Off to Amsterdam for the Floral event of the year

Many of you might be wondering why we headed to Amsterdam over the past week.. Well, it was for a very special and flowery event! Flowers like you've never seen them before.. We were invited to attend the launch of the newest magazine, The Green Gallery, commissioned by the Flower Council of Holland. When we received the invitation, we immediately knew this was an event not to be missed!

Held underneath the Rijksmuseum, the entire space was transformed into a floral wonderland with flowers as far as the eye can see, a long and winding table for all the guests to sit around and a feast fit for a king. 

When we arrived we were welcomed into the magical realm by ushers dressed as forest creatures.. Continue reading for more details of the amazing night, you won't believe it actually happened.. it's almost like a dream, even for us! The only sign that the night actually happened were the flowers that we woke up to the next day..

Following the hashtag #thegreengallery, let us tell you the tale of The Green Gallery..

The first issue features some social media darlings like Linda Lomelino a.k.a Call Me Cupcake and photographer, Luisa Brimble. Definitely have to go over and have a read for yourself. The online magazine is easily accessible on both your mobile device and laptop so it's definitely inspiration while you are on the go, as most of us are!

Everything was like a part of a fairytale and having live music gave it that extra special touch.. it was so enchanting..

On to dinner.. the decadent feast began with an orchid cocktail.. something to prepare us for what was to come. The drink was waiting on the table as guests started to enter the venue.. frozen into a ball of ice, the drink slowly melted and by the time everyone sat down it was ready to be enjoyed.

Next up was the Turnip Carpaccio.. sufficiently impressed by the orchid cocktail at this point, we were quite excited for the rest of the meal. The menu was half informative and half mysterious, everything sounded like exquisite combinations of our favourite foods. We also enjoyed A Foresty Walk, no not a walk in a forest, rather the name of the next dish which consisted of roebuck braised in brown butter with hazelnuts, cummin and sesame. (just writing this is making us hungry all over again)

Of course, they wrapped up the meal with an amazing dessert - 2 pieces of chocolate lace tile and a fennel lemon curd. Just perfect.

At the end of the event, we were each presented with a pair of golden scissors which we could use to cut off our favourite stems to bring home. The most beautiful souvenir of all. Everyone left with bunches of fresh flowers that had been the decor for the night, a great way to let the night live on for the next few days. It was fun to see everyone interacting while they walked around plucking out their favourite blooms, taking pieces of the night home with them.

The Gardeners and Laurien Vest did an amazing job on the event, we could not be more impressed by everything and everyone we saw and experienced.. and it was not over just yet..

Right before we left, we were met at the door with a little going-away gift, a little black box to take home. Mysterious isn't it? Open it up carefully to unveil Katja's Gruijters masterpiece. She is truly a food artist, the chocolate mushroom within the black box is a definitely a piece of art, something you stare in awe at and think twice before you would eat it. Of course we suggest you take sufficient photos of it and show everyone and their mother before you bite into the beauty. 

And of course post-party we had a little more floral fun ourselves with the bunch of fresh flowers we got to take home.. this is what we did with the flowers on the next day.. the party didn't quite end for us I guess because everywhere we turned we saw bunches of flowers from the night before, reminding us of the magical night.

Have we got your attention yet with our recap of the event? It was like reliving it all over again.. if you are curious about the new magazine the entire event was organized for, then click through to the magazine for a whole lot more floral inspiration..

Photo credits: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13

.. The Green Gallery

Dried wildflowers and plants

We just got back from our family vacation in the Netherlands and it was such a pleasure to be able to stay at our own little pied-a-terre in Amsterdam. Last year my husband and I decided not to rent out our Amsterdam apartment any longer but keep it as our own ‘retreat’ to enjoy some down-time with the boys and just to feel at home – like literally, on the couch! When you have lived abroad as long as we have, you sometimes start to feel ‘dislocated or out of place’ and having one spot on this planet that you really can call home brings back that so much needed balance in your life. So we go there as often as we can (and work allows…)..added benefit is of course that  it is very liberating not having to impose all the time on family or friends to stay in their homes for a couple of weeks (I am sure they feel the same way…). 

Both of us have a strong love for vintage contemporary furniture, so instead of giving each other Christmas presents we bought some collector items online. But more on this in a different post coming soon. Today I would like to share some images of the dried plants we keep in our place. As it it impossible to water plants remotely… I believe these dried flowers and plants are the perfect alternative. You simply dust them off upon your return… and they are great for decorating I think… 

What do you think? You like the dried giant hogwood? Or the grapes? The grapes are slightly unusual (and big…) perhaps but I really thought they looked kind of cool… 

   

  

Found some more dramatic dried plants online ... in the third and fifth picture: Studio Oink used dried flowers for a styling assigment for Stattman-moebel. And Mikael Axelsson beautifully photographed these dried Carduus at the organic and biodynamic flower shop: Landet Järna.

The Images 1, 2 and 4 are by Irene Hoofs @ Bloesem in the Amsterdam apartment. xoxo Irene

 

We like: Summer Patios

{1. fig tree 2. patio 3. planter 4. fig tree 5. rack of pots 6. beaded planter 7. backyard }

It's summer so summer appropriate activities including stopping and smelling flowers, skipping and pinning beautiful enviable summer time balconies, patios and such. We do a round up of our favorite few that remind us why we love that time of the year when the sun presents itself to us.

Also let's show a little appreciation for olive trees because, woah are they beautiful! The two images in the background are both of olive trees are they are gorgeous.

Continue the pinterest fun over here..

Guest Pinner: Greens by Wimke

{1.söndagsmorgonen = sundaymorning 2. Janne Peters 3. kawakami 4. Anna Peters 5. Erin 6.plaza interior}

This must be the easiest collage I have ever made for Bloesem ... you just can't go wrong with flowers ... of course it did help that Wimke Tolsma choose the best pictures out there for our Flowers & Plants pinterest board ... no wonder she has a steep following of 34.000 + pinners

 

.. Wimke Tolsma at pinterest

.. Bloesem at pinterest

 

More green in the house

{image: Belle Fleur de Lis}

The weekend we came back from our summer in the Netherlands I literally went to the first garden shop I could find here in Singapore ... it was in Amsterdam already that I decided I wanted more plants and greens in our home and balconies. I have bought quite a few but no pictures yet to share with you... what I can do i share you the images that inspired me to have more green in our house ... 

[MORE IMAGES]

Image credit: 2. Bottles via Leslie Williamson 3. Flower via Irene Hoofs 4. Jurianne's bathroom viaMarjon Hoogervorst 5. White flowers via Daily Tonic 6. Copper pot Irene Hoofs 7. hanging plants viaconvoy 8. Balcony pots via pinterest

 

Any green inspiration yourself? Love to hear if you have green fingers too :) - irene xoxo

 

Sending flowers

I need to order flowers for a close family member in the Netherlands today ... you would expect the Netherlands to have some crazy cool online shops where you can order beautiful arranged bouquets but I couldn't find them. Only some old-fashioned sites ... anyone any recommendations, please let me know!

I was hoping to find a bouquet like the one in the picture above but Boston were the flower shop Wild Folk Studio is based is a bit too far for me to order from :) ... 

Flowers and plants are currently on my mind becasue we had to leave all of our plants behind in KL. And I'm trying to find good places here in Singapore to find new greens for our balcony ... normally I am not so much a person for inside plants but looking at these pictures from a Japanese site I might change my mind ... 

And how cool is this: Coloni ... 

a swedish based gardening house that developed an approach to a new kind of indoor gardening, based on seed mixtures. The mixtures consist of seeds from desert and arid Mediterranean climates and include both annual and perennial species. Four boxes to choose from ... with Awakening being my favorite.