The Flower Art Museum in Aalsmeer, the Netherlands, has gained an exhibition space: a glass greenhouse entirely decorated with plants. A green oasis where everyone can experience the power and beauty of plants for themselves and where a gardener tells his story.
Photo credit: Flower Art Museum
The greenhouse stood for years on the parking roof of the flower auction Royal FloraHolland in Aalsmeer. Jan de Boer, former director of flower exporter Barendsen, used it at the time to meet people from the floriculture industry in an appropriate place. He gifted the glass shelter to the Flower Art Museum last summer.
The museum, Bloemenbureau Holland, and Greenport Aalsmeer then joined forces to transform the greenhouse into a small exhibition space. Arranger Elize Eveleens attractively decorated the greenhouse with plants that can withstand the cold. Inside the greenhouse are two large billboards of a grower and his product, with a QR code that allows visitors to discover the grower's story at mooiwatbloemendoen.nl.
Photo credit: Flower Art Museum
Ronald van den Breevaart, director of Greenport Aalsmeer: 'As the Dutch horticulture industry, we have a beautiful story to tell. Within the sector, we know this, but this story does not always come across well to people outside the sector. Through this greenhouse, museum visitors get to know the growers and how our beautiful products are grown in the greenhouse in an accessible way.'
Yvonne Watzdorf, director of Bloemenbureau Holland, adds: 'Flowers, plants, and art have a lot in common: they make you happy, they amaze, offer comfort and make your house a home. The greenhouse at the Flower Art Museum in Aalsmeer seemed to us a perfect place to make people aware of what flowers and plants do for you.'
Photo credit: Flower Art Museum
The greenhouse will be involved in the museum's exhibitions and activities as much as possible, says museum director Constantijn Hoffscholte: 'From school visits to flower festivals, the greenhouse is a green oasis where everyone can experience the power and splendor of plants for a moment. But it doesn't stop at looking, visitors may also plant some seeds themselves and take home a flower pot.'
Bloemenbureau Holland plans to use the greenhouse as a studio to photograph flowers and plants, and Greenport Aalsmeer plans to use the greenhouse as a (small) meeting location. So the greenhouse has been given a multifunctional purpose.
For more information:
Flower Art Museum
www.flowerartmuseum.nl