"Ensure a good basis above all”

Johan Licher (born 1944) always feasts his eyes. Whether he is walking down Kalverstraat in Amsterdam or looking for a post office in China, he always takes in his surroundings very closely. He believes that this is how to discover the basis of how people interact with flowers.  He has been in the business for over half a century and has been running his own shop in the heart of Amsterdam since he was 30. And all that time he has also travelled the globe to teach florists the tricks of the trade. He does not have any big theories, but has a basic but effective approach. He looks for ways to help every flower seller (big or small) to earn just a little bit more. If that basis is good, the rest will follow of its own accord.

Seeking translation

As an old hand, Johan has had his fair share of unusual assignments: a royal wedding, an Oscar ceremony, and he has also worked for the Vatican. But he finds a demonstration in front of a handful of florists in a small provincial town just as fascinating. He is particularly interested in emerging countries like Russia and Serbia. In Sweden he gave training courses 5 days in a row. He spent hours sitting on the train, and all he saw around him was forest. That desolation and loneliness is part of Swedish life. The challenge for Johan is to translate that into the way that you interact with flowers.

A lot of laughter

He gets inspiration for his work from life around him. Sometimes that is in a far-off land. Johan,  who says on his CV that he speaks English, German and fluent Amsterdam, has visited dozens in recent years. But he can also be found delivering bouquets to his regular customers on his bicycle alongside Amsterdam’s canals. Chatting, cracking jokes and a lot of laughter are ‘basic ingredients’ for his daily life. He is not really attracted to 'cold’ skills like computers and e-mail. A lot of laughter is not, incidentally, the same as indifference. He is very aware of how spoilt the Western world has become, particularly on his trips abroad. People could think about that a lot more.

Lyrical

His favourite flowers are summer flowers - and then preferably not in a vase but in the wild. Hence he can wax lyrical when he rides his bicycle through the polders of Noord-Holand in the summer and passes fields full of daisies. Cycling and walking are his favourite pastimes, possibly at his holiday home on Lake Como in Italy. But he does not have a lot of time to do it. "Working is my hobby, so I do that 6 days a week."