Timo Bolte is a very talented German florist who can successfully transform every single event and make it look unreal! His passion about his job and his skills in combination with his experienced team can design and approach an event perfectly with less stress and much more confidence. They can offer to their clients both inspiration and information as they provide unique tips, planning, designing and executing every vision. Timo Botle has won many awards for his impressive artistic work and now he is one highly talented young designer that always fascinate and surprise people with his work. He is a true dream maker that touch people's lives and emotions through his plants and floral designs. It was such an honour to have the opportunity to get to know him more through an interesting interview that will surely inspire you!
I'm inspired most by the fact that I'm a dream maker. Whenever I start working with brides, I start the conversation by asking them to close their eyes and picture how they want their event to look. I know what I'm doing will stay in people's minds for a long time. People have an emotional connection to flowers. Right now, there are so many peonies, and I often hear people say, "Peonies are my favorite flower." You can see the joy on their faces. I have a big responsibility as a florist. I'm making memories for my clients. We touch people's lives.
Tell us about a wedding trend you are excited about at the moment?At the moment I am a big fan of dyed flowers. Years ago, I couldn't imagine to use flowers out of their origin expression. Nowadays I realized how much possibilities and options I have as a designer with this new material. There are now colors available, I never could imagine before.
My goal is always to fascinate people, create special moments and to surprise. I want to set the plant in the right light, place them on a pedestal. I want to make it clear to people that such a culture is entirely due to the plants. Plants have always been an active component of our lives, and still are. They turn any event into a special moment. Whisking the visitor away for a few minutes into a completely different world- that's the best part of my job.
It´s extremely important to be aware that plants are the third living force on earth, after people and animals. Add to this my irrepressible love for plants. I really want to investigate the distinctiveness and versatility of plants. I just want to know their origin, history, how to look after them, the factors affecting the growth of plants. In fact, this source of knowledge that offers the designer an incredibly broad spectrum of new inspirations. With flowers you can arouse emotions, make experiences and moments unforgettable, decorate rooms.... A palette of possibilities that will never be exhausted.
Who has influenced you the most in your career?I am profoundly convinced that many people have influenced me with their design skills; and even more with their personalities. Most of them are well known, they need no introduction. But floristry is to a large extend emotion; we draw inspiration from intense relationships. Many mentors accompanied me on my journey and continue to do so.
Beside that I think my grandma had a really big influence. Especially her raspberries. In her old house, she used to have a really big garden and loads of flowers. And whenever I visited her, I was helping in the garden- she really inspires me a lot.
Definitely Instagram. I like the diversity of the shown designs and the chance of using this as a network platform. I am not a fan of Pinterest. Whenever a bride starts talking about Pinterest, I ask her to stop. I would really appreciate if there would be a button or selection of giving the shown designs a rough price feeling. Most of the brides are coming with these great designs on Pinterest, where one design is as much as they want to spend for their whole wedding. They also love to create galleries with loads of different designs starting from wild natural boho to super elegant, from high candelabras to single vases on wooden slices. And expect me to include all these in one design. I rather would love, if brides are coming to me without any idea- just closing their eyes and telling me about themselves. Because I want to create their personal bespoke wedding and not any copy seen on social media.
What is the greatest lesson you have learned in your job?Listen, listen to the people you are working with. Each of them went another path and made their own experiences. The most important for me is collaboration with others. Learning from them and taking risks is the only way to grow and develop.
Who inspires you?For me Bibi Hayat is definitely a real inspiration. Not only she is the best event designer, even more she is a fascinating and warmly personality. I've had the honour to work with her previously and she´s nothing than perfection. She has a really sensitive feeling for trends and details. Every event she is creating, there is not one detail or corner she hasn't thought of. She definitely is taking quality and design into another level.
Gregor Lersch was the first person who interrupted my floristry apprenticeship in his firm with the words " You can.." He is the teacher who was not only a milestone, but a mountain, on my map for life, a landmark in my existence.
Complete the phrase: -I can't work without my.....Japanese Scissors. They are with me for nearly 10 years and still working like on the very first day and they've travelled the world with me. Over the years there´s no design I haven´t worked on without them.
In my weddings there are ALWAYS - Flowers. But beside that I guess my concept of combining all styles, architecture, social components, design trends and personality in floristic work is what makes my signature. For me the most important are repetitions of stylistics, design or other elements- You will always find pieces from the location in my design. Or even the play with contrasts- but always close to the venue. I am happy when the guests realize the topic or theme of design.
What's the most spectacular wedding you have ever put together?I've been working for a royal wedding in Dubai. This was not only impressive by the size of the venue, which was a transformed airport. The number of guests was really impressive too. One of the biggest challenges was the heat of nearly 60 degrees outside, to cool the inside down to 16 degrees to keep our flowers alive