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)

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>

Fleur Magazine is the Belgian professional florists journal and is packed with great advice for anyone running a florist shop as well as pages filled with inspiration, new designs and background information about plants and flowers.

Personally i was pretty impressed with the overall look of the magazine and the articles, that are fun and interesting to read, even for non-florist me.
​
I love how the magazine provides the floral entrepreneurs with hooks and stories that can help sell more flowers and plants.

We are over the moon to be featured in this lovely publication with not only one, but two products. Check it out!
When clicked, the images should enlarge in a lightbox so you can read the actual (Dutch) text. 

In Dutch we have the saying: 'that's a one-cent whistle', or, more accurately 'that's a wistle of a cent', for something that's really easy.

In English you'd say something is a 'piece of cake', which if literally translated to Dutch doesn't really mean something.

Anyway, we're happy with this Kekmama publication of our Waterworks-set, which states keeping your plants alive with Waterworks is a whistle of a cent.

Thank you for sharing Kekmama!

These last months have been all about getting the Flower Constellations ready in time for them to be shipped to our backers by the end of August. 

Well, the Flower Constellations are packed and will be sent to all early adapters this week.
Time for the next step: spreading the word.

Best place to start and nationally debut the Flower Constellations to stores, press, bloggers and other design loving professionals is undoubtedly ShowUP: trade show for home and gift.

So we're packing up our goodies and will be at the Expo Haarlemmermeer this coming Sunday and Monday (2+3 September).
​
Will we see you there?  

ShowUP
Trade fair for home and gift

Expo Haarlemmermeer
Stelling 1
2141 SB Vijfhuizen

Sunday September 2 2018, 10:00 - 18:00
Monday September 3 2018, 10:00 - 18:00

Only accessible for professionals
​Free entrance after registration

<Click here for more information about the fair>

The World Packaging Design Society runs an influential packaging design blog featuring contemporary packaging designs from around the world.

We're very happy we made it onto their feed with our Waterworks box! 
​
Definitely worth checking out on Instagram.

We're very happy to be featured in one of the Netherlands' biggest magazines: Libelle.

The Libelle Tuinspecial is definitely worth a read, and i'm not just saying that because Waterworks is in there: i'm in love with the relaxed gardening style and lush green gardens the magazine showcases.

​Anyway, here's a close-up of the publication: 

A -rough- translation of the text:
​
"Forgot to water your house plants again? This funny Water reservoir solves the problem (and your feeling of guilt). It's called Waterworks and does what it's made for: gradually distributing water and preventing the soil from drying out." 

​Click here for a pdf of the publication

Dutch website Tuin&Balkon is full of tips for urban gardening.
A while ago they wrote a lovely piece about our design Waterworks (click -in dutch) 

And now they wrote this very sweet piece about our new Flower Constellations. - Thank you Mathieu!
​
​Check it our here (in dutch)

We might be all about the flowers these days, the love for our houseplants did not diminish one bit. 
With the weather looking up and the days stretching, our domestic greenery can use a little extra love.
And water.
​They also usually like water. 

To celebrate the new growing season (and make up for lack of attention), we've installed a 10% Waterworks discount for as long as the Crowdfunding campaign lasts.
Simply use discountcode 'crowdfunding' at check-out, and save an instant 10%!

Now that we've reached our Kickstarter goal in only 11 days (yeeaah!), we are not slowing down with our compaign.
No sir! No way!

Of course we took the time to sip on a glass of bubbles (or three), but now that we've made it this far, we're upping our ante:
​Let's go for stretch goals! ​

If we get to €8.000,- in funding, we'll be getting serious about the Propagation constellation:

​a brass tool similar to the Flower Constellations that is perfect for sprouting larger seeds and pits and for the propagation of cuttings. ​

Good to know, as soon as we've developed it, we'll prepare a Propagation Constellation prototype and add it as a Reward possibility for you to pre-order.

So if you haven't pledged already, do so now and unlock a new universe of possibilities.

Three days into our campaign and i'm finally finding the time to tell you a bit more about our Flower Constellations and their back story.

I'll be posting other updates about aspects of our design and production-process in the future, but for now, let me tell you a bit about the journey preceding our Flower Constellations crowdfunding campaign.

After designing and successfully crowdfunding Waterworks, bringing our natural watering system to market turned out to be less straightforward than we had hoped.

We learned a great deal about running a business that first year and started to craft a strategy about the way we would develop House of Thol further.

Working best while coming up with solutions in our own living environment, we focus on keeping our designs close to ourselves.
We aim to create durable products that add value to our daily lives and help us maintain a green lifestyle.

Four years on, we have established a worldwide network of supporters and shops, and have sold almost 5000 Waterworks-sets.
​
We are ready for a new green product to add to our House of Thol collection.

​A large Dutch Garden center opted to produce it, but ran into management-issues and production stalled.
​Last year we took matters back into our own hands and developed the Flower Constellations: based on the same flat-pack multi-fit principle, but for flowers and with an improved design. ​

A perfect fit, not because we're into astrology that much, but because we love that millenia ago, people tried to make sense of the skies and created the constellations as some kind of memory aid. 
Telling each other stories so their order of things would not be forgotten.

The code is valid this whole week and can be used for all products in our webshop. ​