Cake Design News: Sound Garden: Vespertine

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This week, Sound Garden finds us immersed in the odd, magical world of Björk, as we pay homage to her mind-blowing 2001 album, Vespertine. Perhaps you are an alternative music buff and know Björk well, or maybe you aren't that familiar with her sound but have heard that she is from Iceland. I can absolutely guarantee that whatever your level of interest in Björk, you can recall the fuss ignited when she wore the swan dress pictured on the above cover to the Academy Awards in 2001. Björk's swan dress moment threatened to overshadow the genius of her music on Vespertine, but I assure you, it is worth exploring. Like Beck and some other artists yet to be featured here, Björk commonly employs sampling and layering in her music, establishing a full-bodied sonic experience. On Vespertine, there are samples of crunching snow and cracking ice, which you will see reflected in this week's wintry arrangement.

For today's design, I focus on structure and texture to create a very literal interpretation of the cover art for Vespertine. The arrangement is highly architectural because I want to demonstrate how to use florals and organic elements almost like sculpture.

Yes, that is a bud of actual cotton (nestled in a bed of silver spray-painted asparagus fern!). Cotton is a highlight in today's arrangement. Although the weather is turning bone chilly here on the East Coast, we are still importing cotton branches from the balmier southern states. Cotton during this time of year always reminds me of the "snow" glued to cardboard shoeboxes for the winterscape dioramas that we created as children in school.