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It’s natural to feel delighted when you have something in common with Michelle Obama, Lady Gaga and Prince Charles. For Belgium-based Tomas De Bruyne, the commonality is that they all have flowers named after them.
In 2005, a variety of the Gloriosa lily flower was officially named after the international floral designer to clients such as the Ambanis, Goenkas and the Swarovski family.
“Having a flower named after you is good for the ego, of course,” De Bruyne tells ETPanache when we met him at Phoenix Marketcity where he was putting together his 30 ft installation called the Tree of Prosperity, made with 3,00,000 flowers. “The Tomas De Bruyne Gloriosa lily flower, named after me, does have some similarities — it’s a diva, it has its own will and it puts itself in the market in a totally different way. It has a lot of character.”
Indian extravagance
For many high-end clients, De Bruyne is a welcome addition to their big fat Indian wedding. “There is a reason there is a hashtag for the big fat Indian wedding. A big fat Belgian wedding, well, you don’t really have that,” he says with a laugh.
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While the biggest market is still the US, De Bruyne says that in terms of importance, India leads the way. Some of the weddings the master florist has enjoyed working on in India include Isha Ambani and Anand Piramal’s, Sanjiv Goenka’s son Shashwat’s wedding to Shivika Jhunjhunwala, and Sukriti Kothari and Pragun Jindal Khaitan’s nuptials in Jaipur. “My clients don’t really follow ‘trends’ as they are premium clients.
They are very open to my suggestions. For the Ambani wedding, we did something called the ‘Rolling Hills’. That was one of the most fun installations we did. They called me in for my sense of colour,” says De Bruyne. And while the arrangements for the functions were impressive, De Bruyne was equally impressed by his host. “I liked the grace, etiquette and pureness of Mrs [Nita] Ambani. She definitely knows what she wants, which is good,” De Bruyne says.
Flowery praise
Goenka even posted a testimonial on De Bruyne’s site where he called the floral artist a “hugely talented and humble man”. But it’s not always a walk in the garden. Given that De Bruyne’s art consists of living material, things can go bloomingly wrong. “Once, when everything was done, a client asked me to do something in 30 minutes that would require four days. At such times, it gets crazy. And it happens a lot in India. Then you basically must do jugaad,” De Bruyne says with a chuckle. Next big thing: “Selfie walls. It has to be more than just flowers — it has to have character. I haven’t done any in India yet.”
Flower power: “A man should know how to take care of flowers. Isn’t it nice when a man cuts the flower and puts it in a vase of water instead of just giving it to you? It’s much better than ‘Here’s your bouquet, you do the work’.”
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