Down the rabbit hole with The Green Gallery

You only have one chance to make a first impression is an adage that was clearly top of mind with the creators of The Green Gallery – a brand new online magazine celebrating both the beauty and fragility of nature – that was launched in Amsterdam last night. It’s not uncommon for an event to be announced to be in a ‘fairytail setting’ or ‘magical world’. But in all honesty it rarely meets your imagination. Last night was different. The Green Gallery hosted a night that would literally surpass our wildest dreams.

It all started with the location. The passageway under the world famous Rijksmuseum was closed off to the public and transformed into an enchanted forest where we were welcomed by a puss in boots and a violin playing nymph. Everywhere we looked we saw colorful flowers, blooming trees and manicured hedges. Flowers like you’ve never seen before. We were shown to our seat at a meandering table that looked like it was made out of moss and was bursting with more flowers.

It was all the work of The Wunderkammer. World famous florists Ueli and Florian were asked to design and style the décor and didn’t disappoint. Fortunately our company was enchanting as well. The lovely Hilmar Mulder, editor in chief of ELLE Netherlands, to our right and the talented Dutch designer, Mattijs van Bergen, across the table. We spent the evening sipping on an orchid cocktail, dipping our veggies in edible sand, gnawing on a turnip carpaccio all the while listening to songstress Eefje de Visser’s angelical voice among other poetic performances. This must‘ve been like the time Alice fell through the rabbit hole. Simply amazing.

Just when we thought the evening couldn’t get any better we were all handed golden scissors and were invited to ‘pick all the flowers we want and take as much as we could carry’. Needless to say I left with both arms filled with peonies, lilies, birds of paradise and other pretty things. I can’t remember leaving a place this happy. Congratulations to founding editor Nancy Berendsen and her team. If your magazine is as good as your launch party we’ll be fans for life.