"I love coaching"

Jaap Wisse (born 1959) has completed the teacher training course for the floral sector and also teaches regularly at an agricultural college, but his main learning space is his flower shop.

It covers no less than 2,600 m² (' a football pitch') and employs 12 staff. It is particularly these experiences that he takes to the demonstrations and shows that he has been providing for over 30 years. His area of work covers the whole of Europe, Africa and North and South America. Jaap speaks English, German and a bit of French. Flower shops truly are his specialism. He is also fairly familiar with sales through supermarkets and street trading.

Making sketches

He draws inspiration from sources that include careful scrutiny of his colleagues’ work, all sorts of publications and window displays. He regularly stops in front of a fashion shop or perfumery and carefully studies the dressing. He often also makes a sketch straightaway on the piece of paper that he always carries with him. At home he then translates that into shapes and concepts that he can use for floral work. Commercial floral work, since as a businessman and a frugal native of Zeeland he always keeps a close eye on the income and expenditure.

Exhausting roadshows

He cites recent roadshows through Denmark and Sweden as one of his most unusual and worthwhile assignments. He visited wholesalers day after day. Every day he demonstrated to wholesalers and florists how they could display and promote their products even better. The direct interaction was exhausting ("they suck you dry ") but also extremely inspiring. As an all-round arranger he has no definite preference for a particular flower or colour. But he does like clear, distinct shapes.

On the touchline

Just as Jaap spends his professional time supervising and coaching people, he does the same in his leisure time. Alongside drawing and painting, his big passion is training and coaching his son’s football team. Encouraging and enthusing people gives him a great deal of satisfaction, both on the pitch ("…and afterwards, since I also greatly enjoy the ‘third half’ - the chatting after the match") and in the flower business. "Enjoying your work is the most important thing. And I get a great deal of enjoyment from the contact with people."