Interview with Marc Sassen from Sassen-Colour on top!
We are adding value to flowers with reverence to nature. We style flowers and are giving them a good looking cosmetic make-over. The most important aspect of our company is the respect of nature. The make-over does not affect the vase life and tenability of the flower. The characteristics of the flowers remain unchanged.
There is a big difference in what we do and what the normal flower-painting-companies are doing. Our treatments are much more specialized and consist of several stages. We have a series of possibilities in our beautifying flowers program. These include; the Snowy Mountain, Gayparade, Satin and Bling Bling.
In the year 2000, we had the pink Schreurs rose variety Isis!® in production, which we brought to the auction in a somewhat open stage. This flower at this stage had a beautiful green/soft pinkish colour on the outer petals. I liked these extra shades and I got inspired to add an extra colour to Isis!®. I was curious on how Isis!® would look like when we let her absorb water with blue paint. When I saw the results, I was delighted. Some months later, I asked a flower-painting-company to dip the flower into blue paint and powder it in different colours.
After a while I was not satisfied with the quality the flower-paint-company was offering me and decided to start doing the treatments myself. This evolved into all the series I have developed. Now we dont produce the variety Isis!® anymore at our greenhouses, we switched to the white rose Avalanche. This rose is very suitable for the treatments.
We mainly use Avalanche for our treatments, but also sell alot of beautified Schreurs varieties Aqua!® and Mi-Amor!®. Since the fall of 2004, flower wholesaler: Hoven & de Mooij sold the product of Sassen Colour on top! exclusively. They buy the flowers for us to beautify, and they then sell the treated flowers. We have ceased bringing flowers to the auction and have concentrated on treatments of flowers but only on orders.
All our treatments are water based and do not harm the flowers at all. The products we are using are non toxic and are environmentally friendly. The treatment has no effect on the vase life and tenability of the flower. The flower opens normally and all other characteristics of the flower remain the same.
The shape of the flower is the most important attribute. It is important that the petals do not curl during opening. Furthermore, the flower must have a light colour.
For most treatments, white is the best colour, but we also use a lot of pink roses. Your varieties Aqua!®, Mi-Amor!®, Heaven!® and Maroussia!® are very suitable for our cosmetic make overs The colours yellow and orange are difficult, but we can do the treatments on any rose the client wants.
We are selling a considerable amount of flowers. 10% to 15% of our sales are beautified Schreurs varieties and we expect that the numbers will grow as we have a lot of demand for Aqua!® Satin and Mi-Amor!® Snowy.
After start up with Isis!®, we used a lot of Avalanche. Snowy Mountain was the first creation.
Subsequently, we conceptualized the series Gayparade. This series is immensely popular in the eastern part of Europe and Russia and often used at festivities. Gayparade is real kitsch and is in its own segment of outstanding beauty. My favorite flower is Aqua!® Satin. This is the perfect pink flower to beautify. The shape of the flower is excellent and it is easy to do application with this flower. Besides this, I think that Aqua!® has a lot of air, and our Satin treatment emphasizes that.
Foremost, what a smashing beauty your new Red Naomi!® rose is. She is very suitable for the Antique-Look as you can see on the pictures that we have made. We tried a number of treatments with Red Naomi!® and we are very enthusiastic about the Glowy Red Naomi!® make-over. I think this execution has great potential.
Yes, we can do the treatments on any rose variety to the clients’ delight.
Who are your clients?
My only client is Hoven & De Mooij, and their final clients are florists who dare to experiment.
That depends on which treatment they have had, for example Aqua!® Satin is a wedding flower. She has a chique, classy charisma that will make every bride shine and happy! Our series Gayparade and Bling Bling are very popular for cheerful festivities.
Our end users are consumers who are looking for something special, something new. They are trendsetters who dare to choose a style that is completely different. Depending on the series, they like the kitschy friskiness. They are fond of the instant happiness this products radiate and feel that the products are joyful, vivid and creative. They buy our creations as solid stems or when used in arrangements.
