Meet the florist with a flair for Guinness World Records

At 16, Bart van der Elsken started working professionally as a floral designer. Little did he know that this career decision would one day see him gracing the pages of the Guinness Book of World Records.

In an exclusive interview with Flowerweb, the veteran florist recalls his very first accolade; when at 19 years old he won the prize for best stand during an orchid exhibition. This award helped launch his name in the world of floral art. The years that followed saw Bart working at various well known flower houses before opening his own operation which he run successfully for 21 years.

At the turn of the millennium, Bart sold his business to concentrate more on designing new flower shops, doing major events & exhibitions, holding seminars for other florists all over the world, giving flower arrangement demos, advising wholesalers, garden-centers and florists among other engagements.

Guinness World Records
It is during this period that Bart has achieved 3 consecutive guinness world records. The first one was the world’s longest bouquet of flowers which stretched 29 meters in length. The bouquet created and displayed in Aalsmeer had 88,175 flowers.

In 2013 while Collaborating with CIB in Kharkov, Ukraine they created the longest flower/plant arrangement which was 2,847.90 m (9,343 ft 6 in). For this mega arrangement they used yellow marigolds and blue petunias to bring out the colors of the Ukrainian flag in honour of the country’s independence day.

Most recently in August 2016, Bart was again listed in the Guinness Book of World Records after creating the world’s biggest carpet/flag which was 13,057m2. Together with his team and in partnership with CIB, they created the Ukrainian flag using nearly 1.3 million plants which included 'Boy O' Boy Yellow' Marigold and petunia 'Aladdin blue' in a project that took them two weeks to complete.