Heart and soul 

'As far as I am concerned, flowers have a heart and a soul! This is why, it is only possible to do this work well if you love your product. It seems as if my family has been involved in music since the beginning of mankind and yet, fifty years ago, I fell in love with flowers. Now that I am winding down my career, I still say that there is no finer craft. One thing I have learned is that there are parallels with music. No matter how often you play a piece by Beethoven, you never play it exactly the same way twice. This is no different in our business.'

Royal touch 

'When I started work at the age of sixteen, I gained practical work experience at the Het Loo Palace, the residence of our queen. I actually worked for four generations of the Dutch royal family and was entrusted with the task of designing the floral arrangements for the coronation of Queen Beatrix. I also handled the flowers at the weddings of her sons, including Crown Prince Willem-Alexander. However, I must say, that I received just as much pleasure from working with my wife and staff in the Amsterdam florist shop, which I owned for thirty years.'

AIFD & PFCI-member 

'As a member of the AIFD (American Institute of Floral Designers) and PFCI (Professional Floral Communicators International) my work often took me to North America. My advice to florists is 'let the flower do the work'. Some flowers have magnificent stems – make use of them. The ambience of your shop is also extremely important. In my time I had a great deal of success with 'weekend windows'. Every weekend I dressed my shop window in a new theme that encouraged people to stop and look!' 

Wellspring of inspiration 

'For me every show or exhibition I visited at home or abroad was a wellspring of inspiration. As soon as I got back home, I was ready to make use of what I had seen. My staff tended to be pretty intrigued about what to expect each time I returned: 'What will he have thought of now?' This is something I strongly believe in. The power of presentation. A customer passing your shop window may give you 2 or 3 seconds of their attention. This is all the time you have to make an impression.'

Avoid organizational blindness 

'In fact, on a shopping thoroughfare, 50% of your potential customers will not even pass your shop, but will walk by on the other side of the street. This is why I always crossed the street to look at my own flower shop. What is the general impression? What stands out? What could be improved? This is an approach I can recommend to every entrepreneur because it prevents organizational blindness.  This is, in my view, the worst thing that can happen to someone who works with such beautiful, colorful products.'