About Nance

A life with flowers,
rooted in Aalsmeer.

My name is Nancy Ilcken. Everyone simply calls me Nance. For more than thirty years flowers have been my daily work — and I still can't get enough of them.

How it began

I started with fresh flowers — early mornings at the auction, the smell of green stems and wet leaves, always hunting for that one branch that made an arrangement sing. Thirty years later I'm still surrounded by flowers every day, but now they are made of silk. Premium silk. Crafted so finely that guests only doubt on the second glance.

Why silk

Because beauty shouldn't have to wilt. Because a restaurant that wants a full arrangement on every table doesn't want to throw €400 of cut flowers away every week. Because a hotel lobby should look as radiant on Monday morning as it did on Friday night. Because saunas don't want pollen, churches don't want water, event venues don't want the maintenance.

No water. No maintenance. No waste. Only beauty that stays.

Craftsmanship, not mass production

Every bouquet you receive has been arranged by my own hands. Not by a machine, not by an assembly line somewhere far away. In my atelier at TICA Aalsmeer — blue hall H7 & A18 — I choose stem by stem the right mix of colour, volume and balance. Some days I make two, some days twenty. But never a single one without my signature.

Who I make them for

Hotels that want style without the daily upkeep. Restaurants where the tables must always be ready. Saunas and wellness spaces that breathe calm and warmth. Event stylists who need repeatable beauty. Interior designers searching for flowers that last a whole season.

For anyone who understands that real flowers are wonderful — but that there are moments when beauty that stays is worth more.

— Nance