In our conversation with Bernhard, one half of the dynamic duo behind Gabel & Spaten, we delved into the world of slow flowers and the inspiration behind their latest book, Cut & Co. This captivating exploration of floral design, gardening, and sustainability offers a fresh perspective on the beauty and power of nature. As we looked through the pages of the beautiful Cut & Co. and the philosophy of the Slowflower Movement, we discovered a deep passion for fostering a more sustainable and meaningful relationship with the natural world. Join us as we explore the artistry, the science, and the souls behind this inspiring project.

Hello Bernhard, how are you today? Could you introduce yourself?
Hey! Excited to chat with you. We love Blumenhaus and feel honoured to be featured. I am one half of Gabel & Spaten, a small slowflower studio that specialises in floral design classes, wedding work and cut flower garden design. We started off in Germany some years ago but Meike, my wife and business partner, me and our two girls currently divide our time mainly between Namibia and Sweden. We seem to be drawn to places with abundant natural beauty - and very few people. I am a geographer by training and all that I know about floristry and growing flowers is self-tought and thanks to the many wonderful plantspeople we met along our journey who shared their knowledge so freely and abundantly.

What was the initial concept behind CUT & CO.? What were your goals in creating this book?
The concept for CUT & CO. really evolved over a period of three years. First there was this very special cut flower garden which we designed for the Voshövel hotel who wanted to source their own blooms for hotel decoration, so we already had plans and plant lists ready. Then there was an ever-expanding gallery of atmospheric photos, which Janine took during our regular visits to the garden. Seeing all that knowledge and beauty on screen triggered the idea to bring it to life in print and add some inspiring flower philosophy to the mix. Long before we settled for »CUT & CO.« as a title we already knew the subtitle: »A life more flowerful«. We truly think flowers can make the world a better place and want to show our readers how easy it is to enrich their world through flowers and gardening without over-thinking but with much intuition and love.

How did you collaborate with your wife Meike and Janine Piontek on this project? What were each of your roles and contributions?
CUT & CO. really is a team effort and I couldn't have done it alone. While the idea indeed has its origin in my imagination and I both managed the project and wrote all text in both English and German, much of the appeal of the book springs from Meike's wild and wonderful floral art, which you can see throughout, as well as Janine's stunning photos, which really are at the core of CUT & CO. It's first and foremost a coffee table book and Janine's pics take centre stage. I also want to mention our friend Jana, who tied it all together into a simple-yet-stylish layout, and who also performed the miracle of turning our sketches for the different borders into little works of art. Last but not least, the Voshövel agreed to act as our publisher, which is a completely new role for them as a hotel. A number of traditional publishers were interested in the concept but all shied away from the bilingual setup. However, the message of diversity and bridging cultures, which the use of two languages sends was too important to us and we are glad we stuck to the plan and found a way to make it happen.

Can you elaborate on the philosophy behind the Slowflower Movement? What are the key principles and values that guide this approach to floristry?
When we founded the German Slowflower Movement in 2019, which has now grown to also cover Austria and Switzerland and beyond, our initial aim was to simply find likeminded growers and florists. We longed for a feeling of community, which we really missed in our daily grind to run a business based on sustainability principles. Today, many years and 400 members later, the work of our Slowflower Movement centres around growing, using and promoting local, seasonal and sustainable blooms. We have a set of non-negotiable core criteria, such as not using pesticides or floral foam, that members who want to be listed on our public map have to adhere to. But anyone who supports our principles can become a member. We don't want everyone to be perfect from the start. We want things to get better bit by bit, day by day. Honesty, openness, and willingness to learn really are what makes our Slowflower Movement thrive.

What do you hope the Slowflower Movement will achieve in terms of environmental impact and consumer awareness?
If we really want to make a measurable impact in the wider flower industry, we need to excite as many people as possible about slowflowers. That's why we try to approach consumers, florists, growers and other players all at the same time and always with a positive message that makes people want to be part of something big and beautiful. By forming a movement we were able to create much more media attention than any one of our member could ever have dreamt of. Now even larger companies approach us to see how they can collaborate with us. That makes me hopeful that seasonal flowers grown locally and in harmony with nature can become the norm one day. Luckily, similar movements are flourishing in many other countries and regions at the same time. It really is a global phenomenon. Even in as unlikely a place as Namibia there is small local flower revolution happening.

How does CUT & CO. promote sustainability and ethical practices in the floral industry?
CUT & CO. with all its different elements constantly reinforces our message that doing things the slowflower way is an immensely enriching experience that is all about fun, beauty and meaningful connections to people and the soil. The good news is, there is not that one specific route to a more sustainable world of flowers and CUT & CO. is all about these myriad and often winding paths. I like to think of the book more as a pantry of ingredients that readers can pick from depending on where they are at right now, rather than an elaborate recipe that everyone has to follow. Slowflowers are all about what is available in a given location at a given time and who makes use of it. It really is a more conscientious approach to life, not a box-ticking exercise. That's why the floral designs we share don't come with step-by-step instructions but beckon readers to try their own version. Our eight protagonists who share their approach to a life more flowerful are testament to the many different ways available to us if we want to let more flowers into our world and cause less harm.

Can you explain the significance of the eight sections and how they relate to the overall message of the book?
We made the decision early on in the process to not do yet another book based around the four seasons. Instead, we wanted to have a larger number of chapters, each showcasing a different approach to and use of the cut flower garden. Each chapter obviously is about the »CUT« part of our title, about growing and designing with flowers. But every section also features a different »& CO.« - a world beyond the cut flower patch and what the garden can teach us. This kaleidoscope of people and professions that intersect at the cut flower garden is reinforced by unique colour combinations that are reflected in our selection of plants and photos. An absolute favourite of mine is the chapter CUT & CONSTRUCT, which comes in strong but subtle earthen hues of greens and browns, and which is all about how the garden inspires us to not hesitate and wait for others to do the first step but follow our dreams regardless of the doubters and nay-sayers.

What are some of your favorite stories about the people and gardens featured in CUT & CO.? How did you select these stories to represent the diverse perspectives within the floral community?
The stories and the people behind them did suggest themselves and reflect our desire to always bring out the genius loci of a place. All our protagonists are people who actually use the garden that CUT & CO. is based on as a source of ingredients, inspiration, and healing. Meeting them for the interviews that are such an important feature of CUT & CO. was one of the best and most heartening parts of working on the book. There is a creative director, a chef, and a beekeeper, among many others. They have vastly differing tasks in their respective lines of work and they all seek different things amongst the flowers. But they all meet in the garden and bring it to life. We learned a lot from these conversations, too. The beekeeper, for example, also manages an arboretum and at several points during the interview stressed the importance for pollinators of flowering trees and shrubs and his dismay at the fact that everyone these days seems to plant the same low-maintenance species.

The book offers practical advice for gardeners and flower enthusiasts. What are some of the key tips and techniques you share in CUT & CO.?
People often approach us because to them starting a cut flower garden seems such a daunting task with thousands of varieties to choose from. We really wanted to take the guesswork out of planning your own cut flower garden and encourage people to just get started and see what happens. Less fear more flowers. That's why each CUT & CO. chapter closes with a bautiful border plan and the corresponding list of our favourite perennials and bulbs, annuals, tubers and shrubs. Readers only have to pick their favourite colour scheme, take a snapshot of the plant list provided, and head over to their local nursery. We also hope to convey the message that your own cut flower gardens need to work for your lifestyle. We share three simple questions that have helped us a lot during our flower journey and that we ask ourselves regularly. If you have a large plot and much time on your hand, you will probably garden much differently from someone with small children and a balcony. The good thing is, by being part of a vibrant community of plantspeople, such as the Slowflower Movement, you don't actually have to have an elaborate garden. So much is to be gained from forging floral connections.

How did your personal love for flowers develop? What sparked your interest in floristry and gardening?
I came for the creativity and stayed for the community. When we started our own slowflower business I was intrigued by the very unique mix of hands-on (it turned out »hard« was the more appropriate term) work out in the field, creative pursuits in the studio, as well as desk-based marketing, sales and admin chores on rainy days. A farmer-florist is so many things, a jack of all trades, and that really suits my personality. I also grew up in a plant nursery, so that might have rubbed off on me. Apparently, my dream job was to be a florist as early as age 6. A classmate has the evidence in the form of a friendship book. Today, what is most endearing to me are the connections forged through flowers. An elderly lady who is sent on a trip down memory lane by the scent of lilacs in spring, the proud participants of a floral design class holding their creations, our own children picking the season's first daffodils. Our connections to those around us become so much deeper through flowers. And plantspeople are the most welcoming bunch. Wherever you go in the world, there is always a mad grower or florist who will offer you a cup of coffee and take you on a tour of their garden, delighting in each others' tales and presence.

Do you have any plans for future projects related to flowers, gardening, or sustainability?
We are never short of ideas. It's a blessing and a curse. Many never see the light of day, but some eventually will. It's just like growing annuals, some will thrive, others will wither. At the moment we are coaching the most wonderful aunt-and-niece team who are growing stunning flowers in Namibia, many available for the first time in the local market. We actually learn as much from them as they do from us, but we are particularly excited to help them tap into the wedding and workshop segment of the market. We are also busy conceptualising a new series of floral design classes in Sweden together with local growers. We are seeing a trend towards ever more expensive flower retreats that price many people out of being part of such a transformative experience. Obviously, all of us offering workshops need to make a living out of doing so, but I feel there are great ways of bootstrapping and crowdsourcing certain elements that can make these events more inclusive. In fact, many of our ideas currently are going in the direction of democratising slowflowers.

How do you see the intersection of art and nature in your work? How does art contribute to our appreciation of the natural world?
To us, nature and art are inseparable. CUT & CO. opens with a quote from a Belle & Sebastian song for a reason. In my view, art has two very distinct avenues how it can contribute to a more caring approach to the world around us. As far as local, seasonal flowers are concerned, photography in particular has the power to influence and shape our judgement of what is considered beautiful. The popularity of slowflowers owes much of its success to the wild and romantic aesthetic that has emerged with it and that is depicted in the digital and print realms. I absolutely adore Kreeta Järvenpää who regularly features past-their-prime blooms in her jaw-dropping creations. On the other hand, art also has the responsibility to shake us from our blissful ignorance, which we so often enjoy in our little flower bubble. Outside, the world is burning, in some places quite literally so, and art has the ability to reach us and propel us into action on an emotional level in a way statistics, news reports and numbers just can't. Kehinde Wiley comes to mind here, who's grandiose floral patterns act as canvas for his scathing social and political commentary.

What message do you hope readers will take away from CUT & CO.?
If people only take away one thing I hope it is that a life more flowerful is possible and that possibilities are endless. Flowers can make your life more meaningful and beautiful. And through flowers you can make the world a better place - one dahlia at a time.

Let‘s craft a unique wreath with Meike

Bucolic charm meets celestial splendour. On a wild romp around the garden we have gathered heaps of crispy leftovers from a summer of abundance and woven them into a seasonal serenade sans the usual greens and reds. Add some ethereal spheres of luminous lunaria and a dash of extra interest with the regal blue of sloe berries and tie it all together with a delicate silk ribbon to match. Voilà - here’s the pièce de resistance for your festive frolics and wintry soirées.
Pro tip: Repeat the signature elements from this design in your tablescapes, mantel garland and gift wrap adornments to create a wholesome winter wonderland. As usual, make it your own with whatever your (or your friends’ or your neighbours’) garden has to offer. Your imagination is your oyster.