To celebrate its 50th anniversary, and after four years of absence, the 2022 edition of the Flower Carpet covered the cobblestones of the Grand Place in August, making an amazing impression on tens of thousands of people! Now that the carpet is gone we can see so many amazing photos and videos which are spreading the positive image of Brussels around the world.
This year, Hotel Amigo also has a very interesting surprise for all those who happen to cross through its cosy lobby. This iconic Brussels hotel has installed a miniature version of the Flower Carpet, a truly original way to prolong the magic of this exceptional Brussels event.
This year, the Flower Carpet celebrated its half-century milestone. The return to one of the most beautiful squares of the world was marked by looking back to the roots, at the very first visual from 1971, using its motif, beautifully named Arabesques and imagined by Étienne Stautemas.
All the elements present at that time appear also in the 2022 model, including the Archangel Saint Michael and the Belgian Lion. Its design is the result of a collaboration between Roo Aguilar Aguado, a Mexican artist, and Koen Vondenbusch, a student of Étienne Stautemas and his successor who works on the Brussels Flower Carpet for 28 years already. It took them 280 hours to reconstruct the carpet pattern from 1971, from the plans of the time, drawn by hand. The work is 70 meters long by 24 meters wide. 1,680 m2 of begonias, dahlias, grasses and bark, assembled in less than eight hours by a hundred volunteers, will form the splendid picture imagined by the artists.
The Hotel Amigo also decided to honor this spectacle and contribute to this great story by creating a miniature version of the Flower Carpet that will not fail to seduce tourists and locals. This real artistic work (and made of real flowers!) was carried out by Damien Overputte of DO-Flowers, the florist which flowers the Hotel Amigo with talent and passion throughout the year. The miniature Flower Carpet is available from August 12, alongside the real Flower Carpet on the Grand Place. However, this creation can still be admired until September 12 in the lobby of Hotel Amigo.
To make the experience even more original during these four weeks, the bar of the Hotel Amigo also offers an exclusive cocktail, inspired by some of the flowers present on the carpet. Definitely a nice and creative way to surprise both tourists and locals in the heart of Brussels!
