Smithers-Oasis is a company specializing in floristry products headquartered in

Kent, Ohio Kent is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the largest city in Portage County. It is located along the Cuyahoga River in Northeast Ohio on the western edge of the county. The population was 28,215 at the 2020 Census. The city is counted as pa ...

, United States. The company created water-absorbing foam in 1954.

History

The company was founded in 1954 by V.L. Smithers in

after he developed a water absorbent foam to use in floral arrangements. Since then, other products have been developed including floral accessories, cellular growing media, and post-harvest plant products. The company is headquartered in Kent and operates a manufacturing plant there. Corporate offices were returned to Kent in late 2013 from

Cuyahoga Falls Cuyahoga Falls ( or ) is a city in Summit County, Ohio, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 51,114. The second-largest city in Summit County, it is located directly north of Akron and is a suburb of the Akron metropol ...

, where they had been located since 1992.

Products

Wet floral foam

Oasis is a

trademark A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a type of intellectual property consisting of a recognizable sign, design, or expression that identifies products or services from a particular source and distinguishes them from others ...

ed name for wet floral foam, the spongy

phenolic Phenolic is an adjective and a substantive (noun) that may apply to : * Phenol (or carbolic acid), a colorless crystalline solid and aromatic compound * Phenols, a class of chemical compounds that include phenol * Phenolic content in wine * Phenol ...

foam used for real flower arranging. It soaks up

water Water (chemical formula ) is an inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living organisms (in which it acts as a ...

like a

sponge Sponges, the members of the phylum Porifera (; meaning 'pore bearer'), are a basal animal clade as a sister of the diploblasts. They are multicellular organisms that have bodies full of pores and channels allowing water to circulate through t ...

and acts both as a preservative to prolong the life of the flowers and a support to hold them in place. The foam's structure is similar to that of plants and has capillary action to move water to the surface and up the stem. It is often green, but is also available in many other colors, such as purple, red, yellow, and brown. It usually is supplied in a brick shape, but can be bought in spherical shapes. Oasis can be bought wholesale or in arts and craft and gardening stores, particularly ones that feature large faux flower collections for creating artificial arrangements.

Dry floral foam

Sahara and Sahara II are the trademarked names for dry floral foam distributed by the Smithers-Oasis Company and used for supporting arrangements of artificial flowers. They do not manufacture this product. The company also offers products using extruded polystyrene and molded urethane which are also distributed not manufactured.

Colored floral foam

Rainbow Foam is the trademarked name for colored floral foam produced by the Smithers-Oasis in France. It doesn't contain the same formulation as the regular wet floral foam thus requires other soaking directions before use.

Environmental Impact

Floral foam is non-biodegradable, non-recyclable and toxic for both humans and animals. The

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr (Nort ...

announced in January 2020 that floral foam would be banned from all RHS Shows from 2021.

Usage in Pop Culture

The rise of

ASMR Autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR) is a tingling sensation that usually begins on the scalp and moves down the back of the neck and upper spine. A pleasant form of paresthesia, it has been compared with auditory-tactile synesthesia a ...

videos can be accredited to the usage of floral foam. Many individuals use the floral foam because of its crushability and the sound that comes from being crushed. Another popular thing ASMR-ists do with Oasis wet floral foam, specifically, is to soak it in water and then crush it. This demonstrates the soaking ability of Oasis wet floral foam. Videos range from running over wet floral foam to cutting up Sahara dry floral foam. In the ASMR community, Oasis wet floral foam and Sahara dry floral foam is deemed as the best kind of floral foam to use and many videos highlight the brand's name. White Tennis Shoe Crushing Floral Foam

However, with more non-florists using floral foam and not disposing of it properly, there has been an increase in

microplastic Microplastics are fragments of any type of plastic less than in length, according to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the European Chemicals Agency. They cause pollution by entering natural ecosystems from a v ...

pollution.

References

External links

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Technical facts
Brand name materials Florist companies Kent, Ohio Packaging materials Companies based in Ohio {{horticulture-stub