“As a lad of 13 I travelled on the back of a scooter to the rose nursery to earn some pocket money picking roses. And not just any roses, but roses over a metre long, ready for shipping to America.” It was the start of an enduring romance with the flower of love. Joost often popped back to the rose nursery to get some of those remarkable flowers – happily, no longer on the back of the scooter.
And it didn’t stop with roses… Joost also developed a love for other flowers. Such as the gerbera, which reminds him of his first date with his girlfriend seven years ago, or the chrysanthemum, which like the peony inspires him hugely in his work as a tattoo artist. Joost is happy to buy flowers for himself and his work colleagues without a second thought. “What’s not masculine about it? They look great!” He likes to photograph the flowering process at various stages, from bud to dried flower. Some of these flowering moments are so beautiful and unusual that they make it onto a client’s skin.
“Some flowers never fade and make it onto the client’s skin.”
For his first date with his girlfriend, he arrived with the single orange gerbera in his hand. The reason? “A single flower is only cool if you present it without packaging, just loose in your hand.” He now regularly buys bunches of gerberas for her, preferably in cheerful colours, but never indigo. “I don’t like it at all!”
Are you a man who loves flowers? Or do you know one? Let us know on Facebook, and we might contact you for a great portrait on Funnyhowflowersdothat.co.uk.
