Our Story
Warren first came to Amsterdam in 2004 with his wife, Michelle. Compared to their hometown, Tarpon Springs in Florida, the city felt light. “We felt we could breathe better here,” says Warren. After a week in Amsterdam, Michelle fell in love with the beautiful city and asked Warren if they could live here.
Five months later, they returned. Michelle had found a job at a large company, Warren a boat to live on. Everything seemed to be falling into place. But then, tragedy struck. Just before she could start her new job, Michelle suffered a severe epileptic seizure. A long recovery followed, and afterwards, she could do much less than before. After two difficult initial years in Amsterdam, they decided to temporarily move back to Tarpon Springs to earn and save for a bigger boat.
In America, Michelle could work again, but because of her epilepsy, she struggled with small things, like finding her way around the city. “Michelle found a job in another neighborhood but got lost at a busy intersection and ended up on the beach on the other side of town.” This is how the idea for Warren’s first flower bike was born. To help Michelle find the right way, Warren decorated a blue bike with large sunflowers and placed it to the left of the intersection. From that point on, Michelle never took the wrong turn again.
After this first bike, Warren made more. Initially to help Michelle, and later because it sparked enjoyable conversations with people on the street. More and more residents of Tarpon Springs recognized Warren as the Flowerbikeman, the man with the flower bikes. The bikes gave him visibility in the city. This brought him much attention but also troubles.