Early calling? It was at the age of 4 or 5 that Benoit Barbin, crowned French champion of florists last Saturday in Hyères (Var), made his first floral compositions with tulips, gladioli, zinnias… picked in the garden of the farm of his farming parents, settled in a place called Le Terroux Fleurie — you can’t make it up… – in Saint Julien du Terroux (Mayenne). “At 8 years old, I subscribed to the professional press of florists”, remembers the Parisian who has worked since 2018 at Monsieur le Fleuriste (209, avenue Daumesnil, in the 12th arrondissement), a brand created in 2016 by Gil Boyard and his partner. Nicolas Rosiere.
“I am very happy and very proud of Benoit’s work that I prepared for this competition. He has a precision and a refinement that are relatively rare at his age”, says Gil Boyard, best worker in France in 2004 and finalist in the Florists’ World Cup in 2010.
35 days to prepare for the competition
Holder of a professional technical-commercial baccalaureate in ornamental plants obtained in Blois (Loir-et-Cher), a CAP in floristry in Angers (Maine-et-Loire) and a professional certificate in floristry in Paris , Benoit Barbin knew very early on what he wanted to do. And took the royal road to achieve it: best apprentice in France in 2016, he won the European Championship of Florists in September 2021 in Graz, Austria. Before winning the gold medal at the French championship. Trophy accompanied by a Sèvres vase presented by the Elysée and a check for 2,500 euros offered by the French federation of artisan florists, organizer of the competition.
Participating in the competition, which takes place in six events over two days, ie more than fifteen hours of work, is not easy. Around the theme “A submerged city 2000 years old”, each of the nine candidates had 35 days to prepare a 9 square meter stand, a flowery table and a bridal bouquet. “We had to provide everything: the stand I chose in transparent corrugated iron to recall the seabed, the lighting, the flowers… I presented 120 varieties of flowers that I picked up at Rungis (Val-de- Marne) and Aalsmeer, the global platform specializing in Holland”, explains the winner.
To transport such paraphernalia, the young florist had to hire a 20 m3 truck. “The total invoice for my participation in the competition amounts to 15,000 euros. Fortunately, I received help, in particular from Rungis suppliers. I’m almost €7,000 out of my pocket,” he estimates.
And now, the World Cup?
More classic, the three other tests to be carried out with French flowers given in the morning to those interested, consisted of composing a bouquet, a buffet decoration in a Medici vase and a mourning piece.
Will the young prodigy participate in the World Cup, the last edition of which took place in Philadelphia (United States) in 2019? “I don’t know yet when or where the next one will be organized. But why not in a few years? For the time being, I am a little young, I need maturity in my work, ”replies the person concerned. As for the title of Meilleur Ouvrier de France, issued by the Ministry of National Education, he declares just as wisely: “I will wait until the dawn of my thirties to present myself”.
It is true that Benoit Barbin, who is also the head of the floral art demonstration and training company he created, is very busy: this Thursday, he is leading eight hours of lessons in Catovice (Poland), in front of about twenty professional florists.
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