School History
The school was started in Chicago in 1937 by Mrs. Ethel (Tommy) Bright as Bright's School of Floral Design. This school trained hundreds of young veterans after the war. As the assistant director for Tommy Bright, William (Bill) Kistler changed the name to the American Floral Art School in 1951, when he became the 2nd director.
During his 36 years of teaching, Bill trained over 15,000 florists, more than any other teacher in the world! Until his death in 1981, Bill's dedicated teaching, extensive travels and floral collections made this school world-famous, a reputation being continued through the present staff of James Moretz AIFD and Peter Samek AIFD.