NL: Flower Factor to extend activities to French market
Time to find out a little bit more about this talented and cheerful guy, that loves all flowers. End of last year he decided to sell his flower shop, although he had very loyal customers. Like a gypsy family that asked him year after year to do the florals for ‘Toussaint’ or ‘All Saints’. Frédéric: "That was quite a task as they requested to cover a huge grave tomb every year."
Another treasured customer of mine was a lady that absolutely adored flowers. She came in every week and bought lots of flowers, without exception. She got ill and when she died, I was especially requested to do the flowers at her funeral. I felt honoured and stressed at the same time, because of the amount of flowers her family wanted at the funeral. I had 72 hours and was asked to decorate the whole church from top to bottom, from the pulpit to the aisle and from the benches to the casket. The family requested me to coordinate the flowers that people would bring along and wanted me to flower their home as well. I worked day and night to make it all happen. And after that I slept for a week."
A happier event was a wedding in Saudi Arabia. “You can’t even begin to imagine the excess, Frédéric says. We had a team of eight floral designers, each responsible for one part of this monstrous task. I did all realization of the supports, the frames of big decorations, the construction of a pergola, the assembly of large table decorations and the constructions of the sofas. It took a whole year to complete the structures and a week to put in all the flowers. The amount of flowers used was astonishing. Everything had to be gold and white. Because the flowers, mostly Hortensia and Phalaenopsis were expensive to import, we used cheap base materials whenever possible. As long as we painted it gold, it was fine with the client. The result was mind blowing but in the end, the wedding lacked love and romance. And that’s what a wedding should be about.”
In France, the rose, Hortensia Peonies and buttercups are ever so popular. Weddings are all about that romantic feel. But still, wedding flowers have become less important. Frédéric: “The wedding locations used to be decorated abundantly with Hortensias for instance. But nowadays people spend a lot less on flowers. And they all show the same pictures from Pinterest, the ones with bridal bouquets in English garden style. I like to show them there’s more than that.” Frédéric has recorded two tutorials on weddings; one where he shows a 'Table à la Française' or ‘Scenographie florale’ and one with an original wedding bouquet. These videos will be published soon!
When Frédéric had the opportunity to sell his flower shop last year, he decided to focus all his attention on teaching floral design. He met Pim van den Akker in China, whilst both teaching floral design at Sikastone. “I love to teach, but wow, Chinese students are very demanding… I brought twenty-one designs with me and they still wanted me to show more, he laughs. Sharing knowledge and inspiration worldwide through Flower Factor’s platform is something I’m really enthusiastic about. I’m looking forward to our cooperation”, Frédéric concludes.
For more information:
Flower Factor
Distributieweg 8
2645 EJ Delfgauw
+31(0)6 48793800
The Netherlands
info@flowerfactor.nl
www.flowerfactor.nl