Daniel Ost

Daniel Ost (born 5 August 1955) is a Belgian floral artist, floral designer and garden architect. CBS News has described him as "the world's leading flower designer" while The New York Times says that "to call him a master flower designer is akin to calling Annie Leibovitz a shutterbug".

His clientele includes numerous royal families, sheikhs, multinational organisations and humanitarian organisations like UNICEF.

Biography
Ost was born in 1955 in the suburban town of Sint-Niklaas, Belgium, in a family of which he was the eldest of six children.

Marriage and children
Ost and his wife Marie-Anne have two children. Maarten Ost became a children's book author living in Leuven, Belgium; he died in 2017. Their daughter, Nele Ost, is following in Daniel's footsteps as a floral designer and is currently the creative director of the company.

Education

 * Sociology at Bisschoppelijke Normaalschool in Sint-Niklaas, Belgium, from 1967 to 1973
 * Flower design at IMOV Institute in Afsnee, Belgium, from 1973 to 1976
 * Master of Floral Art at Tuinbouwschool Vught, The Netherlands, from 1976 to 1979
 * Instructor floral art in Japan and Taiwan
 * Founder of Daniël Ost Flower Academy in Sint-Niklaas and Tokyo, Japan

Business
Daniel Ost and his wife Marie-Anne founded 'Floreal' as small flower shop in Sint-Niklaas, Belgium in 1979. Over the years, it has grown into an international flower house, active in retail, event design, garden & landscape design and its own flower academy.

The Daniel Ost Group has 5 retail shops (Sint-Niklaas, Brussels, Knokke, Amman and Riyadh) and is active all over the world with their flower decorations and garden & landscape architecture.

The business is managed by Daniel Ost's son-in-law Yann Callaert as CEO and by his daughter Nele Ost as Creative Director. Daniel Ost is still president of the board and acts as a creative consultant on numerous projects.

Published works
Throughout his career, Ost has published numerous books about his exhibitions, decorations and gardens. He has also been featured in numerous magazines like Elle, Vogue, Architectural Digest and Bloomberg, regarding floral design and garden architecture.


 * Leafing Through Flowers I (1989)
 * Leafing Through Flowers II (1993)
 * Leafing Through Flowers III (1997)
 * Ostentatief (1998)
 * Invitations (2002)
 * Remaining Flowers (2003)
 * East x West (2005)
 * Transparant (2007)
 * Invitations II (2009)
 * Daniël Ost - The Master (2015)

Awards

 * 1st place Belgian Championship in Brussels in 1979
 * 1st place Belgian Championship in Brussels in 1983
 * 1st place Golden Orchid in Hannover in 1981
 * 1st place Golden Orchid in Hannover in 1983
 * 2nd place European Championship in Brussels in 1983
 * 2nd place World Championship in Detroit in 1985
 * 1st place Osaka World Expo in Osaka in 1990
 * Citizen of Honour of Sint-Niklaas since 2005
 * Top 7 European Garden Designers in Germany in 2014

Honours

 * 2015: Imperial Order of the Rising Sun.
 * Citizen of Honour of Kurashiki (Japan) since 2015