If there is a heaven on earth, it is somewhere at the gateway to the Flemish Ardennes. Rubbing against the graceful slopes of centuries-old hills, lies the picturesque Wannegem-Lede, a village where time has not yet surrendered to the fast-paced delusions of the day and where things are still allowed to be things. An old tractor chugs through the fields on a misty September morning, a man peers at the horizon, jackdaws sit lazily on the street and in the garden of Sofie Spruyt, florist and Epicurean, there is an late summer peace that makes visitors instantly zen. We stopped by for a conversation about – among others – the noble art of flower arranging, and so much more.
Text: Sven De Potter
The German poet Getraude Beese once said: “A life without dreams is like a garden without flowers.” And she was more than right. But can we even live without flowers? Ask Sofie Spruyt the question and she will answer you with a resounding “No, of course not”. For Sofie Spruyt, the day starts and ends with flowers, in different shapes.
With her business Floral Design, she has been ensuring for years that events – from anniversaries, weddings, funerals, spring festivals, love celebrations, communions and the like – get just a little more depth. With her carefully composed floral arrangements and installations, she not only adds a touch of personality to events, but also an extra dimension, a natural touch.
“And yet becoming a florist was not my great calling,” she says as we walk through her colorful garden on a warm Indian Summer afternoon. Indian cherry. Echinacea. Cosmos. Dahlias. It's a shot of colorful love.
“I graduated in interior architecture and have a degree in art sciences. I have always had a great love for buildings and materials, for the tactility of things and the beauty they radiate. It was my idea to work at an agency after my studies where I could combine my love for art with more modern visions on (interior) architecture, but it never came to that. After graduating and looking for a job, I noticed that I was being sent in a direction that I did not want. I didn't feel like drawing kitchens with a computer every day. The choice to do something different was made quite quickly. But life apparently had a different plan: I met my husband and was soon pregnant, with twins no less (laughs).
I put those dreams away for a while and went to help my mother in her real estate office, because she was just looking for an extra set of hands. For me, that job, especially in combination with caring for two young children, was really very welcome. I did that with a lot of love and pleasure.”
“I still have the amazement I had for nature as a child.”
LOVE FOR LIFE
That the blood creeps where it cannot go. During long walks with the children, Sofie felt that her love for beauty and nature inspired her to do something with her creative urge.
“The kids fell asleep while walking, which gave me time to pick some wildflowers and dry them afterwards. That's how it all started a few years ago. I was soon asked by a number of newlywed couples if I wanted to press and frame their wedding bouquet, and so it grew very organically through word of mouth. I was fortunate that during that period there was an increasing interest in dried flowers. It became a hype, and since people knew I was working on it, I suddenly started getting a lot of assignments. You could say that the passion for the profession has presented itself on my doorstep.”
FLORAL DESIGN HAS NOT BEEN EXISTING VERY LONG. YOU ARE ONE OF THE FEW PEOPLE WHO MANAGED TO TURN THE CORONA CRISIS INTO A SUCCESS STORY.
"Well actually yes. When I chose not to return to work after the birth of our third child and to fully pursue my dream, it was during a period when the whole of society was on lockdown. Everything fell silent. The result was that many people were at home, but were still looking for something to hold on to in beauty, something that made them happy or could brighten up and beautify their interior. For me, the corona period was a busy period, despite the fact that all parties and events were on hold. And gradually it grew into what it is today.”
A SUCCESSFUL COMPANY, RUN BY A WOMAN WHO KNOWS WHAT SHE WANTS.
“(laughs) You can put it that way, yes. And you know, for me it didn't necessarily have to be about the medium 'flower'. I think if something else creative had come my way, it might as well have been that too. What matters to me is that I can fulfill customers' wishes and that I can work out their questions in a creative way, with flowers.”
“When it comes to my favorite flowers, I keep coming back to the flowers that I loved to smell as a child.”
YOUR WORK IS REFINED, BEAUTIFUL AND ELEGANT. THERE IS AN ARTIFICIAL EDGE TO IT.
“Maybe so, but that's because the assignments I've been getting lately are more in that direction. The demand for installations or pieces where flowers, architecture and art come together has increased. I make pieces that connect to a specific space. I cherish the desire to let the material I work with speak more and more of itself. I am mainly inspired by what I see in nature: if you look at a bird's nest or the beautiful natural shapes of plants and flowers, there is an intrinsic beauty in it, something that is so natural and so separate from an aesthetic purpose that it transcends every boundary of beauty. There is no plan behind it and yet it is completely finished. I recently found the cocoon of a tiger spider… and was truly moved by it, for its simplicity and beauty. And that looks like the cocoon of damsels-in-green… which has exactly the same appearance.”
THE CHILD AND THE FLOWER
“When I think about it, I have always had a great love for flowers. Even as a child I always looked for flowers to press or to make perfume. When it comes to my favorite flowers, I keep coming back to the flowers that I loved to smell as a child. Maybells. Roses. Hyacinths. Lilies. Mimosa, because it announces the approaching spring. Scents take me back to places from the past. I still have the amazement I had for nature as a child. And I think that's mainly what I want to preserve or capture. How beautiful nature can be. Although it sometimes feels a bit contradictory, because I take things from nature and take them out of their context.”
WHEN WE TALK ABOUT DRY FLOWERS: THEY MAKE TIME STOP A LITTLE AND CATCH THE BEAUTY OF THE MOMENT.
“Yes, but it remains very fragile and nothing lasts forever. After a while, dried flowers become dust again. Compared to fresh flowers, you can store them longer and enjoy them longer, but after a few years they become very brittle and pulverize when you touch them. Although that sounds a bit like I'm talking to my own shop (laughs). For customers, the choice of dried flowers is often a matter of budget: you can invest in it and enjoy it for years, while with a fresh bouquet you can be happy that you can keep it for two weeks. When it comes to events, it is different, because they are limited in time. Installations with fresh flowers are perfect there. And nowadays you can find beautiful silk flowers, which are often works of art in themselves. That is an ideal choice for the catering industry.”
THE FLOWER SECTOR SEEMS TO BE LEFT A LITTLE OUT OF THE STORY IN THE ENTIRE ECOLOGICAL STORY, EVEN THOUGH IT IS A BILLION-BILLION INDUSTRY. WE IMPORT TONS OF FLOWERS FROM AFRICA, SOUTH AMERICA EVERY DAY… AND THE GROWING OF FLOWERS REQUIRES A HUGE LOT OF WATER. ARE YOU WORKING ON THIS?
“I try to pay attention to it. I know that the industry still has a lot of work to do to make everything more ecological. I personally choose to buy my flowers locally or not to go further than the Netherlands. And if customers who are getting married are looking for a grower for fresh flowers, I will steer them in the direction of a Belgian grower. I have also chosen to give customers the choice between organic or conventionally grown flowers. I don't see it as my job to change the industry, but I can help spread awareness about it. Now, there are not many organic growers in Belgium. Growing and maintaining flowers is a very labor-intensive job. Nearby you have, for example, Fleur Couleur, Het Wijveld in Bloei, Rijk Bos Bloemen, Lent, Herenthoeve… Or Blomm, one of the pioneers in offering organic flowers and seeds. It's going well, although it's going slowly.”
THE FLOWER AS A PHOTO
“I also see an interface between dried flowers and photography,” Sofie continues. “When you dry and press flowers, they change from a three-dimensional image to a two-dimensional image. When you frame them, you get something that looks like a photograph, something that captures a moment. It's a question I get often and it comes up again and again. People have experienced a beautiful moment and want a lasting memory of it. There is always a beautiful emotional connection between people and flowers, and it is that that people try to capture. Whether it is something happy or sad, people find comfort in something that has a memory attached to it. A photo, a framed flower arrangement… in principle it doesn't matter much.”
YOU CAN'T FIND INSPIRATION IN ART.
“Yes, but I think that applies to everyone who is creative. One of my great role models is the German artist Wolfgang Laib, but he is less known to the general public. A shame really, because he does some very impressive things. For example, Laib goes into a field full of dandelions with a brush and a collection container, from which he then collects the pollen. That is an extremely time-consuming and precise job. With that collected pollen, he makes a kind of carpet… and the color that radiates from it, the intensity of it, always leaves me speechless. The dedication, the slowness of the process, the result and the contrast he makes with the background... I find that breathtakingly beautiful.
The repetitiveness in his work inspires me. And actually I sometimes experience the same thing when I make a work with the flower press. Then I have to place each petal separately in the right place in a very careful way, glue each petal… it is very meditative, a bit like what monks did when copying medieval texts. Or when someone asks me to make a very refined work, in the style of Japanese ikebana. I can waste hours just arranging a few branches correctly. When I start such work, I really get close to myself.”
TO THE WEBSITE OF SOFIE SPRUYT
