He regularly appears at U.S. floral design shows and also owns a successful flower shop in Holland. His latest book, 'Wedding Emotions', has just been published.

Another great sales day
"New Year's is an excellent retail sales opportunity. At this time of year, though, our main focus is on the Christmas retail rush. New Year's is often just a hurried after-thought. But with the right preparation, and in-shop displays and arrangements that combine remnants of Christmas with the newness of spring, New Year's should be another great sales day."    

Complementary colors'
"In my shop, I take a realistic approach to my New Year's sales preparations and presentations. New Year's is the time when we welcome in the spring with beautiful spring flowers, but I simply do not have enough time during the week after Christmas to totally refresh and renew my shop for New Year's. I therefore combine some tasteful, toned-down Christmas 'leftovers' with my New Year's arrangements and displays. Christmas lights, moss and pinecones, when used subtly, complement your shop's New Tear's springtime theme very nicely."     

Spring flowers
"When Christmas and New Year's themes overlap, it's important to select the right flower colors. Use Christmas colors and New Year spring flower colors that complement each other, colors that blend rather than clash. At the start of the new spring season, I prefer using softer spring flower colors in my tulip, narcissus and hyacinthus bouquets. Whites and pinks, spring colors that don't contrast too sharply with Christmas colors, work best. Bright yellow spring flowers for example create too great a contrast." 

Bulb flowers
"Pre-planning is essential for New Years, especially since the links in our supply chains – from flower auctions to wholesalers – often experience a natural, post-Christmas slow-down. Plan your New Year's arrangements and shop window designs in advance, before the Christmas sales rush begins. There's only a short week between Christmas and New Year, so we must work fast. Know exactly when you will buy in your spring flowers. I order my flowers at least ten days before New Year's. And because time is short, I prefer working with bulb flowers – narcissus, iris, tulips – potted flowers with 5 to 7 bulbs."   

New beginnings
''New Year's is an emotional, sentimental time, a time for starting afresh, for making resolutions full of hope for new and better days to come. Create the fresh, living floral gifts that tap into these emotions in your customers, which they can then share with the family and friends they visit on New Year's Day. Send out mailings to local companies; encourage them to express this spirit of new beginnings with fresh bouquets of spring flowers, instead of the traditional but boring bottles of wine!" 

Natural products
"For me, the New Year is about purity, the purity that we find in natural products. I try to avoid using any unnatural extras in my arrangements, anything plastic or 'New Year's kitschy'. Everything must have feeling. Emotion. I love to work with nature, with wood, like birch skin, which can be shaped into wonderful designs. Such pure, attractive natural products, when placed inside the arrangements, are in perfect harmony with and enhance the beautiful, natural flowers we're selling."