COTSWOLDGARDENS with MANDY BRADSHAW Wreath revolution Traditional is not always best when it comes to flowers

WORDS AND PICTURES BY: MANDY BRADSHAW

Hans likes to push the boundaries with his floral arrangements

t’s easy to get bound up in At Christmas, it’s “It was landscape architecture for tradition when it comes to { indoors, big shopping centres and Centre Christmas flowers, reaching for the very difficult to do Parcs. As a career opportunity it was totally tried and tested dark red things that are outside useless.” chrysanthemums, , ivy and What he did discover was a love of Ithe inevitable scarlet . Yet in one people’s comfort zone, design and flowers but decided against small Cotswold village a Dutchman is pure landscape architecture. orchestrating a floral revolution. Changing attitudes is not always easy: “I liked the idea of designing and Florist Hans Haverkamp is used to “At Christmas, it’s very difficult to do creating, not just coming up with the idea multi-coloured festivities: “In the rest of things that are outside people’s comfort but putting it together.” Europe you get Christmas decorations in zone,” he admits. Instead, Hans headed back to Holland different colours. Schemes in England are But with his workshops gaining in and a diploma in floristry, following that always red and gold.” popularity, it appears to be a battle he is with a Master Florist course, a demanding He advocates taking the traditional and winning. part-time course that saw around 60 per giving it a twist: instead of red, think Despite the obvious connection between cent of the students drop out before the burgundy; for gold, choose burnished a Dutchman and flowers, it was a career end. copper or apricot; swap white for cream.” that Hans, who moved to Twyning in What it taught him was to constantly “If you just go only slightly away from Gloucestershire as a young boy, fell into challenge the norm, to push floristry A lightweight base is the starting point for those tones and those colours, it looks so almost by accident. He started by studying beyond the usual boundaries and how to Hans’ simple yet stylish door wreath much nicer.” Interior Landscaping in North Wales. carry out those ideas.

124 COTSWOLD LIFE December 2014 cotswoldlife.co.uk cotswoldlife.co.uk COTSWOLD LIFE December 2014 125 COTSWOLDGARDENS

Chunky candlestick arrangements can be used along a table or to light up corners

“Anybody can come up with a great idea “If you try to stick it in with other but you need to know how to put it things, you will lose it and it looks a mess.” together.” For individual arrangements, much of It also introduced him to using materials Ellery Rich this can be culled from the garden other than flowers and getting away from although Hans, who uses 120 bundles of PHOTO: what he describes as “sticking flowers in a spruce alone for his workshops, has to buy bit of foam”. in much of his material. There followed a varied career that has This foliage provides the bedrock for seen him teaching in Japan and the north many arrangements. The garland, which of England, organising an annual flower can be hung over doors, wound around festival in Barbados, demonstrating in staircases or draped across a mantelpiece, Hong Kong and Taiwan, and running a uses a rope to give it flexibility. The flower shop in Berkshire with Andrew wreaths are made using a straw-filled ring Lloyd Weber among the clients – he counts – lighter than the traditional moss rings. his son’s wedding as one of his notable Covering the base is vital and Hans commissions. In addition, he won awards begins by making a hook at the back and Texture is a vital ingredient in Hans’ designs for innovation and creativity at the World then dividing his greenery into three sizes, Flower Arranging Show, and gold and best using the biggest for the outside of the in show at Chelsea in 2007. Next year he is when green is a dominant colour. ring, the medium on the top and smaller creative director of Winchester Cathedral’s “If you go for lots of textures it will give pieces on the inside. Each is fastened by flower festival and talks excitedly about you a really good start.” wrapping wire around and care is taken to arrangements made from onion husks and He likes to combine spikey spruce with hide cut stems beneath the next piece of the possibility of a flower- covered rice glossy ivy, the feathery foliage of conifer, foliage. curtain across the cathedral’s screen. soft moss, holly, both variegated and plain, With door wreaths, impact is all Today, although his work is more and glaucous eucalyptus. Twigs and bark important as they are usually seen from a subdued than his student pieces, it has an add another layer of texture. distance and Hans groups different things appealing freshness and originality. “Get a nice mix of materials and try to in big clumps. Traditional is not entirely set aside get a slight difference in the tints and tones “If they are all muddled up, all you see is though and his Christmas designs are of the greens you are using.” this fuzzy-looking ring shape; the bigger, based on the familiar: door wreaths, table Top of his must-have list is berried ivy as the better.” arrangements, chunky garlands and it can be bunched to form a cluster and What you should do is avoid too much wreaths. skimmia is another favourite, as it provides symmetry – impossible unless you Underpinning all of them is texture, foliage, flowers and berries. What he will measure everything – and not worry too which is even more important at Christmas never use is . much about the result. cotswoldlife.co.uk COTSWOLD LIFE December 2014 127 COTSWOLDGARDENS

Using cream instead of white gives a low table arrangement a more contemporary feel

“At the end of the day, it does not have to At the end of the day, finds foot-long cinnamon sticks that can be be perfect. As long as you’re happy, that’s { used to form a fence-like backdrop to a the most important thing.” it does not have to be vase arrangement and it’s from Holland For an Advent ring, he often keeps it perfect. As long as that he buys flowers unseen in British more simple still, combining blue spruce flower shops. with cushions of bun moss and round, you’re happy, that’s the “Florists stock things that are easy and white candles rather than the more usual most important thing. that they know will sell.” taper candles. It is, he believes, the fear of the unknown “It’s a traditional Advent ring but it gives that makes us afraid to experiment with it a slightly different look.” little seasonal greenery in a simple vase things such as the Eucharist lily, which The rings and garland can either be left with moss tucked into the top to give a looks like a white daffodil and sells at as straightforward foliage or added to with natural feel. around £3 a stem. Christmas baubles, pine cones, berries or A long, low table arrangement “It will last two weeks but if people don’t dried fruit, giving another layer of texture combines cream roses with dark foliage have that information or that experience, and even colour. and round candles, fixed in place with they are not going to buy it.” In the past, Hans has used tiny cinnamon three lengths of florist’s wire. The secret It is this willingness to try something stick bundles, stars made from willow and here is to make sure both ends are the new that Hans tries to instil in those who coconut, conkers and star anise – which same length and to arrange all the attend the workshops, which are also an can be glued together or stuck into oranges. material so that the stems lead to a experiment for him as he trials none of the Flowers can also be added, including central point. pieces beforehand. creamy roses, cymbidium orchids, lilies, Meanwhile, different lengths of silver “I don’t go and make something in pale peach carnations or pin cushion birch form a backdrop for three white advance as it has to be a bit of excitement proteus. hyacinths, a bed of moss, with ivy adding for me as well.” n “They are not Christmas flowers at all a festive touch. but they give a slightly fresh look.” He sources many of the extras that Hans will be running Christmas workshops on Amarylis are another favourite, not only characterise his arrangements from door wreaths, a festive flower arrangement and for their wide range of colours from white Holland, visiting the huge flower market Christmas table design at the Ann Townend Hall through to deep red, but also because they in Aalsmeer a couple of times a year; the in Twyning, near Tewkesbury on various dates last well, making them cost effective lime green and purple baubles that will on December 10-23. Prices start at £40. despite the high price per stem. Hans form part of this year’s work were bought For details and to book, call 07818 040312, suggests three stems, combined with a there earlier this year. It’s there that he or visit www.hansflowers.co.uk cotswoldlife.co.uk COTSWOLD LIFE December 2014 129