Aalsmeer, February 2016 - Today we celebrate 60 years of Duif International! Do you know about the history of Duif International? Or what happens the last few years? 

Joop Duivenvoorden drove up and down the country every day selling flowers. His employer was Noordwijkerhout-based flower wholesaler Van den Berg Smit. When he, as a man with entrepreneurial spirit, saw great potential in mini vases, he decided to start his own business. He founded Duif’s Keramiek BV on 1 February 1956. Based in a garage in Noordwijkerhout, he started selling mini vases to florists.

Things were going well for Duif. What started out as a one-man business in a garage gradually developed into a modern ceramics wholesale business with 15 employees. In the early years, their sales reps would sell their products directly out of their lorries. Later, they started visiting clients and taking part in trade fairs across the Netherlands. 

In 1982 and 1985, Joop Duivenvoorden’s two sons, John and Marcel, joined the family business. Later in 1984, Duif’s Keramiek B.V. opened a store at Cultra. The Cultra format was a huge success. In the early years, shopkeepers from across Europe came to Aalsmeer to get their supplies. On the back of growing demand for its products, Duif started importing from China and Poland in 1987.

Duif developed from a wholesaler into an importer wholesaler. In 1999, the company built a new warehouse at Legmeerdijk 281, now Japanlaan 18, which is still in use today, and which as of 2006 also houses the head office and sales department.

Polish glassware gained in popularity, and Duif just happened to specialise in this kind of glassware. Duif had meanwhile grown into one of Europe’s largest stockholding importers of these products. In 2014, the Duivenvoorden brothers embarked on a transformation from a traditional import and wholesale business to a sustainable and efficient organisation with innovative and improved products and services. This also called for a new name and image. Duif International was launched in 2015.