Magazine | How the Flowerbikeman took over Amsterdam
For years, American Warren Gregory, better known by his alter ego Flowerbikeman, has been a familiar face in Amsterdam. With his cheerful, flower-covered bicycles, he brightens up the city, although it remains to be seen how much longer he will be able to do so: he is facing deportation. “I hope they find my bicycles a little bit magical.”
It’s ten o’clock in the morning when the 55-year-old Warren Gregory – better known as the Flowerbikeman – is sitting on a bench in Amsterdam-Noord, enjoying the sun. A can of beer in one hand, a joint in the other. “Early lunch,” as the American-born Gregory calls it. Dressed in a cheerful blue shirt, bright pink shoes (“hand-painted”) and black overalls, he shows his workshop nearby, where over the past twenty years he has decorated countless bicycles in his signature style full of flowers, glitter and vivid colours.
At the time of this interview, Gregory was still a free man and was staying at his usual home in Amsterdam-Noord, but he has since been in custody for a month. While he was being held in pre-trial detention in connection with another case – exactly what that case involved is unclear – the Dutch Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND) discovered that he did not have the correct residence documents. A judge will decide whether Gregory will be allowed to remain in Amsterdam. His lawyer, Christoph van Rijckevorsel, told AT5 that he considers it “quite likely” that Flowerbikeman will be deported.
Although the flower-covered bikes, seen all across Amsterdam, radiate nothing but cheerfulness, is the reason Gregory once started his flower bike project far less light-hearted. “When my wife Michelle and I had just moved to Amsterdam, she developed epilepsy. As a result, she lost her memory. One of the consequences was that she kept losing her bicycle because she could no longer remember where she had parked it. So, 21 years ago, I made the first flower bike for her. That way, she would always be able to recognise it.”
A cheerful solution to a deeply sad situation.
“Working on my bikes is my daily distraction, because it is heartbreaking to see Michelle’s condition get worse and worse. My motto is ‘love is the cure’, it’s a mental thing for me. The epilepsy Michelle suffers from is only getting worse; it won’t get better. There is no real cure, so loving her is all I can do.”
How did it happen that you temporarily stopped making the bikes a few years ago?
“In the summer of 2021, a group of people wanted to collaborate with me, but it soon became clear to me that they were only interested in money. They exploited Michelle’s story to profit from it. When I said I didn’t want that, my bikes, which were spread across the city, suddenly started disappearing. They were burned or destroyed, and this went on for about three months. It was horrible; I couldn’t continue like that. Fortunately, after a while I was able to slowly start again once things had calmed down.”
Your bikes can now be found all over the city. What is that like?
“It means I’m treated well everywhere in Amsterdam, sometimes I’m even offered a free beer or a cup of coffee. That said, I’m not the original inventor of this concept: the first flower bikes in Amsterdam were already being made in 1910. That inspired me to do something similar, and apparently, I’ve made the phenomenon Instagrammable. In true American fashion.”
A true American, but after more than twenty years, also very much a true Amsterdammer?
“Oh, absolutely. De Nederlandsche Bank published a book featuring 750 faces of Amsterdam, and I’m number 749. So it has officially been decided by the municipality: I am an Amsterdammer. I’ve even appeared on billboards and at bus stops. Of course, it doesn’t change the difficult situation with Michelle, but this kind of recognition does bring a smile to my face.”
Every summer, a new generation of students arrives in Amsterdam. What do you hope they think when they first come across your bikes in the city?
“I hope they find it magical. And I would like them to take away that true love really does exist. Maybe their heart has been broken before, or they’re afraid they’ll never find someone, but I hope my bikes show them that true love is real. For love, you might move halfway across the world or be able to do the craziest things. They would know that if they looked at my story.”
