Star French florist weathers pandemic

There was a time, pre-pandemic, that Thierry Boutemy's flowery creations graced catwalks, magazine covers and celebrity weddings.

Now, of course, the French florist - who has worked for Sofia Coppola, Lady Gaga and the fashion house Hermes - is having to weather the crisis like anyone else.

But his passion for petals has not withered.

For more than 25 years, Boutemy has run his boutique in Brussels, a cob-walled den where Italian poppies, Dutch hellebores and tulips from the south of France perfume the air.

All are imported - "Belgium doesn't produce anything in winter," he says - but they are all blooming, alive, from soil, free from chemicals and of verified provenance.

That attention to detail and devotion to nature means Boutemy sources most of his plants from small growers discovered on the sidelines of the Royal FloraHolland Auction House - the biggest in the world - in the Dutch city of Aalsmeer, near Amsterdam.

"That market is a disaster," he told AFP.

"It's an industry-scale war machine that works like a poultry battery farm. It's full-on commercialism," he said, describing a technique used by some to colour flowers by soaking them in dye.

"Instead of buying a bunch of flowers at a supermarket check-out, it's better to buy a single flower for three euros," he argued, complaining how horticulturists are being squeezed by the sector's industrialisation.

Despite all that, Boutemy is forced at times to turn to the Aalsmeer auction market to complete artistic contracts, such as when he was tapped to provide a sumptuous peony display in the movie "Marie Antoinette" by Sofia Coppola - in the middle of winter.

That project, he said, remains his "most beautiful career memory".

Boutemy...

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