artificial flowers to decorate your home.
12. 12. Finally, it's actually more economic to use artificial flowers for events.

Let’s say you have a centerpiece as pictured below with the "real touch" artificial daisies, you can pretty much keep the flowers and create a new arrangement after the special day and keep it forever.

Why are Flovery’s real touch flower arrangements the best choices?

We have seen and physically examined a full line of all real touch flowers on the market. As a result of our comparative observations over time, we have concluded that real touch technologies still offer more choices of artificial flowers, delivering on the promise of being botanically accurate in appearance and precisely made replicas of fresh flowers. Calla lilies and tulips are the best with a real feel to the touch artificial flowers. Their factory colors are true-to-life, with displayed gradation of the color shading and hues.

Our designers never use low-end faux flowers. Those products are sometimes dotted with tiny balls of acrylic to imitate droplets of water and can be bought cheaply at any craft store. The petals of poor quality fake flowers do not hold their shapes and often fall off the stems. Upon close examination, the dyes are mostly uneven and the edges easily fray. When used in silk floral arrangements, they appear very fake and tacky.

At Flovery™, we only use top of the spectrum artificial flowers. Those are the ones you can see up close at some exclusive hotels, upscale restaurants, art galleries and high-end boutiques. They are custom made and can be often mistaken by an untrained eye for fresh ones.

Below is one example of a real touch roses design used in our Collection that has brightened the lives and events of so many customers.

You will find it very difficult to distinguish these flowers from the fresh ones because they have the same elasticity and velvety softness as fresh cut roses.

Finally, our experienced team shops from many different vendors to bring you the best quality product available in each and every arrangement made. Although Flovery™ is based in Washington state, our products are shipped everywhere.