Last weekend we spent 4 days in sunny The Hague at chique art/design festival 'Masterly The Hague' - Not only was the festival taking place in a beautiful setting, we were blessed with great weather and many enthusiastic and lovely visitors!

We were super happy with the great presentation of our work: the bathtub being flanked by this gorgeous 1930ties silk Kimono that was on loan from the Gemeentemuseum The Hague, and the over all high quality athmosphere at Hoogsteder & Hoogsteder.
Also not too bad to share a room with skillfull glass artist Geir Nustad and be a temporary direct neighbor of Orange or Red, Bibi Smit and Thed Konings.

And, lest i forget: we worked together with Ceramist Henriette Meijer to create a stylish floral setting at the entrance of Museum Bredius.

Since we were pretty much talking all the time, we didn't get to take that many photographs. 
Luckily plenty of others did!
Here's a few of the pictures we found online. All images link back to the photographer or account we found them.

Thank you Nicole Uniquole and the Masterly The Hague organisation for a lovely festival!  

Whenever we need photographs of our designs, we turn to one very talented lady: Masha Bakker Matijevic of Masha Bakker Photography.

I've known Masha since high school, yet that's not the main reason why we love working with her: with her keen eye for lighting and composition, she always delivers gorgeous and timeless pictures that are ready to share.

Our last photoshoot was last spring and i wanted to take a moment to share the lovely series she shot of our Flower Constellations as well as the Ophiuchus & Helios constellation.

Interested in using these photographs in a publication? Everything and more can be found in high resolution in our image bank. Get in touch for a log-in!

Please note: We're happy for you to share our work and photographs, however, please mention the source and photographer.

We're super excited that only one year after we launched them, the Flower Constellations are now available in the United States of America!!! Yeah!!

Uncommon Goods, webshop for unique gifts, home decor and more, picked up on our design a while ago, and after we sent over a few samples, the sales team gave their go and we shipped the first batch to the US right before our summer break.

So for all of you lovely people living in the US who can use a stylish tool for stellar flower arrangements or are looking for a flowery gift for a loved one , head over to UncommonGoods.com and order Flower Constellations now!

Not living in the US?
Our products are now being sold in 13 different countries around the world, so with a bit of luck there might be a store near you!
Check out our Store Locator for more information.

Although our summer break was cut short because of the opportunity of a sudden assignment that we didn't want to miss (more about that later, i promise!), we still had two long weeks to unwind and relax.

Our last-minute planning brought us to the Schwarzwald (Black Forest) in Germany, a mere 5,5 hour drive from the headquarters.

We landed on a wonderful campground right next to a stream and a little waterfall. and together with the boys spent hours on well-made playgrounds and adventure trails such as the Black Forest Treetop walk (with a large slide going down) and a Barefoot path where we got to got to walk over pieces of broken glass (still pretty sharp).
We clambered accross Germanies' largest waterfall and walked a 60 meters high suspension bridge that slightly swayed in the wind.

Of course we had to play a round of adventure golf (guess who struck a hole-in-one) and we somehow visited two places where people were extremely serious about model-trains as well as to a museum of clocks, vintage cars and vintage vending machines (because what else in Germany on a rainy day).

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!