This September will mark the second edition of Masterly Den Haag.
Masterly started out as a festival celebrating Dutch high craft in Amsterdam, and over the past years became a Dutch staple of the Fuori Salone programme during the furniture fair in Milan in April.

Nicole Uniquole, the initiator and driving force behind Masterly, has a love for things that are well made: both now and in history.
Situating contemporary Dutch Design in a classical environment creates an interesting tension between the 'now' and the 'then'.  The beautiful locations she uses as a backdrop are always worth your visit.

We're super happy to be part of the Masterly Festival this year, and proud to be coupled with the painting Jan van Ravesteyn made of Amalia van Somst.
​
Amalia came to Den Haag as a refugee at 17 and went on to marry Stadtholder Frederik Hendrik, thus becoming the original matriarch of our Dutch Royal family of Orange.
​In her married life, lady van Solms worked towards elevating the position of her husband and family.
​She showcased her collection of paintings and porcelain in refurbished or newly built grand houses and palaces with lush gardens.

In 1641, Amalia married her son Willem II to young Mary Henrietta Stuart, Princess Royal, making grandson Willem (William) III a true prince of Orange who would become monarch of England, Scotland and Wales in later life (but not without a battle).  

As lovers of Flowers, we're drawn to the beautifull embroidery lady van Solms is depicted wearing: showcasing the long love the Dutch Royal family has for flowers. 
A perfect match with our Flower Constellations!
Did you know descendant and namesake Catharina-Amalia, Princess of Orange, has a tulip named after her?

Sisters Astrid and Linda, both creative minds, have put their love for all things beautiful and special to digital paper with their blog 'No Ordinary Tales'. 
On it, they share DIY's, recipes and all creative things they come up with. Once every while, they share the work of a fellow creative entrepreneur or creative hotspots to visit.

We're super excited Linda and Astrid wrote a lovely piece about our Flower Constellations last week. Thank you so much for sharing!
You can read the full post here.
It's in Dutch, but even if you don't speak the language, their photographs are worth your click!

Father's Day is around the corner! 
And although it might seem all fathers need new Americana accessories for their BBQ, we know for a fact many dads love to let things grow.

That's why we busted our behinds to get the Helios out there in time: the new durable tool to help you grow your pits, bulbs and cuttings on water.
Read all about our Helios Constellation here.

Is your dad more of a houseplant fan?
Why not gift him a Waterworks-set to help keep his indoor greenery happy and healthy.

But that's not actually what this post is about: As a little something extra, we added a few new Father/Family-themed Growing Cards to our collection.

With these cards, you're not only sending your dad a sweet message, you'll also give him something to grow.

The cards have been printed on Growing paper that contains wildflower seeds.
To germinate the seeds, lay the paper in moist soil, place in a sunny spot, cover with a thin layer of earth and keep moist. 
Depending on the kind of seed in the paper, you'll see the first tiny green leaves pop out of the earth after about ten days.

​Ophiuchus or 'Snakebearer' is called the thirteenth star sign, because, just as the 12 signs of the Zodiac, it crosses the sun's path (Ecliptica).
The official period of Ophiuchus would be between November 30th and December 18th.

We went ahead and ordered a small stock of brass Ophiuchus Constellations. This means that when you order an Ophiuchus, there's no waiting involved: We'll ship immediately and you can start arranging flowers right away. 

The only difference to the final product is the package it comes in.

Mothersday is around the corner! 
​Does your mother like flowers?
​Gift her a Flower Constellation this weekend so she can create stunning floral masterpieces every time while saving on flowers.

Because we are huge fans of mothers in general, (and ours in particular), we designed special Mother-celebrating Bee Happy Growing cards for Mothersday.

With these cards, you're not only sending your mom a sweet message, you're also giving her a delayed bouquet of flowers. ​

Want to dave time and have your present sent directly to your mothers' address?
We can do that! Simply fill out the correct address at check out.

We can even write your mothersday-card for you. Let us know what should be on the card (max 5 lines) and we'll make sure to write down your message as neatly as we can.

Just a quick reminder that we'll be in Den Bosch these coming days.

We're not only bringing our Flower Constellations and Waterworks-sets, we'll also be trying out our very own line of plantable postcards and giftlabels as well as new seed-package labels.
I've had a lot of fun designing these, so i hope they'll be well-received. Fingers' crossed!

And that's not even all of it: Visitors to the fair will get a very first sneak peak pf the new Flower Constellations Helios (for pits and bulbs) and Ophiuchus (for larger vases and bigger stems)

Last week we asked what you thought should be the new Dutch Master Wrapping paper (remember?).

Thank you for your lovely response!
I'd love to say it was a tight race, but Amrosius Bosschaert won by a mile. ​Only a few respondees preferred the Dutch classic by van Gogh.
​
A few examples of your reactions: 

We wasted no time at all getting the new wrapping paper printed.
The paper came in right before the weekend and  has been added to the Flower Constellations wrapping options in our webshop.  

Now how's that for a lovely spring of a present?!

ps. New gift-tag options will follow soon!

After moving to our rural home in Overasselt two years ago, we (or i) immediately started fantasizing about our garden. 

I actually bought a permaculture book (bible) months before moving and started with big plans to turn our land into a lush and fertile eating forest.  
​With no prior gardening experience to speak of, you can guess how that went down the first year...

You guessed correctly: although we did have a decent strawberry and pumpkin harvest, our garden is not so much a fruit and veggie heaven yet.

However i have hopes that with a lot of time, practice and soily hands, we will get there eventually.
We made great strides last fall planting 16 fruit trees in the meadow. It will take them a couple of years to bear fruit, and i guess so do my gardening skills.  

However, gardening did become a new love of mine. 
And i'm definitely planning on freeing up more time this season to tend to my greenery. 

The TuinIdee ('garden Idea') fair in Den Bosch in late February is a brilliant place to start the season. 
And we'll actually be at the TuinIdee with our designs!

​Participating in the fair is kind of an experiment, and we have no idea how this will turn out. 

But even if our designs aren't a match with the visitors and we don't sell a thing, at least i'll be getting my fair share of gardening inspiration.

We'd love to see you there!

21-24 February
10:00-18:00 daily
Brabanthallen Den Bosch
free shuttle-service from the train station

<Get your tickets online with a discount>

We always try to keep track of whenever a design is mentioned in a magazine, so we can get our hands on a copy and be proud about it at the time the issue is actually in the stores.
But sometimes we miss the memo, and a magazine is already out the stores before we can catch on and get our hands on a copy.

We were a little late to the news the Flower Constellations were featured in 2018' last issue of magazine Buitenleven.
Although we don't actually have a hard copy in our possession, luckily we did receive a pdf of the piece (which you can find below).

Super happy with the spotlight. Thank you Buitenleven! 

Last fall we wanted to do something special for the Holiday season and designed custom Flower Constellations wrapping paper based on Dutch floral still lifes.
Remember? (click)

​You helped us out by letting us know which masterpiece you liked best, and we ended up with lovely rich colored Rachel Ruijsch wrapping paper that turns your Flower Constellation in a super chique present fitting for the Holidays.

We're still in love with the beautiful still life of seventeenth century Dutch master Rachel Ruijsch.
​Yet the dark and saturated colors in the painting might be more of a winter thing

We literally spent hours in the public domain (thank you World of Driftwood) to find bright colored paintings that would make good wrapping paper.

This time we looked though the extensive archive of Dutch painters and, with spring colors and brightness in mind, narrowed it down to these two options:

This Dutch painter was one of the first to specialize in still life floral paintings and started a trend that went on for centuries.

Although his work is highly sought after, Ambrosius Boschaert the elder does not have a large portfolio. His time was mostly spent working as an art-dealer.
Even more reason to make sure his trend-setting work is not forgotten.

Van Gogh is one of the most (in)famous artists of our country, and made quite a few floral paintings. 
​
Although happily colored, the timing of this painting of irises in a vase (May 1890), is rather gloomy: Vincent would die from complications after a self-inflicted gun-shot wound two months later. 
Maybe not so happy-go-lucky, but an important piece of Dutch art history.

So, what do you think?
Should we go for the important Dutch staple Van Gogh, or choose the painting from the master who may have started it all: Ambrosius Bosschaert?

That way we'll have the new wrapping paper ready to go for Object Rotterdam

More about Object:
​
​The OBJECT fair is a platform for the latest limited editions and one-offs from well-known and upcoming designers working in different design disciplines and with various materials.

OBJECT is thé place where the cutting edge between design, crafts, fashion, architecture and art becomes evident and it is a must-see for collectors, professionals and other design-minded people.

Location:
HAKA BUILDING 
​Vierhavensstraat 38-42 Rotterdam
(Find us at verdieping 2 / third floor)

Opening hours 
Friday 8, Saturday 9 & Sunday 10 February
From 11h – 19h

Entrance fee
12,50 euro / Children under 12 for free
- Tickets for sale at the HAKA building only, no online ticketing.

NB - FREE Shuttle service between Van Nelle, HAKA, Rotterdam centre.
​
PLEASE NOTE: Due to inoperative elevators the HAKA building is difficult to access for people with reduced mobility.

More information and the full list of participants can be found on the OBJECT website.

pssst... we might have a few free tickets available.
Get in touch to hear more!

See you in Rotterdam!

Remember <this blogpost> about Rachel Ruysch a little while ago?
We asked you which painting you liked most, so that we could turn it into wrapping paper.

Well... the votes are in, and the winner is: Painting number 3!
Over all, most people liked the bright colors and explosive composition in this painting most.

Out of the Rachel Ruysch painting, we created this lovely wrapping paper that fits perfectly around the Flower Constellations.