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Inspiring Flowery Stories & The Designer Man Behind It The international designer Tomas De Bruyne tells how persistence is very important in telling any business story

By Priyadarshini Patwa

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Facebook/TomasDeBruyneFloralDesign

Every story has a hero, a heroine, and a strong supporting cast. While a tale can never be completed without the first two, the last element even in the background does wonder that no one can.

Well, we ain't talking about a friend or a companion here, but flowers that stay with us no matter what life throws at us. While it might just look like just an element in the backdrop, it is actually an essential creation by nature that lits up the whole world around us.

Source: Facebook/ TomasDeBruyneFloralDesign

Be it sorrow or happiness, flowers are the key ingredient. A beautiful flower needs to be cultivated and that is something Tomas De Bruyne, the world-renowned floral architect from Belgium understood. Author of over 15 books and winner of multiple international awards, Bruyne is the floral man who has created memories for many. The talented man simply believes that flowers are all about emotions and people are driven by emotions. As an entrepreneur, if you create emotions, you can create experiences for your client.

Working With, Rich and the Famous

Source: Facebook/ TomasDeBruyneFloralDesign

From being the personal decorator for the Swarovski family to being the Senior Advisor for the Olympic Games in Beijing, he has created artwork in ways that leave a strong imprint in your mind. Another interesting fact about him is that in 2005 he was honoured with a new variety of Gloriosa lily flower which was officially named after him with Princess Nora, wife of HRH Prince Saud of KSA as patroness. That's not it, the man has especially been invited do to multiple large-scale floral installations even at big-fat Indian weddings.

So this time when he was installing "Gateway of Happiness" at Phoenix Marketcity Kurla, Mumbai, Entrepreneur India got in an exclusive chat with him.

We all know him as a well known floral designer, but there is another side to him that makes him as interesting as his art. Being a true entrepreneur Bruyne is very flexible when it comes to his outlook and sees potential in everything.

The Key

Source: Facebook/ TomasDeBruyneFloralDesign

"Persistence is very important; if someone says it is not possible, you are the one who decides if you can or do it or not. Therefore, many people fail as they don't realise they were almost there because they lacked to have the persistence to go on. This is the difference between people who make it and people who don't," he said.

Talking about his art and what makes it different from his entrants he said, "I have always been very individual in my architectural style and my floral installation's upbringing. Being a designer is not just about adding the right flowers together, but it is designing a reflection of life-based on the client interpretations."

Bruyne is a successful entrepreneur and he would never want to be any place else than where he is today. "I don't know because I have no interest in something else. This is exactly what I like, what I do, this is my mission and I have created a vision for it. So, I really don't know."

The Driving Spirit

Like any person, he has many inspirations and one of them is American-Indian author Deepak Chopra. He also has other inspirations within each field ranging from marketing to spirituality to art. Osho, Steve Jobs and Richard Branson - how they excelled as an entrepreneur, he follows their communication on LinkedIn. He believes Jonathan Stark is extremely good in marketing.

Bruyne's approach isn't just limited to flowers but it also moves on to entrepreneurship that helps in creating better and adding value to your work. He believes that if you create the added value you do make a difference in the market.

At the moment he is also reading a book by Deepak Chopra titled "The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success'. "It's in my luggage and on my side table as well. It teaches how to act as a person and transform easily as an entrepreneur. One of the laws that I believe in is the Law of Potential. It says, if you believe in yourself you have the potential to grow as a person. You will surely achieve your soul, your ideas and your entrepreneurship," he said.

No matter what work you do he believes it is important to learn from your mistakes and get better at your work that is the fundamentals of anything you do. "Everything I learn is from what I do. I always see my mistakes and think that I could do this better. Also with a team, I bring them together and ask what went wrong and where we could have done better. I am still improving myself. I am critical to myself, my team and my work as my company stand for quality and commitment," he shares.

Like any other entrepreneur, he has got tons of pea-brained advice. One of it was when someone told him, "Design safe, that's too difficult. It is the most stupid advice I have ever got."

Bruyne is one of those people who intend to experiment, learn new things, commit mistakes and take lessons from them. And this quality of him simply makes him one of the most loved floral designers around the globe.

Priyadarshini Patwa

Former Features Editor, Entrepreneur India

Priyadarshini Patwa is the Former Features Editors of Entrepreneur India and hosted an Instagram show every Friday named ‘Lighten Up’, about people from different walks of life and talk about their work and beyond. She handled the lifestyle, features, technology, entertainment segments and was also responsible for the Digital Covers. Previously she has worked with MensXP, a Times of India entity and Deccan Chronicle. 

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