The beginning of ANSU lies in the middle of the last century. In 1955 Sawat Suphachadiwong began cultivating orchids in Bangkok. His son Tamlong helped his father from a young age. Twelve years later Tamlong used his savings to buy one orchid on a market: a Vanda. That purchase changed his entire life.
Just eight years later he introduces his first hybrid that he calls Vanda Wilai, in honour of his mother. In 1982 he establishes Suphachadiwong Orchids together with his German wife, Heike. The company focuses on the breeding, selection and export of orchids, all around the world. Suphachadiwong Orchids grows into a company with one of the largest plant collections in the world.
In 1994 the Westland grower Steef van Adrichem encounters Tamlong on a visit to Thailand. The two entrepreneurs share a passion for unusual flowers and plants. Steef wants to focus on growing orchids, but it has to be a special variety. Tamlong has one: the Vanda.
Unique colours
Vanda is certainly distinctive, as one of the 20,000 orchid species there are in the world. It is a type that grows high up, in the jungle in the south of the Himalayas. To attract insects for pollination to its often invisible locations, the Vanda has developed unique colours and patterns. For example, blue in many hues, a colour that is extremely rare in nature. The plants have air roots, which supply the Vanda with dew and rainwater.
It was precisely the exclusive variety that Steef had been looking for. There was only one problem in the way: no one had been able to market the elusive Vanda as a flowering plant.
A breeding and propagation process was launched that would take years to complete. A process involving creativity as well as determination, in both Thailand and the Netherlands. Slowly but surely, success began to be booked. Volumes grew. First as plants, later as cut flowers. And the market responded with unprecedented enthusiasm. Vanda became the symbol of exclusivity in the horticultural sector.
The growth of the company – at that time called ANCO – was stimulated when their neighbour, Ed Helderman, became a partner and joined his company to them: the surface area expanded in one go from 2.4 to 6 ha. This ignited a wave of acceleration. The assortment grew constantly, and now counts 100 varieties in the most exotic colours and patterns. International recognition of Vanda followed, at prominent flower shows and events and thanks to prominent arrangers. Creative concepts strengthened the Vanda brand further.
In 2019 the moment arrived to strengthen the ties to Thailand. The company of Van Adrichem and Helderman, the sole Vanda supplier in Europe, merged with that of Tamlong Suphachadiwong. ANCO became ANSU, after the first letters of the two companies. They are no longer a construction of supplier and customer, but equal partners, each with their own specialism. ANSU is born. Standing out together!
The ‘new’ ANSU expanded its activities to green plants, like Tillandsia and Sansevieria. Here, too, the accent lies on exclusivity: both in the selection of varieties and in the development of commercial concepts. The operational management is entirely professional in Thailand and in the Netherlands, with Suphachadiwong becoming one of the first companies in Thailand to receive MPS-certification.
Be the first to read the latest news about ANSU!
Are you curious about novelties in the assortment? Or would you like to know what developments are going on in ANSU? This page presents the latest news.