Amsterdam Masterclass — 16–18 May 2026
Lacy Bird touring masterclass in Amsterdam, Netherlands — 16–18 May 2026. Event page: programme, photos and materials from this edition.
16–18 May 2026 — Amsterdam, Netherlands — teaching a stone's throw from the world's flower auction.
The spring return to the Netherlands began, fittingly, with a pilgrimage. On one of the three days the group left the studio and drove out past the low glasshouses to the flower auction near Aalsmeer, standing together under the Hoek Group sign with pink gift bags in hand and a Dutch sky doing its usual thing overhead — sun, then cloud, then sun. It is a short drive that reorders how you think about flowers, and the room came back to work with it fresh in mind.
Inside, the palette was unapologetically warm. Coral and peach garden roses ran through the early bouquets, loosened with burgundy anthurium, snapdragon, coral peony and threads of acid-green — full in the hand, generous without tipping into clutter. From there the room moved cooler and quieter into soft lilac: dusky mauve roses, scabious on long stems, butter dahlias and grey eucalyptus gathered into airy, asymmetric arrangements. Up close there were cream peonies with saffron centres, ruffled and honest.
Not everything was a bouquet. One exercise became a whole tablescape — pale yellow blooms, black taper candles and a halved melon laid along black-and-white polka-dot linen, playful and precise at once.
Then the three days closed the way the story promised: a Van Gogh–inspired sunflower installation, cascading orange heads over black plinths and a sculptural chair, staged against dark velvet beneath a gilt-framed print of the master's own sunflowers. A quiet, cheerful full stop.
The location
Amsterdam, Netherlands — taught near the world's largest flower auction at Aalsmeer.
The three days
Every touring edition runs the same Lacy Bird programme, rebuilt around the local market's flowers:
- Day one — colour theory and the house palette, the composition system, the boxed arrangement and the round commercial bouquet.
- Day two — the spreading bouquet, wrapping and presentation, and a professional photoshoot of every participant's finished work.
- Day three — large-scale event decor and installation, the business of floristry, and certificates.
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