We are pleased to welcome you

at our activities for the new season 2018 - 2019

If you are interested in taking part in one of our meetings we kindly request you to send a registration mail to our treasurer mr. J. Brouwers at: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. unless otherwise stated

Please be informed that we are planning to register payments as tickets to activities

You can read a short report of previous meetings below the program of 2018 - 2019

Program 2018 - 2019

Wednesday 15th of May, 2019

Attention please! This is a Wednesday

Last meeting for the 2018-2019 season.
On this day we will visit bamboo-nursery Kimmei in Valkenswaard. The owner has a very good knowledge of bamboo-plants. He visits other parts of the world regularly to enrich his knowledge on bamboo and explore new varieties and is in close contact with other nurseries all over the world. He has writtenn various articles in specialised magazines on the subject. Please feel free to ask all you ever wanted to know about bamboo during the tour through this exotic garden at the nursery. After lunch in the surrounding we will leave for a bamboo-workshop in the afternoon in Eindhoven under the guidance of Sogetsu teacher Mariëlle van Strijp. Reserve the date in your planner for this special day.

Program 2019 - 2020

Wednesday 28th of August 2019

AGM with Ikenobo demonstration and workshop in De Hilt Eemnes. Please reserve the date

Saturday 30th of November 2019

Lecture on Mingei by J. Rauwenhoff and related afternoon workshop by C. van der Meer and J. Vermaas in De Hilt Eemnes. Please reserve the date

Wednesday 15th of January 2020

New Years meeting. Please reserve the date

Saturday 14th of March 2020

Two workshops in De Hilt Eemnes Please reserve the date.

Wednesday 13th of May 2020

End of season 2019-2020 meeting. Please reserve the date.

Read about our past meetings below

Saturday 9th of March 2019

Our springmeeting was a very pleasant day indeed. Sogetsu teacher Jenneke Soejoko and Ohara teacher Els van Vlimmeren prepared for two spring-workshops in one day. Jennekes arrangement was made with very transparant and flexible material (Weeping Willow) in 3 transparant glass containers. She asked us to connect the 3 containers with the materials which included Calla and several leaves. Els' arrangement was a Hana Kanade and was profused with flowers. We made an arrangement in a suiban with 3 main lines on 3 kenzan. The main-lines were supposed to cross each other more or less without touching each other.
We made a lot of beautiful arrangements and spring was very much welcomed by these two beautiful workshops. The Sogetsu workshop was a challenge for non-Sogetsu members, but the Ohara workshop did the same for non-Ohara members. Luckily enough both teachers helped us patiently and competently. We were all challenged this day but what a beautiful day it was.
Watch the pictures that will be published soon under the Pictures button.

New Years meeting on Wednesday 16th of January 2019

The day was extra special due to a professional tour through the exhibition "Out of Office" in Singer Laren. The pieces of art were explained and given context which was a valuable addition to the day. After the tour we enjoyed a very good and pleasant New Years lunch in the restaurant of the museum. At two long tables many friendships were prolonged and renewed. It was a pleasant sight to see so many people being happy with another. And also this year we enjoyed a little Table Workshop given by Mrs Désirée van Vliet. She thought us "How to wrap a small present in the Japanese Way". For every attendee she made a New Years wish, a beautifully painted individual bamboo drawing in Sumi-e style for everyone to wrap in beautiful Japanese paper. All in all a beautiful day.

Saturday 24th of November, 2018

For this day we received Shinto master Paul de Leeuw in the afternoon for a lecture on Shinto. Afterwards there were many questions for Mr. de Leeuw on Shinto. It was a special occasion to get acquainted with Shinto and deepen our knowledge about the Japanese way of life.

For the morning program Désirée van Vliet and Mariëlle van Strijp developed a workshop on painting an Ensō, the circle of eternity. The participants learned about the background of Ensō, and were taught how to prepare for and paint an Ensō. Many personal Ensō were painted and the best were mounted on a board. Pictures will be posted on this website.

For more information on Shinto please visit the link http://www.shinto.nl/nl/info.htm

The day was truly informative and an extra way to get acquainted with the Japanese culture.

Wednesday September 5th, 2018

Opening of the new season 2018 - 2019. Besides the yearly AGM we organised a demonstration by Corrie van der Meer of the Ichiyo ikebana-school. After lunch we received a Ichoyo workshop by Jeroen Vermaas of the Ichiyo-school. The theme of the workshop was clamping the material in the suiban. The materials he brought were again very beautiful. Please watch the photographs under the Pictures button in this site.

Wednesday May 16th, 2018

In the morning there was an overcast before we went on our walk through the Wouwse Plantage. But after our coffee and apple-cake we had a dry walk and even some sunshine when we came back for lunch. The Wouwse Plantage is a nature reserve near Roosendaal. Mrs. Rianne Machielse is a Sogetsu teacher and among others an IVN guide. She told us about the this beautiful nature reserve and her accompanying tales of some of the plants were most interesting. It was a spectacle to see us walking with tiny buckets to put in the clipped plant materials. On our return walk we even saw more than on the way in, so we kept on clipping. All generously accompanied by the correct names and extra information by Rianne. Here follow some Dutch names, some of which we never even had heard of. Dravik grass, bonte Wikke, Dagkoekoeksbloem, ordinary Rolklaver and ordinary Smeerwortel, Streepkruid. The plants may have been called ordinary, but in reality it was quite extra-ordinairy. The more we looked, the more we saw how much of a spectacle nature really is.

A very nice way to start our afternoon miniature ikebana-workshop. We were all very attentive to the beautiful material.

Many ikebana schools have a lesson 'miniture ikebana' in their curriculum. In the Sogetsu-school one may use vases no bigger than the cap of a lipstick, or fitting in the palm of one hand. Very tiny indeed! One of the participants collected a number of lipstick caps and made a wonderful arrangement with them. Other had sought out their tiniest vases and we alle admired this wide collection of miniature vases with their accomplishing dai. Conny van Dongen had brought a collection of tiny vases, that were once made during a I.I. workshop a time ago. For this occasion she had brought them with her to give one to each participant. Thank you very much Conny, for keeping them all these years and for giving them to each of us.

The pictures of this lovely day have been placed in this webpage, so please enjoy the diverse interpretations of this lovely workshop, where we were slowly made to look at plants in a very focused manner.

Rianne was thanked profusely by Corrie and Jean and pof course received a big applause from the participants. We all wished each other a fine summer holiday or hoped to see each other at the ERC in Bruges.

The board wishes you all a fine summer. Hopefully we will see each other in Bruges and please remember to reserve the 5th of september in your agenda for our next meeting, the opening of season 2018-2019 by the Ichiyo school. They will have been inspired by ERC 2018 in Bruges; the Ichiyo school will have a prominent place there.

For more information on Wouwse Plantage please visit https://www.vvvbrabantsewal.nl/nl/brabantse-wal/wouwse-plantage

For more information (in Dutch) on wild flowers please visit: http://www.wildebloemen.info

Saturday March 3rd. 2018

Springmeeting in De Hilt, Eemnes

For this day we have scheduled a lecture by mr. J. Brouwers on the famous Japanese Arita porcelain. By showing a slide-show he will tell about the art and craftmanship of the Japanese ceramists and explain i.e. about the symbolism of the decorations shown on the porcelain.

After lunch, Ikenobo-teacher Corrie van der Meer will give an Ikenobo-workshop, that will reflect the topic of the morning.

We trust to have organised another interesting day, for which you will need to apply before sunday, 25th of February

Applications for the day at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Wednesday January 17th, 2018

24 Interested ikebanists, some with a friend or partner, came to businesspark De Brand of the old medieval city 's-Hertogenbosch to enjoy a tour through the current exhibition in the small museum that is added to the Dutch headquarter offices of Würth. The firm owns about 17.000 pieces of mainly modern art, which they show in 14 bigger and smaller museums through western Europe. The participants were welcomed with a local sweet, called "Bossche Bol" with coffee and tea, to take part in the tour, through the artworks of 23 artists, given by Mariëlle van Strijp. The theme of the exhibition is "Silent Dialogue", and shows the evolution of still lifes in art after the invention of photography.

After a one and a half hour tour through the works, we headed for the restaurant "Eeterij De Dungense Brug" for a tasty lunch. Since we have grown accustomed to a cheery lottery after lunch at our New Years gathering we hoped for one of the beautiful prizes that were raffled. Jeroen Vermaas comforted the non-winners, and pleased the winners with a small mini-workshop at which he taught us how to make a "Hashi-oki" with "Mizuhiki", that is a chopstick-stand made with typical Japanese paperstrings. The New Year for Ikebana International #215 The Netherlands has started interestingly and very joyful in this day fully filled with friendship.

Saturday November 18th, 2017

4 New Sogetsu 4th grade teachers, Rianne Machielse, Marion Wopereis, Esther Hoogland and Mariëlle van Strijp gave a carousel-workshop day in Eemnes. Participants worked in small groups at a teacher and changed teacher after about 30 minutes, hence the carousel-workshops. A big long table in the middle of the hall was a perfect place to work at or keep the made materials during the day.
Rianne tought us to reshape a coloured piece of Tyvak-paper with the help of a household iron. At Marions table we could make a raffia-shape with a big crochethook. Esther showed us different ways to weave fresh Lily-leaves. At Mariëlles place we learned how to bend bamboo-strips with the help of a heatgun. Understandably a very uplifting spirit entered the room, because one could make 4 kinds of new things in one day. Some participants were so enthusiastic about the techniques during the lunchbreak, that they quickly returned to the practice room after taking in a quick lunch.
The 4 shapes that were made in the morning were added in one or two different arrangements with the addition of a Monstera-leaf and a white-pink-greenish Anthurium flower in the afternoon.

Wednesday August 30th, 2017

AGM (Annual General Meeting) with a demonstration and workshop by headmaster of Ohara school, Conny van Dongen

Program 2016 - 2017

Saturday May 6th, 2017

For the last meeting this year we have visited the Japanese garden in Clingendael estate in The Hague. It was a beautiful day, so the participant could enjoy the many profusely flowering azalea in their vivid pink and red colors. The wisteria was almost in full bloom and the buds only needed an extra few hours of sunshine before they also would bloom, as well as the rododendrons in the park. After the lunch, where we toasted on a succesfull Chapter # 215 year, in Brasserie Berlage (named after the famous Dutch architect) we visited the special exhibition "Porcelain with Character" in the nearby Haags Gemeentemuseum. The exhibition beautifully showed the meaning of various depicted pictures and Chinese characters and their added extra meanings. Often they refer to old stories known to many Chinese, or wishes the onlooker good fortune and happiness, a fenomenon we often encounter in Japanese art too.

It was a lovely and interesting day, at which we look back with pleasure.

The board thanks you for your participation in the last season. The board wishes you all a good summer and hopes to see you on the 30th of August 2017 for the first meeting of the new Chapter #215 season.

Saturday March 4th, 2017

In De Hilt in Eemnes, mr. J. Brouwers held a lecture with the theme "from Kōrin to Zeshin', two Japansese painters and laquer specialists. After this very interesting lecture we took a lunch, followed by a thematic workshop "Rimpa" by mrs. Irene Kho from the Ohara school.