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A Sweet Floral Life: Romantic Arrangements for Fresh and Sugar Flowers [A Floral Décor Book]
Learn how to create exquisite, lifelike sugar flowers and arrange them with fresh blooms in the floral arrangements of your dreams—regardless of season or availability.
“ A Sweet Floral Life is pure magic.”—Ariella Chezar, author of The Flower Workshop and Seasonal Flower Arranging
Rising Instagram star Natasja Sadi’s floral arrangements have a sumptuous, old-world look straight out of a classical painting. But among the glorious profusion of fresh flowers, there is often a surprise handmade sugar flowers (traditionally used in cake decorating) that are indistinguishable from real ones and last forever.
In A Sweet Floral Life , Natasja guides you through her creative process of flower arranging and developing your personal style, along with tutorials for seasonal arrangements, living and entertaining with flowers, and how to photograph flowers.
A former fashion designer, Natasja began making flowers out of sugar to honor her African and Indonesian ancestors who worked in the sugarcane fields of Suriname. In A Sweet Floral Life , Natasja provides steps for sculpting sugar flowers, a versatile medium with limitless possibilities—they can be used in fresh floral arrangements, displayed on their own as unique home décor, or used to adorn cakes. And whether it’s the middle of summer or the dead of winter, sugar flowers are always in season and always in perfect full bloom.
Capture the romance, set the mood, and be swept away by gorgeous and inspiring floral art with A Sweet Floral Life.
“ A Sweet Floral Life is pure magic.”—Ariella Chezar, author of The Flower Workshop and Seasonal Flower Arranging
Rising Instagram star Natasja Sadi’s floral arrangements have a sumptuous, old-world look straight out of a classical painting. But among the glorious profusion of fresh flowers, there is often a surprise handmade sugar flowers (traditionally used in cake decorating) that are indistinguishable from real ones and last forever.
In A Sweet Floral Life , Natasja guides you through her creative process of flower arranging and developing your personal style, along with tutorials for seasonal arrangements, living and entertaining with flowers, and how to photograph flowers.
A former fashion designer, Natasja began making flowers out of sugar to honor her African and Indonesian ancestors who worked in the sugarcane fields of Suriname. In A Sweet Floral Life , Natasja provides steps for sculpting sugar flowers, a versatile medium with limitless possibilities—they can be used in fresh floral arrangements, displayed on their own as unique home décor, or used to adorn cakes. And whether it’s the middle of summer or the dead of winter, sugar flowers are always in season and always in perfect full bloom.
Capture the romance, set the mood, and be swept away by gorgeous and inspiring floral art with A Sweet Floral Life.
- GenresGardening
256 pages, Hardcover
Published April 25, 2023
2 people are currently reading
52 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
May 4, 2023
OVERWHELMING GOOD. The moment I finished reading this book, I literally ordered four more copies to give as gifts to friends and then rushed here to tell you all about it.
This is the best book for flower lovers I’ve ever seen (and I’ve got a big collection.) The photos are stunning (in fact, you can buy prints of some at the author’s web site, which I have done and my framer was also blown away by the beauty.) Plus, it delves into a range of topics, each quickly but with enough depth and practicality that you truly feel you’ve learned, been inspired and can do something with your new knowledge. Topics range from key women in flower history, container gardening, floral photography, flower arranging, creating a vase collection, delftware history, buying stems at market and from local farmers, and the art of making sugar flowers.
The writing is sublime, just as the photos are. The author’s personality and voice are thoughtful, humble and deeply loving about her topics. You feel like you have met a new friend.
I honestly cannnot praise this book enough. It will become one of the classics. 100%
This is the best book for flower lovers I’ve ever seen (and I’ve got a big collection.) The photos are stunning (in fact, you can buy prints of some at the author’s web site, which I have done and my framer was also blown away by the beauty.) Plus, it delves into a range of topics, each quickly but with enough depth and practicality that you truly feel you’ve learned, been inspired and can do something with your new knowledge. Topics range from key women in flower history, container gardening, floral photography, flower arranging, creating a vase collection, delftware history, buying stems at market and from local farmers, and the art of making sugar flowers.
The writing is sublime, just as the photos are. The author’s personality and voice are thoughtful, humble and deeply loving about her topics. You feel like you have met a new friend.
I honestly cannnot praise this book enough. It will become one of the classics. 100%
November 20, 2023
For more on this glorious book see my substack Dreaming in Japanese
A few years ago, I took a Dutch floral class at the Huntington Gardens, where I attempted to fill up all the space — But I still wasn’t able to face the flowers down toward the earth or to place some outside the vase….I also took an online class via the London Flower School called the Dutch Masters Floral Class with teacher Yeon Hee Lee—and it was not easy! I still feel strong resistance in my heart to the volume of the Dutch designs. I used to say I hated them. But then one day on Instagram I was gobsmacked when I discovered Natasja Sadi @cakeatelieramsterdam.
I became a devoted follower and then when her book, A Sweet Floral Life, was published, I devoured it over and over again. The kaleidoscope of brilliant colors arranged in antique blue-and-white Delft ware was just incredible to see.
A decent of both African slaves and Indonesian contract workers, it was through Dutch floral design (a product of the country’s colonial past) that Sadi found a way to integrate her background into her life in Amsterdam. She writes:
"My enslaved and indentured great grandparents helped build the wealth of this country but never dreamed that someday their great granddaughter would live in the former Canal Home of a wealthy merchant. We are telling their story from a different but equally important perspective. Reclaiming their narrative not only acknowledges the trauma of the past but allows me to move beyond its pain into a new equitable creative footing. When shame and guilt are left behind we can participate in and celebrate the beauty of collective healing."
Life-affirming and positive, this was one of my favorite books of the year.
Sadi, to get around the way Dutch painters pictured flowers that do not bloom at the same time in nature, celebrates their imagination with her sugar flower art. For example in an autumn arrangement she has a beautiful sugar peony which you would never know wasn’t real except that there’s no way to get a peony time of year.
A dream of mine would be to have a garden (or live near a flower market) and try my hand at it. For now below is the closest I can get in spirit.
Long live the flowers in our lives….
A few years ago, I took a Dutch floral class at the Huntington Gardens, where I attempted to fill up all the space — But I still wasn’t able to face the flowers down toward the earth or to place some outside the vase….I also took an online class via the London Flower School called the Dutch Masters Floral Class with teacher Yeon Hee Lee—and it was not easy! I still feel strong resistance in my heart to the volume of the Dutch designs. I used to say I hated them. But then one day on Instagram I was gobsmacked when I discovered Natasja Sadi @cakeatelieramsterdam.
I became a devoted follower and then when her book, A Sweet Floral Life, was published, I devoured it over and over again. The kaleidoscope of brilliant colors arranged in antique blue-and-white Delft ware was just incredible to see.
A decent of both African slaves and Indonesian contract workers, it was through Dutch floral design (a product of the country’s colonial past) that Sadi found a way to integrate her background into her life in Amsterdam. She writes:
"My enslaved and indentured great grandparents helped build the wealth of this country but never dreamed that someday their great granddaughter would live in the former Canal Home of a wealthy merchant. We are telling their story from a different but equally important perspective. Reclaiming their narrative not only acknowledges the trauma of the past but allows me to move beyond its pain into a new equitable creative footing. When shame and guilt are left behind we can participate in and celebrate the beauty of collective healing."
Life-affirming and positive, this was one of my favorite books of the year.
Sadi, to get around the way Dutch painters pictured flowers that do not bloom at the same time in nature, celebrates their imagination with her sugar flower art. For example in an autumn arrangement she has a beautiful sugar peony which you would never know wasn’t real except that there’s no way to get a peony time of year.
A dream of mine would be to have a garden (or live near a flower market) and try my hand at it. For now below is the closest I can get in spirit.
Long live the flowers in our lives….
August 11, 2024
I fall head over heels for this book..
Never have I had such a wonderful experience with a non-fiction book. More often than not, the nonfiction books I've read so far certainly feed me with wisdom. But with this one, I feel my garden in mind and heart are synchronised, imagining and longing for nature and its beauty.
Natasja delightfully brings out the outstanding beauty of nature in the form of flowers and their transformations to be part of our precious yet little tiny bits of life, which can easily be overlooked in our fast-paced lives. Such an impression hit me hard! Amid commitments here and there, this book was a graceful, silent friend who never failed to balance me after feeling overwhelmed at the end of my busy days. And I couldn't thank this book enough for its exquisite beauty, offering reminders of how life is a beauty in disguise. For that, my journey with this book will never end, and I will cherish its beauty to flourish my garden in heart and mind, even though all pages have been savoured.
Never have I had such a wonderful experience with a non-fiction book. More often than not, the nonfiction books I've read so far certainly feed me with wisdom. But with this one, I feel my garden in mind and heart are synchronised, imagining and longing for nature and its beauty.
Natasja delightfully brings out the outstanding beauty of nature in the form of flowers and their transformations to be part of our precious yet little tiny bits of life, which can easily be overlooked in our fast-paced lives. Such an impression hit me hard! Amid commitments here and there, this book was a graceful, silent friend who never failed to balance me after feeling overwhelmed at the end of my busy days. And I couldn't thank this book enough for its exquisite beauty, offering reminders of how life is a beauty in disguise. For that, my journey with this book will never end, and I will cherish its beauty to flourish my garden in heart and mind, even though all pages have been savoured.
May 4, 2023
Contains marvelous, although brief, sections two Dutch women in history who were related to flowers, painter Rachel Ruysch and botanical researcher Maria Sibylla Merian.
The author also brings insights into the lives of slaves and displaced contract workers, particularly women, involved in historic farming in Suriname, as well as her own family history in Indonesia and Surinam. This section of the book is short but extremely meaningful. Recommended for anyone whose family background includes any aspect of human enslavement.
The author also brings insights into the lives of slaves and displaced contract workers, particularly women, involved in historic farming in Suriname, as well as her own family history in Indonesia and Surinam. This section of the book is short but extremely meaningful. Recommended for anyone whose family background includes any aspect of human enslavement.
June 5, 2023
Such a beautiful, unique gift to flower lovers everywhere! Whether you want to delve into making sugar flowers, learn about stunning floral arrangements, or just look at gorgeous pictures, this will be a great for you.
December 31, 2023
This book is everything, plus more than what I expected! I learned so much about the history of flowers from Amsterdam & was inspired by all the hand crafted arrangements. SO much inspiration from this book! Great table book
March 17, 2024
[coffee table book] exceptional photography and research.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews