Budding Romance: The club where gentlemen come to delicate arrangements

27 January 2016 - 02:33 By Yolisa Mkele

The Gentlemen's Flower Arranging Club. It sounds a little licentious doesn't it? Like a gathering of Victorian nobility who speak in witty double entendres and pluck exotic roses. Fortunately, the metaphorical roses are safe, it's the real ones that need to be on the lookout.Started by former branding guru Alwijn Burger, AKA Blomboy, the Gentlemen's Flower Arranging Club is "a gang of guys" who gather once a month for a spot of floral decorative arts."It is basically a book club with flowers," said Burger.Each month the boys-only club will pick a host and a theme before descending on the host's home. For Burger, the idea behind making it an all-boys event is rooted in breaking free of stereotypes and the limits they put on creativity."Men don't really have spaces where they can be creative in this manner. There's a kind of fear with the stereotypical South African male when it comes to exploring their creativity this way. It's really liberating when you realise you don't have to live up to what the stereotype dictates," said Burger.He may have a point. If you're a red-blooded South African male then the idea of flower arranging is guaranteed to sound just as poncey as a pottery class or taking up rhythmic gymnastics, but you may have a budding florist hidden within."Usually the men who have that fear of doing things like this are the ones who end up producing some of the most surprising and creative arrangements," he said.Joining the Gentlemen's Flower Arranging Club is a tricky affair. Much like the exclusive Victorian gentlemen's clubs of yore, word of mouth and a quasi referral system are how you make it in. For Burger this is less about being elitist and more about maintaining a sense of intimacy."I like the idea of it just being a group of guys who get together and I want it to grow organically rather than by shouting it from the mountain-tops. It's nice to have a bit of exclusivity," he said.So if you're up for artfully displaying all the roses you've plucked then find the Gentlemen's Flower Arranging Club on Facebook, ask politely if you can join their group and if you make the cut, you may soon know things about daffodils that no decent man should.Contact Burger on info@blomboy.com..

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