Sarah Napier | G for Granola
Forget craft paper-wrapped granola for grannies. Melbourne-born, London-traveled and now Amsterdam-based granola enthusiast and designer, Sarah Napier, is making granola cool again with
G for Granola
. Striking graphics and quirky copy (ahem, Granola for Gangsters) make the granola something you want to show off on your kitchen shelves. The delicious alternative to quick weekday breakfasts is "handmade and baked with attitude" at the food incubator Kitchen Republic in Amsterdam. With flavors like fig, walnut & vanilla, and almond, cranberry & pistachio, it's hard not to get hooked after the first bite. We talked to Sarah about our love for breakfast, Amsterdam's evolving brunch scene and finding a balance between work and baking.
Tell us about yourself.
I was born in Melbourne, Australia and lived there until I was 22. That’s when I first moved to London; my boyfriend at the time was British but I think I already had it in my head that I would move there some day. A lot of Australians do, even my parents lived in London when they were younger. I spent two years working as a junior graphic designer and assisting in chocolate shops before moving to Northern Italy for a one-year residency at Fabrica (Benetton’s Visual Research and Communication Center). Even though I still had the desire to travel more and find that next place, I found myself back in Melbourne through a series of debatable choices.
How long did you stay before you decided to leave again?
I actually lived in Melbourne for three and a half years before I finally said, “I’m out”. I went to London for the second time, and was there for almost a year but the job there didn’t work out. At that time, a friend from high school who was living in Amsterdam contacted me and I thought it was a nice opportunity to get out of London for a little while. I wandered around town, biked along the canals on beautiful sunny autumn days, and thought, this is actually kind of nice. Amsterdam wasn’t a city I had considered living in before. Although I was desperately trying to find work in London, something just came up in Amsterdam and it felt like the natural next step. That was five years ago, almost to the day.
What was the opportunity that had come up in Amsterdam?
It was actually a job at the retail design agency that I still work for four days a week called
Storeage
. We create commercial interiors including retail spaces and banks and corporate interiors. We’re branching into hospitality right now. I guess you could say it’s a completely different application of my skills and my background.
And when did the granola start?
The granola started about two years ago I suppose. I used to just make it for my flatmate and I, in our apartment’s little kitchen. She’s actually the one who first encouraged me to sell it. I thought it might be a nice design and branding project, and from there it slowly, step by step, grew into what it is now.
What originally interested you in granola?
Years ago in Melbourne, I would stop by this place before work for a coffee. There was this Mexican girl who sold bags of granola at the café and we got to chatting about it and she said it was just something she did to earn a little money on the side. I think that was the very first seed that was planted since I was already making my own granola at home at the time. Starting G for Granola wasn’t so much about being completely obsessed with granola; I think it was more of a general desire to do something with food. I always said that if I didn’t work in design, I would work in food.
Tell us about the name G for Granola!
It was a single conversation that I remember having with my best friend Michiel. There are so many granola brands in the market and they’re all kind of the same: there’s always this natural healthy look to them, they’re often packaged in brown paper bags and tied with a string.
Geitenwollensocken
, isn’t that what you say in Dutch? I didn’t want it to be that, I knew I wanted it to be different. I remember telling Michiel, “I don’t want it to be granola for grannies.” And he was like, “So you want to bring granola back to the streets. Like, Granola for Gangsters.” [Laughs]. So that’s where the name came from. I then worked with a good friend of mine who’s a copywriter, Tessa, and she took the name and ran with it. It’s meant to be quite tongue and cheek gangster speak… Obviously I’m not very gangster [laughs]. It’s not meant to be seriously gangster, it’s just meant to be fun. At the same time, I had been working on the design – I had so many different versions and it kept changing. A few friends of mine who had started their own businesses and had been through the whole startup phase gave me some very sound advice, which was just to get something out there. Get in on the shelves, get people hooked on it, and then you can think about the branding again later. That was one of the best pieces of advice I have received.
What did you hope to achieve with the brand?
Since it is a premium product (you can find granola for less, even at Marqt!) it was always the aim to be more of a lifestyle product. The brand essence is: Love the brand, get hooked on the flavors, be healthy by coincidence. The underlying goal is to get people to eat healthier breakfast or snacks, but it was always my idea to create something that people would just want to have because it’s a cool.
Do you think Amsterdam is ready for premium-priced granola?
I’ve been here five years now and I’ve seen the food industry change so much. First it was the specialty coffee scene with a couple of guys like Headfirst Coffee Roasters who were leading the way. Once people were getting used to going out and spending money on coffee, the natural next step was to go out and spend money on breakfast. It’s definitely changing, slowly. If you’re a food lover and you like to eat out, whether it’s breakfast, lunch or dinner, or just to drink coffee, it’s such an exciting time to be in Amsterdam. There are so many places popping up, the quality is just getting better and better and the ideas are getting more interesting. Exciting times for breakfast!
We're not complaining! So once you had perfected your granola recipe, figured out the branding and packaging, how did you go about selling it?
Well Headfirst Coffee Roasters (now closed, unfortunately), were the first ones to take the opportunity to buy it wholesale. I had met them on the Tweede Helmersstraat and after I had them sample some of my granola they loved it. So when they moved to the Westerstraat, I started supplying there. It started off with a kilo a week and then it was three or four kilos, at the busiest it was six or so kilos a week. That seemed like a lot. And I was working here in my kitchen! I would spend every Sunday on a stepladder getting up to the oven, tray after tray after tray.
When did you realize things had to change?
I had gotten a really big order from trend forecasters in London, The Future Laboratory. They were hosting an event called Food and Drink Futures 2015 and asked for 100 samples of my granola. I worked for nine hours straight, mixing and baking and mixing and baking and labeling and sticking and packing and sealing, with my boyfriend and flatmate as assistants… It was so much work! At that point I realized, this is a bit crazy, there has to be a solution
And the solution was
Kitchen Republic
?
Yes! It was really perfect timing. The founder Bart-Jan had seen an Indie Brands write-up of my granola and got in touch with me. When they opened, I was one of the first members along with a couple of bakers, some guys producing organic juices, and several caterers. Now I can produce, say 100 sample bags, in a couple of hours, instead of the 9 that it took me in my own kitchen. Where at home I would bake 1 kilo at a time, I can do 10 kilos here in the same amount of time. It’s a lot more efficient. I go to the kitchen one day a week so I can keep my other job; that balance has been really nice.
So you would say that you’ve found a good balance?
Yes, it’s actually going very well. By choosing to work in the kitchen on Wednesdays, it means I have two days designing, one day baking, two days designing and then the weekend. It’s a really nice rhythm. I think the two complement each other quite well.
Do you see this balance shifting in the future?
It could definitely happen. I’m lucky though that I don’t do this all by myself, though. I have a little team working with me: my two brothers based in London and my younger brother’s fiancée. My older brother is an Excel wiz and he’s great on the pragmatic business side of things while my younger brother works in sales and marketing and he’s our “bla bla guy,” who talks the talk and who’s keeping things running from a brand perspective. My soon-to-be sister-in-law has worked in creative agencies and she has a great head for social media planning. It’s so great to be doing this with more people. I don’t think I could do it by myself. There was a point, about this time a year ago that my design work was really busy and the granola was kind of heating up and it was just too much. I had kind of scaled it back, but with the encouragement with my team in early 2015 we decided to push it a little and things started to pick back up again. But despite this, I still find myself doing so many different things. I find that the major difference with working for myself is that it doesn’t matter if I’m mixing a bowl of granola or creating a new design for a label or sticking labels on bags, it can really be the most mundane task but there’s still this level of satisfaction that you don’t get when working for someone else.
Where do you see it going?
This is a discussion I have with my brothers and sister-in-law all the time. Amsterdam is a really great testing ground since it’s quite a tough market as far as food goes, particularly breakfast since there isn’t really a culture around it. We figure that if we can make G for Granola work here, then it will definitely work in London and in Melbourne. Since those three places are effectively my three homes, that’s kind of where I hope to see it go. I don’t know if it would have its own bricks and mortar home to live in or that it would still be a product that would be made somewhere and shipped everywhere else, we haven’t gotten to that point yet. But to see it sold in those three places… that would be my dream.
Thanks Sarah for taking the time to meet us! You can find Sarah's granola at various cafes around the city including TOKI, Quartier Putain and Wake & Bake at Bouncespace, or pick up a bag at the Local Goods Store. Be sure to follow Sarah on
Instagram
and
Facebook
.
Rick Nelson | Oedipus Brewing
When staring at the row of beers available at the supermarket it’s hard to miss the colourful world of Oedipus.But they haven’t always been there. Three years ago the boys behind the brand were brewing their potions at home. We spoke to Rick Nelson about the Dutch beer scene, where it’s headed and what thefuture holds for Oedipus. And we did so sat in camping chairs, beers in hand.
- Text by Hannah Fuellenkemper & photos by Yuki Kho
Oedipus makes beer. How did you guys start brewing?
Actually we brewed our first beer on 24 august 2011, one day after Lowlands. At home.
Still drunk from Lowlands?
[Laughs] Maybe, but we’d been planning this for the last three months. And before then, Sander, Paul and me had been working at the Beer Temple, basically the place we’d discovered this whole different beer vibe: different flavours, different bottles, all of it coming in from around the world, mostly the States. There was none of this in the Netherlands; we had a totally different way of perceiving beer. So we thought we had to start making changes ourselves, did some YouTube research, asked people and started home brewing… So yeah, we were certainly drunk after our first brew: it took 14 hours, we finished at 2am. Really tasty though. After that we homebrewed for two years but it was just before the end of the first year that we’d made something we thought was fit to sell. We’d made this first brew at Brouwerij de Molen on a 500-litre installation and sold the batch in a weekend. They were really surprised when we came back after the weekend and asked for another slot and were like ‘What, you sold it all?!’
So brewers rent out capacity?
You can, yeah. That’s how you grow organically: you outgrow capacity and move to more. That’s the way we went for about three years, moving up to brewing 2000 litres and different styles. That’s always been really important to us, the diversity. Even as home brewers we were making something different every week and we still continue to experiment. Actually, that’s what this place is all about; it’s meant to be an experimental lab.
What capacity do you have here at your brewery in Noord?
One vat holds 5ha litres but the fermenting tanks hold 10ha litres so we brew everything twice. In total we can make 7000 litre here a month but we also use capacity at a brewery in Belgium. We’ve just bought a new 2500-litre brew house though so soon things will be changing. Ultimately we want to be able to do everything here on site.
With your eyes to what’s going on in the US, how does the Netherlands’ beer scene compare if at all?
I think there’s still stretch in the market; also in the US (and when I say US I mean certain states only), but there it’s definitely a bit more saturated. I mean it would be, it’s been going on for 10 – 15 years longer. Theirs is an adult industry, there’s a whole generation of people that’s grown up with it, which means a whole lot of knowledge and experience. Compare that to here where most brewers are self-taught. That makes for unique tastes, sure, but it’s not the same level of experience. And I’ve always thought that maybe being self-taught makes you a bit stubborn, and that’s something you can be but not always makes for better beers. You have to be open to learn. There are 280 brewers in the Netherlands (many are contract brewers) compared to say, 70 brewers in Portland alone. You can also taste a difference in quality.
Why is Portland’s beer scene so prolific actually?
They live beer but for various reasons. They’ve got the hops close by, grains too. Lots of fruit grows there which means they’re busy with flavour. I guess being remote makes you independent too. Plus they’ve got a couple favourable beer laws.
But back to my last question then, what do you think will happen here?
I think that when the quality bar gets raised, some might not make it. That’ll take a while though; first, the drinker has to get used to what he’s drinking which, currently, they’re not. They’re used to the image of craft beer, not necessarily the special points of taste. But I think that in the end quality will prevail.
Do you think all the small breweries are giving the big guys a run for their money?
I think they’re becoming increasingly aware of us and that they’re doing much more research about us than we know. Maybe they’re even beginning to get a little bit afraid: I know Heineken just bought a share of Brouwerij ‘t IJ and things like this have been happening in the States for the last 4 years: the really good breweries are bought out or they enter into some sort of partnership. This says something about how mature the market is becoming but is also a survival tactic for the big brands.
Like Google. Buying all the robotics companies.
Yeah. I’m not sure how this will go but it says something about the future of the beer scene, too. And that’s the kind of thing I’m interested in; not in trends in taste, but in what’s going on on the business side of beer. There’s still so much to do in the Netherlands that it doesn’t make sense to follow trends. Just make what you like.
What’s it like running your own business when before you were a… what?
I wanted to be an artist, to make a profession out of it. But in the year I graduated from the Rietveld that dream sort of crumbled – I don’t even know if it was my own dream, it was probably more of a collective dream. We all wanted to do a masters, take up a residency... But then that was replaced by something that was even more me – I do all the creative direction here and I learned a tremendous amount from school. I know many people wouldn’t agree, but I saw my education there as very much a marketing and communication study. We always had to defend our concept against 20 critical students and a teacher. We learned how to combine context, content and form. To create concepts that are not only pretty to look at but that also make people think.
And that’s written all over the Oedipus brand. It’s a world.
Exactly. We wanted to make a complete world.
And the others? What did they do?
Sander has a Master in Earth Science in hydrology, Alex is an anthropologist and Paul studied psychology. He’s also the only one who worked in what he studied before Oedipus. And last year a fifth guy joined us: Tristan. He does finance and helps us with structure, so now for instance we all have fixed roles. But before we started Oedipus we didn’t have experience in business, even with responsibility you could say. But that’s helped us grow the way we did, always improvising and in a playful way. Not planning too much. But now we’re professionalising.
Professionalising… and onto new things?
Yes, always. In 2016 we’ll have gotten our new brew house installed here and we’re going to start a programme with wooden barrels making sour beers. This is a totally different process needing different yeast, different bacteria and time and we’ll be making blends of 1 – 2 years. Let’s see how that goes.
Thanks Rick for this interview!
Herman Verhagen | J.C. Herman Ceramics
Nestled amongst the charming boutiques and flower shops on the Herenstraat, and just between the famous canals Keizersgracht and Herengracht, is the beautiful shop/atelier of Amsterdam-based ceramicist Herman Verhagen, also known as
J.C. Herman
. While Amsterdam may now be the home of his craft, it was actually in Paris that he traded his love for 3D animation for the potter’s wheel. Now, Herman creates refined, timeless designs that draw on both Japanese and Nordic styles; each one of his ceramics is sculpted by hand and with the utmost care. We visited Herman on a sunny afternoon to talk about his love for the craft and his dreams for the future. -
Text and photos by Margot van der Krogt
Tell us about your background.
Where should I start? I have a very diverse background. I’m originally from Dordrecht. When I was 16 years old, I joined a pottery class, just for fun. My grandfather sold Zaalberg pottery and my cousin had a poster of it hanging in her room; one day we were talking about it and she said, why don’t we just go take a class. At 18, I went to the St. Joost Academy in Breda to study graphic design. I did that for almost a year but switched to studying Dutch at the Hogeschool in Rotterdam. Then, when I was 24, I decided that I wanted to go back to art school, to the Rietveld Academy this time, but not for graphic design, for audiovisual studies. I was introduced to all kinds of crafts and worked glass, wood, metals, everything but ceramics (laughs). After graduation, I left to Paris to work in animations and 3D visualizations. I found a few small jobs, like working for an architect who needed help making 3D visualizations for projects he was working on, and at an Internet company. But I was sitting at a computer all day, every day, and eventually I was fed up. I so happened to buy a nice plant at the time and tried to find a pot for it, but couldn’t find one at the flea markets and eventually thought, I’m going to make it myself. I walked into a ceramics shop and just asked them: “Can I make this pot?” That’s when I decided to become a professional ceramicist.
How does one become a professional ceramicist?
In France, you can only call yourself an artisan when you’ve worked on that craft for a certain number of hours. It’s about a years worth of work, so I did that and received my certification as ‘artisan’. I wanted to open a shop in Paris, but it’s really so expensive if you want to be somewhere in the center of the city. So I headed back to Amsterdam. Through friends, I had heard about the 1012 Project to diversify the Red Light District. I was able to get a space, which was great, and I stayed there for three years before moving here to the Herenstraat. That was a year and a half ago.
What was it about Paris that interested you?
I had visited a few times and felt like there was something in the air. For some reason, I had the idea that something was going to happen. I don’t know if it ever did (laughs), but as an artist I just had this feeling that I had to be there.
[We’re interrupted by a woman who walks out of the shop and says, “You just make the most beautiful things.” Herman replies, “Oh thank you. There’s actually another ceramics shop just a few streets away, if you’re interested. It’s a small shop on the Hartenstraat that makes and sells blue and white pottery. You can’t miss it.”]
Do you think that the city influenced your work?
When I first started I was working in the Delftware style, which is actually very Dutch (laughs). And I even made a few tulip vases. And I have a funny story about when I first started working in Amsterdam. I wanted to work primarily with local materials, including local clay. They had just started drilling the metro tunnel in the city and I really wanted to get my hands on that clay. I finally got a hold of the contractors and they told me that I had to be ready because the minute they would find clay, I would have to come over and get it. So I had a traditional bakfiets ready and eventually I got the call; I raced over to the end of the Amstel with a few buckets and managed to scoop up enough clay to work with. Turned out, the clay wasn’t that great (there was a lot of sand and shells in the clay). It was really fun, and I created a few cups using the local clay but I soon decided to switch to better quality clay from Germany.
But back to Paris… What I did take away from my time there was the idea that you should enjoy the work you’re doing. That if you’re really passionate about what you’re doing, it really shows. And regarding my work specifically, I think that you can see a lot of Asian influences, and traces of a Nordic style. I guess you could say it’s a fusion of those two, and a little bit of me, of course!
I think there’s a renewed interest in handmade products and recently, people are more open to spending a little bit more money on something unique. Have you witnessed that?
Honestly, I think that’s the reason why I’m still here. The year that I started out, the Danish restaurant Noma was voted one of the best restaurants in the world. They received a lot of attention, all over the world. It was made known they use handmade ceramics in the restaurant. Chefs from all over the world were looking to Noma for inspiration for their own restaurants. The week after I opened, the owner of the restaurant De Wilde Zwijnen biked by the shop, biked back, ran in and said, “This is exactly what I have been looking for!” He placed the very first order: 10 plates. A week later he came back and placed another. We still have a very good relationship today. So yes, I think the value of ceramics, even in the restaurant scene, has changed dramatically over the years. It’s hard to say if people in general have changed their perspectives with regards to handmade products, but some definitely have. I know that because I can make a living making and selling my ceramics. I even try to keep that handmade aspect quite visible in my work; sometimes the glaze isn’t perfect or there’s a small dent here or a there. That’s what makes it real. And I honestly prefer to buy products that someone has created with care.
Tell us more about the creation process.
This space here on the Herenstraat functions as both a shop and my workspace. We do everything here. I turn on Tuesdays and Thursdays. It takes one day to dry: then the clay is semi-hard and good enough to finish off. On Wednesdays and Fridays I flip them over. In between turning the new pieces, I find the time to glaze the pieces from the week before. On Saturdays I try to focus more on actually being in the shop; it’s usually busier with customers then. It’s so great to have a shop and workspace in one – people can walk in the shop and give me feedback on the pieces I have, or give me insights into what they’re missing. I listen to my customers and create new products according to their needs – for example, I don’t drink tea but when I heard that a lot of people were drinking Chai tea, I decided to make a designated Chai teacup.
How do you see the future?
I would like to continue working with other shops. I recently worked with Restored on the Haarlemmerdijk, which I really enjoyed. There’s a shop in Paris selling my things too, Chez Moi. And there’s a place opening up in Antwerp next year with a bar and several shop-in-shops so I might do that. And I was approached by a place in Vienna. [Smiles] But to be honest, I’m happy with the way things are going here in Amsterdam. Maybe one day I’ll look into Paris again… We’ll see!
Thank
you, Herman,
for this interview! Check out Herman's work on his
website
, follow along on
Facebook
, or visit the shop/atelier on Herenstraat 10, open Tuesday to Saturday from 12 to 6pm.
Simone van Thull | Thull's Pickles & Stock
Simone van Thull set up shop on the Pretoriusstraat to sell her homemade pickles and pickled vegetables. Filled with hand-selected condiments and beautiful bread loaves from Restaurant As,
Thull’s
looks the way you wish your pantry did and is an inspiration for everyone who thinks vegetables in jars need to taste the way the supermarkets make them. They don’t. Simone tells us about making the switch from managing restaurants to managing the 3000 things a day you need to do to open your own shop. -
Text and photos by Hannah Fuellenkemper
Can you tell me about the store’s beginnings?
I’ve always loved cooking. I used to work as a restaurant manager and would make sure to stick close to the kitchen, helping the chefs with the menu. And for a long time I thought what I did was enough to feed my creativity and love for food… and it was… until it wasn’t. At one point I knew I had to do something for myself, something I could direct from A-Z. But I didn’t want to open a restaurant, so then what? Well, whilst I was cooking a few years ago, I discovered the joys of preserving food. All these ancient methods, essential to preserve food before we had refrigeration. I loved it. I loved seeing that I could be independent of the stores and preserve my own vegetables. I no longer had to buy the stuff I needed but didn’t really like. All of a sudden I had my pantry full of what I’d made and it felt really rich. It was so simple to make a good meal from my own stuff and I thought everyone would love this. Everyone would probably like to do this; they just didn’t have the time.
Plus the Dutch love stuff in jars and cans.
The Dutch, at least the older generation, are very practical with food. They know they have to eat their greens so they buy a can of peas and carrots and it doesn’t really matter if it’s mushy and tastes bad. So much of the food in Dutch supermarkets is bad, including meat and fish – you really have to try your best to get good food. That’s weird. Good food should be normal. Why are we buying garlic from China? How hard can it be to grow and sell our own in our own country?
People must be very surprised to taste the stuff you’re putting in jars then.
Of course there are people who come into my store who already know you can have nice food jarred, but others are completely surprised. They come in and have a taste of everything – that’s really nice. Some of them can’t believe it. For instance, I stock wonderful canned sardines from the oldest fish conserving company in the world, but the Dutch don’t believe it’s possible (nor do they believe they have to pay 4 euros for it).
They’re probably also surprised that there’s more to the choice of only sweet or sour.
Yes, that’s what everyone in Holland knows: sweet and sour pickles. It’s fun to show them otherwise.
And your recipes, everything you make here: how did you figure this all out?
I read a lot and experimented for years at home. I was finding that the recipes for pickling always had way too much salt. You need a balance between the salt and sour to preserve, but I found all the salt to spoil the taste of the vegetable. I kept testing different ratios to end up with exactly the right balance in taste and preserving qualities. Most other recipes wanted at least a double amount of salt. This is true also with the flavours: some, of course, are traditional, but with others, I experiment with different kinds of vinegar and spices.
Where do you get your vegetables?
I’ve found this to be really important if not the most important thing. So I’m really grateful to work with Kwekerij de Kerf, for example. Their organic vegetables are grown in floating gardens. My suppliers will text me when they’ve got something, pick it the next day and on the third day it’s in a jar. This is what makes my pickles so different from what you can buy elsewhere: if the vegetables have already been picked weeks ago, it loses its taste. And that’s what pickling is for: to preserve taste.
And backtracking a bit: what led you to
set
up your own shop?
The idea was in my head for two years already, and then in the last half a year it all happened. I started because this is what I love, not to get rich. My ambition is to make a healthy business, maybe open up a second shop, but ultimately I want to produce nice food in a nice place and to make people aware of good food. And I’ll just see what works: I have the pickles, a lunch shop, traiteur and you can book me for catering. So I’m flexible. I also like to be able to do a bit of everything: this is something I missed.
And actually starting your own shop?
I knew I wanted a place on this street [Pretouriusstraat] or the Java Straat. Actually, I wanted this place but when I started looking there was already an office in it. After 4-5 months had gone by, my neighbor called me and told me there’s a place coming free on this street, and I asked whether it was number 69 and she said yes, how did you know? It was the one I wanted! It’s also my year of birth so maybe that’s lucky... So then it went very fast. I was incredibly busy, doing 300 things a day and 12/13-hour days. I’m so glad to have had my experience as a manager of restaurants, which meant I was used to doing all sorts of different things and knew what to expect in running a business from the backside. Sure, I didn’t have experience in running a shop but I had experience in running a business. I had to produce a lot to fill the shop, which I was doing at home, and my partner helped me with the build up which took about 2 months. He’s a furniture maker and made and designed everything here whilst I worked on the rest. That was really nice, how we could both work together in order to make something come together. And I remember a week before the opening, he came in with the new tables and we put the chairs there. All of a sudden the sun came out and reflected ‘Thull’s’ from the window on the ground. That was such a magical moment.
Do you have any advice that you learned from the process of setting up your own business to pass on?
To ask. Ask for help and ask if you can pay less when you rent a place. Just ask. Try. Don’t take everything for granted. Things can be discussed and often people are willing to meet you halfway. Also, there are lots of people opening restaurants without experience and they think it’s easy money but it’s not. Not if you’re serving good food and good wine. You have to do these things because you really love them. If you want to get rich, open a snack bar.
Thank you, Simone, for taking the time to tell us about Thull’s. Thull’s is also open for lunch so there’s an extra reason to visit the store on Pretoriusstraat 69. You can also follow Thull’s on
Facebook
and
Instagram
.
Bodil Jane | Illustrator
Raised in an artistic family (her parents are both freelance artists), it doesn't come as a great surprise that Amsterdam-based illustrator
Bodil Jane
choose this path for herself. Yet with a passion for her craft and an unrivalled entrepreneurial spirit, Bodil Jane has successfully paved her own way since graduating from the Willem de Kooning Academy two years ago. Vibrant, energetic and full of life, her illustrations can be considered a reflection of her personality, and we can't wait to see what she takes on next. We caught up with Bodil Jane in the comfort of her studio space off the Amstel River and discussed success and finding a balance between work and personal life. -
Text and photos by Margot van der Krogt
Tell us about yourself.
I was born in Amsterdam but grew up in Haarlem. I was raised in a very creative family. Growing up, I was also making things. When we went on vacation I always brought along scrapbooks, diaries and drawing books. My parents are both freelance artists – my dad works mainly in advertising creating storyboards while my mom is more a decorative illustrator and paints ceramics. They both had an atelier space at home, and every week we had a drawing and craft afternoon with my neighbors. When I was younger, I knew that I was going work in the creative field. When I finished high school I studied illustration at the Willem de Kooning Academy in Rotterdam. It was there that I learned what an illustrator in the technical sense of the word really meant. And I did an Erasmus Exchange program in Copenhagen before finishing up my studies with the graduation project ‘
(Re)Discover the small food shops in Amsterdam West
’.
I’ve heard so much about your graduation project – what inspired it?
A huge Albert Heijn grocery store was about to open on the Jan Evertsenstraat in the Baarsjes, right around the corner from my house. I thought it was terrible – there were many great small shops in the area, like the Turkish bakery, the deli Sterk in Eten, Hong Kong Superstore and Caribbean Asian Market, and with the next Albert Heijn at about a 10-minute walk from there, you were more likely to pop into one these curious small shops. I was afraid that with the new Albert Heijn just around the corner, people in my neighborhood would forget about them. So I created a small city guide of the area and encouraged my neighbors to support the local shopkeepers. I created portraits of the owners, drew a few of my favorite products, and created in-depth profiles of five of the shops in the neighborhood. I was so passionate about the project and actually got to know some of the shopkeepers quite well.
What happened next?
Well before I graduated, I already had quite a few things going – I was already in contact with VPRO Dorst and they asked me to illustrate a spread for them. Amsterdam-based agency PUP approached me and asked if I wanted to be a part of their platform. I also completed internships before graduating, one was at a design shop where I learned (among many other things!) to create large window displays and products with illustrations on them, and the clothing brand King Louie of the shop Exota (on the Hartenstraat). And in the time I had left I started doing freelance work. It helped that I had a really great supervisor, Merijn Hos - he’s a great illustrator and a great inspiration. I remember being asked to do an illustration for
Jamie Oliver Magazine
and talking through it with him, which was so helpful. So when I finally graduated, the freelance part just kind of took off!
So when you graduated you knew you wanted to be a
freelance
illustrator?
At the academy I remember them telling us, “You’re going to have an incredibly hard time finding work and making a living off being an illustrator.” But I thought to myself, “Wait a second. You can do this for a living. I’ve seen it first hand, my parents are both successful freelance illustrators.” I decided I would give it a shot for myself, and I had given myself half a year. If it didn’t work out, I would get a job on the side at a restaurant or a café. Right out of school I rented a studio space at Cinetol on the Tolstraat (now I have a studio space on the Weesperzijde), and I joined the agency
Shop Around
. Through them, I was able to get some serious jobs, like creating packaging for the grocery store Jumbo. When you’re a recent graduate and you’re offered a good sum of money and you know you can make it through the month… It was such a great start.
Did growing up with freelance parents help you on your way?
I guess you could say that I’ve always had a pretty good idea of what it would be like to be a freelancer. Thanks to my parents, I learned that you really have to ‘sell’ yourself and your work. I remember being with my mom when she was talking to potential clients and hearing her talk about her own work saying, “Isn’t this piece just incredible!” and my sister and I thinking, “Mom, you’re bragging!” But now I get it, that’s how it works. So yes, I think it definitely helped.
And how are things going for you, a year and a half later?
It’s going very well. Right before graduation we had to present where we thought we’d be in five or ten years. And to be honest, after working freelance for six months I had already checked so many things off those two lists. For example, I wanted to work for the
Volkskrant Magazine
at some point and I just recently did a long-term project with them. I wanted to make a print for a clothing item, and I had the opportunity to do that for
Love Stories
. I created packaging for the shop
ANNA+NINA
. I won an award for the illustrations I made for the first edition of
Amsterdam &Co magazine
. I wanted to work with an agent, and I found an agent. I wanted to work at a studio, and I found a studio… It’s kind of crazy.
Have you also experienced more difficult moments?
In the beginning, I had a hard time wrapping by head around the fact that I was in this by myself. Of course, my parents were there to coach me along the way, but it was my work, and I had to do it. People around me were saying, “Oh Bodil, look how easy things are going for you, everything’s just coming your way!” And I had to say, “It’s not just coming my way, I’m working my butt off!” There have been times that I’ve been called out of bed early in the morning by my agent telling me that I’ve misunderstood the brief and that the client needed the final illustrations by 9am. And at that moment thinking, “But wait! I’m only 22, I can’t do that!” It hasn’t all been smooth sailing. I also went through a period of time that I was a little burnt out. When I just started out I was terrified of making mistakes and I didn’t want to say no to anything that had come up. And I doubted myself with every project I was doing, wondering if I could really deliver what they wanted. I went through a two-week stint that I didn’t have any work and I remember thinking, “Yep, this is it. It’s over.” (Laughs).
What do you think has been the key to your success so far?
I honestly don’t think it’s just my work. Being a successful freelancer is also about being a good communicator and really getting to know the industry, if you know what I mean. I respond to emails immediately. I always meet my deadlines. It’s such an important part of working with clients; they have to know that they can trust you.
So true! Ok, let’s take a look at your work. How would you describe your style?
All my work is done by hand. I’ve always used watercolors, it’s something I’ve done since I was a kid, and I’ve gotten to the point that I’ve perfected the technique. I used to be quite messy; ink drips and it’s hard to perfect it. I liked that my work little blobs and ink drops here and there, people thought it was charming. Now that I’ve mastered the technique, those mistakes don’t happen anymore, so I have to manually bring them back... It’s funny how that works. But I guess you could say my style is quite girly and playful. And colorful! I draw quite close to reality, so I might see a nice interior in a magazine and draw elements from that. I mostly work with lifestyle themes, so food, fashion and interior design, and I work primarily for magazines. I’m currently looking into branching out with animations or more product work.
Where do you find inspiration for your work?
Most of the work I do is on commission, so I receive mood boards from clients and use that as inspiration to create the illustration. For my own work (which I don’t have much time for right now) I find inspiration at flea markets I’m quite the collector, I collect packages, fruit stickers, books with botanical drawings and antique scientific illustrations, rare objects/curiosities like porcelain doll heads or silver boxes in the shape of an apple... All kinds of things. I also love beautiful packaging. And I’m drawn to abstract paintings, especially to the bright colors. But I guess I’m usually not very free to find inspiration from other places when I'm working for a client. That’s what makes it a job; there's a beginning and an end and that’s it. When it’s your own work, it’s easier to get caught up in it.
Would you want to do more of your own work?
I really like creating products, but I don't really enjoy selling it. And it takes so much time. And I’m quite concerned about sustainability right now and often think, who’s waiting for me to make a tote bag, there are so many of them already; it’s kind of like producing just to produce. I would love to spend two days a week creating my own work but when I have worked on paid jobs for five days straight, I can’t wait to just take a break and enjoy the weekend.
How do you combine work/life? Is it hard to find a balance?
After graduation, I went through quite a tough time. I had been in a relationship for five years and it had just ended; I was heartbroken. As a response, I decided to devote all my time to work. All I did was work, all the time. I did little else. Now that I have a new relationship (I’m completely smitten!), I realize that this desire to work all the time is less. It goes in phases really. But I actually work from 9 to 5 most of the time; I guess you could say that I’m quite a civil freelancer (laughs).
How do you see the future?
I’m trying to focus on keeping things going the way they are right now. Of course I have dreams – like working for Hermes some day, I love the work they do with illustrators, the beautiful prints, and the window displays. But for now, I want things to stay as they are.
Thanks
Bodil Jane for this interview! Check out her work on her
website
, and be sure to follow along on
Facebook
,
Instagram
and
Pinterest
.
Jeff Flink | TOKI
New to the Amsterdam coffee scene,
TOKI
is a cool Scandinavian-meets-Japanese cafe with design accents from around the world. Nestled on the corner of two quiet streets in the Jordaan, right around the corner from the Haarlemmerdijk, it's the perfect go-to before heading to the Noordermarkt on a Saturday morning. But don't be fooled; even though they serve Berlin's famous Bonanza Coffee, TOKI is much more than a coffee place. Founded by former adman Jeff Flink, the hangout boasts pastries from the neighborhood's Petit Gateau, local homemade granola from G for Granola, teas from Brooklyn's Bellocq Tea Atelier and beers from London's Crate Brewery. True to its Japanese meaning, 'the time when some states or actions exist or occur', TOKI (とき) invites us to catch our breath, relax and enjoy. We met up with Jeff to talk about what's it like to open your own place after years and years of daydreaming and his plans for the future. -
Text and photos by Margot van der Krogt
Tell us a little about yourself.
I’m Jeff. I’m actually from Hilversum but have been living in Amsterdam for more than 15 years. I moved here to study business and graduated from university with a specialization in Brand Marketing. After traveling around Asia and New Zealand for six months, I started working at eBay. From there I got into advertising and never left, until now.
What inspired you to start TOKI?
When I look back, I think it’s something I’ve always thought about. I’ve always been the one to hang out at nice coffee places and restaurants. I often go on city trips and seek out the best places to grab a drink, a good meal or just relax. So it was something that had been on my mind for a while but I had never seriously considered it. Then about five years ago, I starting writing down my ideas, sourcing inspiration for the interior, and researching products I would want to sell. Last year I took one day a week off from work; it was the first real step towards realizing this place. I started scouting locations in the city, working out my concrete plans, and when I realized that one day wasn’t enough, I finally said, that’s it, I’m going for it. That was last December. And now, we’re here!
TOKI is more than a coffee place, isn’t it?
Yes, TOKI is about taking a moment to catch your breath, to relax and to enjoy yourself. I’ve tried to create an environment that’s inviting and relaxing. TOKI isn’t a coffee place or a bar or a lunch café; it’s a hangout. For a lot of people, a cup of coffee is what they need to relax before continuing with their day. But I think tea is great for that and so is a good beer at the end of a busy day.
How did you decide on the name?
I wanted a name that was fun, that wasn’t complicated and would have a link in some way or another to the hangout concept. I spent a whole day at the library at some point looking through a Japanese dictionary and eventually left with 20 potential names. TOKI stuck with me; it means time, opportunity.
Can you tell us about the different products you serve?
I’ve been very careful to select products that I really believe in. And I wanted to gather products that can’t easily be found here in Amsterdam. The coffee is roasted by the guys over at
Bonanza Coffee
in Berlin. They’ve been around for years but after all of this time, continue to improve their business – it’s impressive. The tea is from
Bellocq
in Brooklyn, New York. They have more than 100 different kinds of high-quality teas – and the packaging is great. I’m currently serving beers from
Crate Brewery
in London but thinking of branching out with a Japanese beer, a Danish beer, and a South African beer. I also have a few other bottled drinks like a John Lemon lemonade, a ginger beer, and a classic cola. And I have granola from
G for Granola
by Amsterdam local Sarah Napier - I’m a granola-in-the-morning kind of guy!
So what does it take to set up your own place? Did you run in any obstacles along the way?
Oh yes, plenty of them. Since it had been something I had spent years and years dreaming about, it was hard to get all my thoughts down on paper. And it was challenging to present all my ideas in a way that other people would get it, and eventually invest in it. In the end, I didn’t write a thousand-page business plan but worked all my ideas out in a presentation. This made it easier to engage in a dialog about what it was and what it could be. When the money side of it was all taken care of, I had to look for a location and that wasn’t easy either. The space would really make or break it. Eventually, I was lucky enough to find this space in the Jordaan, right around the corner from the Haarlemmerdijk. But it definitely wasn’t easy, I feel like I ran into one obstacle after another. I guess you could say it really was one of those ‘blood, sweat and tears’ kind of stories.
Do you think that your background in advertising influenced the decision-making?
I guess so. During my last few years working in advertising, I was drawn more to branding and design, to creating concepts as opposed to commercials. With TOKI, I was able to develop my own concept and create my very own space. I was very conscious of the atmosphere I wanted to create at TOKI: a Japanese meets Scandinavian style that still exudes a certain kind of warmth. Even though the interior is quite white and clean, it’s still inviting – both younger and older people have told me they feel welcome here.
But you have made some pretty bold design choices.
With regards to the visual design of TOKI, so the website, logo, the cups, etc., I worked with
HarrimanSteel
, a design studio that recently relocated to Amsterdam from London. I was drawn to their international appeal (they work for brands like Converse and Nike) and felt like we could create something together that wasn’t your typical coffee joint look-and-feel but something more than that. The smiley evokes a positive vibe and refers again to taking it easy. It’s fun! And if you look around the place, you’ll see some designer pieces, like the incredible sofa by LA-based furniture designer
Stephen Kenn
and the marble top,
Marmoreal
, by
Max Lamb
and
DZEK
, both in London. I first discovered it at the Soho House shop in London and knew I had to get it.
Let’s not forget the floor!
Yes, the blue floor, I think it’s refreshing! I was determined to keep the walls white and clean but wanted to mix things up with the floor. And I’m so happy I did, the contrast with the other materials, like the bamboo bar and the marble table, makes everything in here pop. It’s a little different, but I like it.
You’ve been open for two weeks now. How’s it going?
It’s been great. I’m just so humbled by all the great responses so far. I tried to set zero expectations – I had heard from others that it could take a long time before things would pick up and that you had to be patient. And that’s true but I get so much energy from the people who walk in the door and say, “Wow the coffee is great!” or “What a beautiful space!” I really can’t believe it’s going so well.
What are your days like?
They’re long (laughs)! During the week we’re open at 7.30am so I get up at 6am when my girlfriend and my kid are still sleeping. I’m here at around 6.45am, turn on the machines and get everything up and running, and head over to Petit Gateau to pick up the pastries. After I open the doors open I’m here all day, making coffees, chatting to customers and people who pass by. When I shut the doors after a long day, I crack open a beer and take the time to enjoy it before closing up for the day. It doesn’t feel like hard work now that I’m working for myself, and I’m working in a space that I designed and put together myself – it’s like a second home. It doesn’t tire me out but gives me energy.
And do you have big plans for the future?
I want to focus on getting things right at the moment. I’m happy right now, and I want to keep things chilled out. Eventually I want to work with more people – it would be great to get a good barista on board, for example, and other people who are interested in beer and tea, who are positive and want to have a good time. When that’s the case, I hope to create a little more time to focus on continuing to grow. We have a great kitchen here so it would be great to introduce lunch (maybe two or three dishes) and, at some point down the line, have afternoon drinks from 4 to 8pm on Friday evenings to just hang out and relax. But it has to stay fun and relaxed. After all, TOKI is a hangout.
Thanks Jeff for taking the time to meet us! The
website
will be up soon but in the mean time, follow along on
Facebook
and
Instagram
.
Lotte van den Hout | Wedding Planner
Amsterdam-based wedding planner
Lotte van den Hout
works from home in a beautiful apartment in the south of Amsterdam, away from the hustle and bustle of the city. The details are impeccable, the apartment adorned with delicate dried flowers, lace pillows, mermaid-inspired shell coasters, and large vases of fresh pink peonies. This is where she imagines and realizes stunning weddings both in the Netherlands and abroad. She's built up a successful career in just a year's time, demonstrating to others that not only is her profession one to be taken seriously but that she is an undeniable force to be reckoned with. We met with Lotte over ginger tea to talk about how it's going and her goals for the future. -
Text and photos by Margot van der Krogt
Tell us about yourself.
I studied Fashion Management at the Amsterdam Fashion Institute (AMFI). I had always thought that I wanted to work in fashion but after the first half year I realized it wasn’t for me. In any case, I decided to finish my studies and get as much out of it as I could: I learned a lot and even studied abroad for a few months. I also interned at the international photography magazine
Foam Magazine
for half a year, which was a great experience. When I graduated, I was contacted by the photography fair and festival
Unseen
and asked if I wanted to help organize the first edition back in 2012. I continued working at Unseen as a project and office manager until November 2014. That’s when I decided to leave my job and start as a wedding planner.
Had you always wanted to be a wedding planner?
I don’t know if it’s something I’ve always wanted to do, but I have been collecting romantic and dreamy photos of weddings as inspiration for my own wedding (as many of us girls do!) for years. Several years ago, I decided that I wanted to work as a wedding planner at some point in my life but thought, I’ll do that when I'm older and have more work experience. At some point I realized, why wait? I’m still young! If not now, when?
What draws you to weddings?
Last weekend, on the day of yet another special wedding, I realized once again how special my work actually is: I spread the love! (Laughs). But really, I help people to realize their special day, as cliché as that sounds. Everything I love, that I care about (and that I’m good at) come together in this profession: I’m a perfectionist, I'm a planner and an organizer. I like to create concepts and carry them out, and above all, I like to help others and bring them a sense of happiness. I’m most in my element on the day/weekend itself when carrying out all the production tasks. Together with a team of suppliers I’ve chosen, we strive to create something really beautiful. And on that day/those days, I'm also the hostess and the contact person for all the guests, who are all always so thankful for all the work I'm doing! It’s incredible.
What was it like to leave your job and start for yourself?
The decision to start for myself wasn’t hard to make, but I did find it quite difficult to leave my job because I was working with such a great group of people. And I really had to get used to working on my own, like how to best divide my time and when to call it quits at the end of the day. I had to tell myself to take things slow; it was quite a challenge to give myself that time and to accept that not everything would be perfect the first time around. But I’ve learned so much about my work and myself already, and I’m still learning every day.
What does it take to become a wedding planner and what do you do?
I believe that “You don’t become a wedding planner, you just are one!” But I decided to follow a course at the Wedding Planners Institute to really take this step seriously. When I finish, I’ll have an official degree and I think some couples will value that. For a wedding planner, there’s no set job description: I help people leading up to the wedding and on the wedding day itself by taking things out of their hands. I don’t work with fixed packages, I believe in custom-made wedding planning; when I meet a couple, we decide together how I can best help them. It’s really a joint effort.
You’ve said that a "wedding planner’s personality is as important as liking her style”.
I really mean that! It’s important that the couple and I have a good relationship – I should feel like a best friend helping out on their special day. But style is important as well. My style is quite simple; I believe in less is more. I spend a lot of time researching suitable locations and prefer those that aren’t official wedding locations. People often think they can just find a reasonably priced space and ‘dress it up’ but I don’t think it works like that. Location is everything; like placing a long table in the middle of the street, creating a moment of calm in the midst of the chaos of the city, could be stunning. And I think it’s important to bring back a personal element of the couple so that the guests really feel like it’s their wedding, however small that personal element may be. It could be incorporating the bride’s favorite flower in the table-setting or one of the groom’s favorite dishes. It should be something that really defines them!
Tell us about the weddings you’ve done so far.
I’ve done six weddings to date. One of my first was for a couple who wanted a
wedding
'for everyone, by everyone'; the guests were all asked to contribute in some way. They were divided into groups (one group would take care of the wine, the other the flowers, etc.) and I coordinated all of this. It was such a beautiful idea and the day was so special: It started with a 'procession of love' through the city, departing from where they met, then past 12 places that were important to them, like the place where they first kissed. There was
another wedding
that was more classical. It was a four-day celebration in the winter and on the day of the ‘I do’s’, we woke up to a fresh blanket of snow and the winter sun was glowing in the distance; it was beautiful.
A few weeks ago I had two weddings in one weekend. One was a magical garden wedding near Amsterdam, where the guests were taken to the wedding location by way of a Moroccan procession of belly dancers and camels. The other was an intimate wedding in Spain; I can't even put into words how beautiful it was. Everyone who was there decided that there's one word to best describes that weekend, and that’s love.
Where do you see yourself in one year, five years or ten years?
I hope to have my own studio soon so that I can welcome couples in a space that really defines who I am and what I stand for. I also hope that the profession will be taken more seriously (there’s still a certain taboo about ‘wedding planning’) and that people embrace it instead of thinking, oh, that’s not for me. I spoke to someone yesterday who said that even though she really enjoyed planning her own wedding, she really regrets not asking someone to be there the day because her parents missed so many important moments while arranging everything. It’s interesting that wedding planning is actually more widely known and accepted outside of Amsterdam than here. I’m sure it’ll change soon: people living here, with their busy lives and demanding jobs, could really benefit from it! And my longer term goals are to work on more international weddings. It’s not a dream, but a goal, because 'goals are dreams with deadlines.'
And we can’t help but ask, is your own wedding in the works?
Not yet! But I have thought about it (laughs). I want to be engaged for at least a year; I think ‘fiancee’ sounds cuter than ‘husband’! I would love to have a wedding that lasts a year, and to celebrate every few months with smaller get-togethers. At the end of the year, we would finish with an intimate ceremony and a large party. Or the other idea is to travel the world, just the two of us. I think it would be amazing to get married in every country we visit according to their customs and traditions. Then we would head back home for a final celebration with friends and family. We’ll see, a girl can dream, right?
Thanks Lotte for this interview! For more information about Lotte and her work, visit her
website
. And follow along on
Facebook
,
Instagram,
and
Pinterest
.
Elise van Iterson | Illustrator
Elise van
Iterson
’s work may be hanging in your bathroom. Or perhaps you know it from Vrij Nederland, hard // hoofd or the recent exhibition in Felix Meritis,
Van de
Kaart
. The Makers spoke to the illustrator, cook and Red Light Radio DJ about her work process and upcoming projects. -
Text and photos by Hannah Fuellenkemper
How did you become an illustrator?
At 18, when I joined the Rietveld, I had a vision of me being a painter doing very large, abstract things. But when I started - as a girl from a small town with no space of my own - I became very modest. I don’t know if this is necessarily what led me to making small things… but that’s what happened. And in the second year when I started specialising, I continued to draw very small. I remember going to a Michaël Borremans exhibition in Ghent and liking it very much, which led to talks with my teachers… but then again, my final exam work was on a very big scale. It didn’t work and I realised I should stick to narrative. My father’s a writer, maybe that’s why.
Has your own narrative changed?
I used to choose a theme to work around every year but I never considered what I did to be ‘illustration’ because it was my own story I was telling. To the point where when a friend of mine started an Internet magazine and asked me to do an illustration for it, I said I couldn’t - that I didn’t do illustrations. But then I read the piece and really liked having the ingredients in front of me. I realised I could still make it very much my own, even though the ingredients were coming from somewhere else. Then I started working making illustrations for hard//hoofd. When I look back at those drawings I see a lot has changed. My style has become looser.
Do you have a particular process with which you approach a project?
No, not really. I think the ideas that pop up are just how my brain works. I also think it’s good I didn’t go to illustration school because I have an abstract way of thinking and that may have changed.
I can imagine some of your drawings might scare off some magazines…
They do. But of course when I work for a magazine, I follow certain instructions.
Did they scare the restaurant owners in your calendar? Tell me about that.
No, but perhaps it helped that some of them knew me. I knew I wanted to make a calendar so I approached the restaurants I wanted to work with and asked if they’d like to pick a month and share a recipe for that month. I never wanted to illustrate recipes so it was always going to be more about the place itself. That’s why there’s quite a lot of alive animals if the recipe has meat in it. For each month, there’s also a series of drawings on what’s in season - this took quite a bit of research speaking to the fishermen and fromagerie etc. And it’s a birthday calendar, which, in Dutch custom, is something you hang in the toilet - maybe a bit strange considering the subject matter.
Mine’s hanging in the kitchen.
Yes, that’s a better idea. It should inspire you to think about what you can cook at any given month.
Was this just an idea or more driven by an interest in food?
I love food! I also work as a cook – I’ve recently left Wine Cafe Worst and before that I worked at Foyer. Now I’m working at Choux during the lunch shift. But this is the first time I’ve combined my work with food. The calendar came out 7 December 2014 and I’ve received a lot of attention even if mostly from my own scene… which I was hoping to break out of a bit. But it has led to more food assignments now that people think I’m a culinary illustrator. But the idea, the food thing, was also just what worked at the time. My most recent project is a card game so it’s not all about food.
How do you choose your subjects then?
I never work from a subject - I just start working and then a subject develops. Like for the card game: I knew I wanted to make a card game and the subject appeared. For the calendar, I knew I wanted to make a product and it went from there.
Can you tell me about the card game?
For the calendar, I really enjoyed thinking of something to make, what it could be, and how it could be done money-wise. So I thought I’d do the same for my next project: a card game. Just like calendars, there are lots in stores but they’re never very interesting or personal. So I thought I could make an illustrated card game, sell all the drawings and use the money to print it.
I liked the idea of working within a framework, the fact there are four kings, four queens, a certain size…. It’s nice to have some restrictions – you always come to something new because of restrictions and whereas there was a lot to say for each of the restaurants, for the card game, you could only say one thing.
So I started reading about the history of the card game and learned that the game as we know it has existed since medieval times. It’s called the French card game and the four houses represent different parts of society. Spades represent aristocracy; hearts, the church; cloves, the farming class and diamonds: the salesman. I thought this was interesting because nowadays we can’t really divide people into these classes, but I thought that certain things, scenes and associations could be. So for example, anything to do with hedonism I put as a spade, anything to do with love, spirituality and religion in hearts, family thingsand normal life like work and making money goes under clubs and anything about sales or representation goes as a diamond. And then I just started thinking of nice things and where to place them. And started drawing. For an exhibition I had in Felix in de Steigers in May, I had to make 12 in 3 weeks so I had to start somewhere…
What’s your work process like?
I try to be in my studio three days a week, work in the restaurant another three and take one day off. The good thing about having a studio is that you shake off life from outside. It’s also nice to work underground (in a remodelled
fietstal
ling
). As for the rest, I make collages of things I see and just composing. Things fall into place, but I hardly use the things I see or experience in my drawings. I also like to stretch stories into something a bit more. Larger than life, a bit humorous. I also like working within someone else’s boundaries because it forces you to do something you normally wouldn’t.
For instance, a while ago I illustrated an article about how the Netherlands was selling plofkippen to Africa for Vrij Nederland. What happened is, at first they were very happy with the chickens but then they found out that they couldn’t afford the cages they lived in, their antibiotics, the chicks; everything they needed to support the plofkip industry we’d sold them they had to continue buying from us at prices they couldn’t afford. Another instance of the West getting richer at someone else’s expense. Anyway, I really enjoyed making the illustrations for this story: I could make it larger than life.
What’s next?
I’m going to illustrate a children’s book. The writer was a poet for a long time and his writing is very dark: the subject for this book is ‘dissatisfaction’ and it will be aimed at 10 to 11-year-olds, an age when they start thinking about themselves and their life and maybe the first feelings of dissatisfaction. I think that’ll be a really nice project. Finding subjects is not an issue, but time and money.
So are you satisfied?
No, but I should be.
Thanks Elise for this interview! Check out her
website
for more about her and her work.
Maarten Heijltjes & Simon Akkaya | Waarmakers
With a name like '
Waarmakers
', you can't really go wrong. Delft-educated, Amsterdam-based product designers Maarten Heijltjes and Simon Akkaya started working together right out of university and have built up an impressive portfolio of work. All the while, they have 'kept their word' and envisioned products that matter. Their designs are manifestations of a belief that everything can be reimagined and redesigned for a more sustainable future. And their
Ninebyfour
lamp, made of salvaged wood from trees in Amsterdam, is a great example. The duo breathe new life into these age-old trees by creating beautiful but simplistic light fixtures that stay true to their origins. We talked to Maarten about 'being your own boss' and where he sees them going in the near future. -
Text and photos by Margot van der Krogt
Tell us about yourselves.
I’m from Nijmegen and Simon is from Den Bosch. We both studied at the Technical University in Delft and met each other in the third or fourth year of school. We had similar ideas with regards to design and realized quite quickly that we wanted to work together. Right after I finished school (Simon was a year ahead of me) we started Waarmakers. Our first product was
Goedzak
, a garbage bag of sorts that can be filled with items we no longer use but may still be of value to others. When placed out on the pavement, these items are made available to other people in the community. We were awarded the
Aanmoedigingsprijs
(or ‘Encouragement Prize’) of the
Doen
Materiaal
Prijs
at the 2010 Dutch Design Week. This was a few years ago, but we’re still seeing interest in the product today. In the east of Amsterdam, we’re talking about doing a pilot this summer.
What has it been like, running your own design studio?
We are really passionate about what we do. It’s a pretty steep learning curve when you have to do everything yourself. We have had to make a lot of choices and that hasn’t gone without trial and error. The trap is – and I know, because I’ve done it myself hundreds of times – procrastinating when it comes to making choices. But in doing this, you learn a lot, about yourself and about your work. For creative people especially, it’s always a challenge to balance your own projects with commercial projects. We run the risk of putting too much time into our own projects and realizing two months down the line that we don’t have enough money to pay rent or finance our next project. One thing we’ve done is approach companies with our own ideas, like the
bicycle
we designed for Azor – it worked.
Why the name ‘Waarmakers’ (or ‘those who fulfill, realize’)?
I have to give Simon the credit for that. ‘Waarmakers’ has something dreamy about it, but it’s also pretty solid. To us, ‘waarmakers’ means doing things that go beyond our dreams but it needs to be realizable. The name also means that we really have to get things done; you’re making a promise that you have to follow up on. Everyone tells us, “You make things happen!” and I think we really do, or try to.
What defines your work?
We regard our designs in the broadest possible context: How is a product used, where does the material come from, what is the production cycle, and what influence might it have on the user? There’s a story to each of our products. Sustainability and social engagement are not ends in themselves but are inherent in our design vision and methodology. A good example of this is our product
Ninebyfour
, a lamp made from a piece of salvaged wood from trees in Amsterdam.
What inspired the
Ninebyfour
lamp?
We were working in a basement space on the Eerste Helmersstraat. There’s a reason why the place is now a wine cellar, Vleck. We had these ugly fluorescent lights hanging above our heads and went to look for an alternative. We wanted to find a lamp that was affordable but didn’t look cold and industrial, and we couldn’t find it. So we thought, why don’t we make one? We wanted to do something with wood because it’s really a beautiful material and great to work with, but you can’t combine it with regular lights because they get too hot. LED lighting, on the other hand, was a perfect match. But the idea that we had to chop down a tree to get to work didn’t feel right. So when Stadshout came along, we knew it would be a great match. They arranged the salvaged wood and off we went.
How is it made?
We head over to Stadshout to pick out a tree. We’ve used wood from trees originally placed along the Albert Neuhuystraat, the Paulus Potterstraat and the Vondelpark. A partner in the north of Amsterdam takes care of cutting out the form and we’re involved in finishing, sanding and oiling the pieces. What I love about the lamp is that each piece is unique. When you’re working so closely with a certain material, it’s easy to develop a bond with the product. We’ve seen that our interns often fall in love with a piece they’re working on. We see that with our clients too. Recently someone bought a Ninebyfour lamp from us and turns out he had lived on the Albert Neuhuysstraat for 30 years. He actually remembered the tree (from which his lamp was made) from the time that he lived there.
So is it easy to find out where the tree was originally located?
Yes! You’ll find the geographical coordinates of the tree stamped on the cork that we send with the lamp. Just enter these coordinates into Google and you’ll find it. Sometimes Google Street View isn’t up to date and you’ll still see the tree in that location (laughs).
Do you think you appreciate the city of Amsterdam in a way that most of us might not? How do you regard the trees in the city?
You really get to know the trees in the city, that’s for sure! There’s definitely an appreciation for the elms in Amsterdam – no other city has so many of them. I think it’s great to be working with something that’s so typically ‘
Amsterdams
’ as an Amsterdam-based studio. And when I bike through the city and see rows of trees being cut down, I think, oh I could use the wood for a new batch of Ninebyfours (laughs), but I also think, this is a shame.
And would you say that the city inspires you?
Yes, definitely. There are so many opportunities here, and it’s hard not to be influenced by your surroundings. We’re part of a great collective of Amsterdam-based initiatives (with
Strawberry Earth
,
Charlie + Mary
and Berry) and that’s been incredibly inspiring. But I do think that Amsterdam can be de-motivating – you often get the feeling that everything has already been done by someone else. I guess you could say I have a love-hate relationship with the city, but I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else in the Netherlands.
What are your plans for the future?
We’re going to continue our production of the Ninebyfour lamp. We’re our own worst critic, so if we think it’s a great product and we use it ourselves, then we should be on the right track. We’ve also developed a new product, a response to Ninebyfour, called
R16
. It’s a cardboard version; we used the packaging of an LED tube, cut into the two sides and created fittings. We hope to minimize the amount of waste created. As I mentioned earlier,
Goedzak
is going to run as a pilot in the east of Amsterdam this summer, so we’re looking forward to seeing where that takes us. And we’re going to keep doing a lot of things at once, because that’s how we work best.
Thanks Maarten for this interview! Check out their
website
for more information about their work and be sure to follow along on
Facebook
,
Instagram,
and
Twitter
. This article first appeared (in Dutch) in the second issue of Amsterdam &Co magazine. Our interview with Kevin Corcoran and Dimitri Mathijs of
Nieuwe
Mosterd
appeared in the first issue of the magazine. Find out more about
Amsterdam &Co
or order a copy of the
magazine
online
.
Luca Boscardin | Toy Designer
From Venice's canals to Amsterdam's IJ river,
Luca Boscardin
journeyed near and far to discover his love for a particular kind of design: toy design. Similar to the freedom in creative self expression he has experienced while living in Amsterdam, his toys encourage children to be creative and give them free rein to let their imaginations run wild. After working for numerous toy companies for four years, Luca decided to start his own toy brand,
BLUC
, to bring to life his own projects; his first is
Cavalcade
, a collection of rocking animals so simple, so classic and so very beautiful. We took the ferry up to NDSM in the north of Amsterdam to talk to Luca about his favorite toys and dreams for the future. -
Text and photos by Margot van der Krogt
Tell us about yourself.
I studied architecture in Venice for four years. When interning at an architecture studio after finishing my bachelor degree, I realized that although I loved the field, I felt I couldn’t express myself in it. I decided to do a master’s degree in graphic design. For my graduation project I designed a toy. I was able to combined elements of graphic design and illustration to build something I really liked. Then I moved to Amsterdam with my girlfriend
Valentina Raffaelli
. As a graphic designer, I felt I had to find work in graphic design so spent my first six months here at a studio. It was interesting but being there didn’t really excite me. It was there that I was introduced to the toy design
Studio ROOF
(formerly KIDSONROOF). I decided to do an internship there and realized that this, this thing I really enjoyed, could actually be a job. I never expected to be designing toys but if I think about it, I don’t think I’ve ever stopped playing. Because I have fun when I’m designing toys.
What characterizes your work?
My toys are objects that you can play with. My ‘clients’, the children, need to use their imagination to build and to create the toys as he/she wants. There are no rules. Most of my study comes from Bruno Munari and the Montessori system. According to them, we should allow children to test materials, to smell and smash them, to experiment. This is the main idea behind my toys. You have to build them, touch them and try again. Because I believe that the children have a lot of imagination. If you let them free to imagine they can create something really great. For example, in
Archiville
, which I created for Studio Roof, I give children the opportunity to build the city as they want it to look. The parts can be matched and mismatched and the children are free to build whatever they want.
Have you seen children actually interact with your work?
Yes, I organized a workshop for Archiville. Twenty children attended and each child had his or her own Archiville to play with. I told them a little history about the city and then let them create their own city. It was so great to see them play. There was one long and tall Archiville. One child was using just mountains and trees. Another was using just bridges and straight roads. I realized it really works. And it’s really the most satisfactory experience, to create something and see others using it and actually enjoying it.
How does a project like this work – do you have the freedom to create what you want?
Most of the time the studio contacts me with an idea and they are open to listen to mine. For most of my toys I have been given several restrictions, and these have helped me in my work. The restrictions with Archiville were to use cardboard and the construction of joints. I was able to choose my own subject and the illustration style and I decided to unify the size of the joints, all the same size, in order to let the children play and build as he/she wants/prefers. Several studios I work with are open to using different materials and techniques, so they just say, Luca, design a toy. And that’s even more difficult because there are too many options!
And Cavalcade is your own project.
Yes, it’s the first project that I’m developing by myself, and it’s a lot more complicated. Not only do I have to design something for the market, I have to take care of the distribution, production and certification. The idea came from children’s drawings. Their drawings are very simple, strong and yet the shapes and objects are usually universal. Everyone can understand what is depicted in a children’s drawing. So that was the idea, let’s create rocking horses, giraffes and crocodiles in a very simple way. I worked with an artisan in Italy, which was an incredible experience. We combined our crafts and decided to use just one piece of wood to create the rocking animals. Just one beam of wood, cut into different sizes and painted in different colors. Paint one yellow and add a longer piece for the neck and you have a giraffe. It was really that easy. The design, what I consider to be the fun part, is done now so now I’m looking into production processes, finding distributors, arranging certifications, taking care of promotion… There’s a lot involved. It’s an adventure, for sure.
What is it like to work in the toy design industry?
Here in Holland there is a lot of attention for design. Design is not just linked to luxury as in Italy; it is something that can make your life easier and better. In many design shops here in the Netherlands you can find an object for children; it’s like design can be used and appreciated by all ages. And the studio I’ve worked with since becoming a toy designer, Studio Roof, is one of the first toy design studios to go mainstream. And since I started working in this industry four and a half years, I’ve seen quite a change. There is more interest in the world of toys. Toys aren’t just created for fun, they can actually help to educate the world’s children. Toys aren’t seen as a very serious business but it’s actually a very important one.
And would you say the city of Amsterdam has inspired you over the years?
Valentina and I moved here because we really liked the city. During our studies we were introduced to Dutch design and were fascinated by it. At the time, we were living in Venice so moving to Amsterdam was almost like a natural step. We left Italy because it was difficult to start something after university. You’re seen as the young graduate, the young boy who doesn’t know anything about the real world, someone who should listen and not talk. Here in the Netherlands, you are seen as the one with the fresh ideas, the one who’s sharing things others maybe don’t know yet. That was so great. We also met so many creative people. The scale of the city helps with that, it’s so human. Dutch people are very flexible and easy to approach. With this approach you become more enthusiastic, and you want to try things, to experiment. I think that is the reason why there are so many creatives here, despite the fact that it’s hard to find an apartment. As soon as you are in the circle Amsterdam is like a big mama [laughs].
Do you have places you like to visit in the city?
The Stedelijk Museum is definitely my favorite museum. And the bookshop, I love the bookshop. But you don’t have to visit the museums to find out the latest trends in design. You can just visit shops in the city, like Restored on the Haarlemmerdijk, to see them (and buy them!) But I also really like the traditional Amsterdam brown cafes, a lot. The atmosphere changes throughout the day, and the people do too. I love Noordermarkt on Saturdays and Mondays; I find a lot of objects there, like this snake [picks up toy snake from a shelf]. It’s just one piece of bamboo and some iron pieces but it moves just like a snake! Oh and I really like Di Vino, Valentina and I work there some evenings.
What does an average day look like for you?
I wake up early in the morning. I love biking to the boat in the morning to get to work. The boat is fantastic. It almost feels magical, taking the boat across the IJ everyday. I usually spend my days here at the NDSM. I don’t really have a work routine, and I’m not working as a toy designer every day of the week. Usually I reserve some time at the end of the day just to draw. I sit at Noorderlicht or head to one of the brown cafes on the Zeedijk. It’s important for me to go around, to be in different environments. I find inspiration for my toys just about everywhere.
Do you have big plans for the future?
My dream is to have my own brand, to design things I believe in and to put them into the market by myself. I would love to work with a team of passionate people, people in charge of the production and the promotion, for example. But that’s a long-term dream. More short term would be to work with more artisans. I find so much inspiration working with others. I was recently in my hometown close to Venice. It’s an area famous for ceramics and clay, and we visited several artisan laboratories. While talking to one artisan, he showed me how clay is a really strong material, just as strong as the diamond. Just by talking to him, I arrived a new idea of a toy. Here are some sketches [pulls out his sketchbook]. It’s a circus with different characters, all moving in different directions, inspired by the way ceramicists work with their hands and create symmetrical objects. But there are so many different techniques to learn, to build with to create new things. Considering how many materials are out there, how many techniques are being used… There are still so many toys to be made.
Thanks Luca for this interview! Follow Luca on Instagram and Facebook , and find out more about his work on his website .
Jessica Chapman | Gathershop
Nestled between the many shops that line the busy Van Woustraat in De Pijp is the oasis of calm,
Gathershop
. Founded by multidisciplinary artist with an eye for detail, Jessica Chapman, the shop hosts a unique collection of objects including homewares, jewelry, artworks and stationary, handmade by individual and undiscovered designers and labels from near and far. A true delight and a welcomed addition to the Amsterdam maker scene. We talked to Jessica about taking the step to realizing her dream and what that meant to her. -
Text and photos by Margot van der Krogt
Tell us a little about yourself.
I’m from a tiny village between Sheffield and Manchester in the north of England. Before I left for Amsterdam I was doing an MA at Chelsea Art College in London in interior and spatial design. Having previously been at an ‘academic university’ studying architecture it was wonderful to finally be in an art school environment, people from all different disciplines came together to do the MA spatial design course, from architecture to fine art, industrial design to fashion. We were encouraged to make with our hands as much as possible, to work with materials and whatever idea you had, the technicians in the various wood, metal, ceramic and casting workshops would always help to make your ideas a reality. I think this is where my love of handmade was really cemented - although I have always been into handmade, ever since I was little. Growing up I had three giant boxes in the house nicknamed the ‘make-it-boxes’ they were full of old yoghurt pots and cereal boxes, glue, colored paper and paint; I would always have some making project on the go and a big mess surrounding me! When I was 11 I made jewelry and sold it at markets and at university, I made some extra money reworking secondhand clothes also selling them at markets - I think I somehow always wanted to be an entrepreneur.
How did the shop come to be?
I moved to Amsterdam three and half years ago for an internship. It was working for an artist who does a lot of spatial construction-type installations. I then fell in love with a Dutch boy and ended up staying. And then I worked as an interior designer for a while but felt I couldn’t settle even though, on paper, I had my dream job. I guess I have always had this project in the back of my head. I then made the decision to stop working and concentrate on trying to put together this shop. It was my dream to sell really beautiful objects, to sit in a space surrounded by beautiful things.
What did you need to do in order to get this up and running?
I first needed a small collection of things, so looked on blogs, on Pinterest and followed several makers on Instagram. When I would see something I liked, I would write to the maker and say, I want to sell your stuff! That’s how I put together a small collection and started doing markets two to three times a month. I also set up a web shop at first. People seemed to respond really well to the beautiful objects, so I slowly started writing my business plan and working out the more technical side of it all. And then eventually I found this space. We refurbished the shop in just two weeks with a budget of one thousand Euros. Part of what I want to do with the shop is to make design a little more accessible to people. You notice when you walk around the shop that things aren’t super expensive – there are a few things that you might want to save up for but the prices are quite reasonable. I wanted to do the same with the interior, to show that with limited budget, you can still make things that are very beautiful.
And how do you select the products?
It’s difficult to explain exactly how I choose something. I’ll see something and it’ll just kind of jump out at me. I’m not entirely sure what it is, but it tends to be that when I write to the maker and we end up having a nice conversation, it usually feels like there’s a good fit. With the things that they make themselves, it tends to be that I choose for the material and for the form.
How has it been going since the opening?
It has gone better than I could have ever imagined, I feel so lucky. People in the neighborhood seem really happy to have another shop on the Van Woustraat. And people seem to like the concept, they like the idea of buying handmade. They know that not everyone in Amsterdam is walking around with the same stuff since I only get things in a very small quantity. I’ve noticed that after the crisis, people are more careful with how and where they’re spending their money. I’m sure your other Makers will have had the same experience but people are happy to spend a little more on things that have a value, things that have been made with a little more love and care.
It’s not been all plain sailing of course, setting up a business is really hard work, you have no time and no money! Being at the shop 6 days a week (although I love to be here!) can at times get a little tiring and I miss doing things like just spending the day sitting in the park and spending free days with my boyfriend and my friends, but it all feels worth it, being at work doesn't really feel like working, there are always such lovely people to chat to, and for that I feel incredibly grateful! It was also at times a real challenge to set up a business not in your own language, there have been moments I have misunderstood things that have resulted in a bit of a mess, but slowly I understand more and more and Jeroen is always on hand to help out with the scary blue letters!
Do people ask a lot of questions about the products – where they’re from or how they’re made?
Yes, they do. And I try to tell a little story or give a little information about each product or the maker. This jewelry, for example, is made by a girl in Japan, Minami Sato [points to the table in from of us]. I’ve been working with her from the very beginning. In the last parcel that I got from her there was a little letter saying that she was going to visit Amsterdam in June. Now we’re finally going to meet! Now every time someone looks at the jewelry I tell the story about her, and you can kind of picture the person in your mind. I also have a little sign with each product with the person who’s made it, whether the product is handmade, fair-trade or organic, which country it’s come from and the material it’s made from. It feels really special to sell the work of designers from all over the world, Amsterdam is such an international city, I really wanted the shop to reflect that - I have jewelry from Hart + Stone and prints from A Little Talks in Canada, Herbivore Botanicals natural skincare and wall hangings from Sonadora in the USA, Tina Sosna photography from Germany, Jars Ceramics from France, and of course, some designers from closer to home, All Things by Femme prints and NITMOI leather goods from Amsterdam and Utrecht.
What was it like taking the step from a full-time job to working for yourself?
It definitely felt like it was the right moment although it was absolutely terrifying. I just had the feeling that if I don’t do it now, I’ll never know. But I think that if I had never moved to Amsterdam I would have never done it. Amsterdam is just that kind of environment – there are so many creative people doing so many creative projects. It’s really normal to say, I just quit a really good job to pursue my dreams. No one looks at you like you’re crazy. They say, oh that’s really nice! What are you doing? At the Stadskantine across the street I always see groups of four or five young people sitting around a computer and I think to myself, what are they dreaming up? You see this happening in other cities as well, but I think Amsterdam really supports people to pursue their dreams. At the same time, it was really scary. I feel very lucky that I have such supportive people around me, that after two and a half years of planning, they told me to go for it. And I did.
Do you have big plans for the future?
We’ve started doing workshops in the evenings. I think it’s very interesting to get different makers and designers to come in the evenings to teach others new skills. Outside the back of the shop there’s a little garden so I’m hoping next summer we can do something outside. And I want to continue to find new designers to work with. But for now it’s time to let it go a little bit, to let things happen. Everyday I think of something else I could do, it might be something very small but everyday something new happens. I think the shop will develop very naturally. It’ll grow with me. I really hope that when I’m 60 the shop will have grown up with me, and I’m sure I’ll sell completely different things then but I hope it’ll still be around!
Thanks Jessica for this interview! Follow
Gathershop
on
Facebook
,
Instagram
and
Pinterest
. Be sure to stop by the shop on the Van Woustraat 99 from 11am to 7pm during the week (Tuesdays open from 1pm and Thursdays open until 9pm) and Saturday from 12 to 6pm.
Guy Mozes, Dori Mozes & Lior Benador | Sir Hummus
From London's Maltby Street Market to an Amsterdam bicycle delivery service,
Sir Hummus
has been perfecting its hummus recipe along the journey it took its founders, brothers Guy and Dori Wozes and Lior Benador, to finally reach a permanent residence in De Pijp. We spoke to the three of them about their journey and what it is that makes their hummus such a stand-alone dish. -
Interview and photos by Hannah Fuellenkemper
How did the hummus thing start?
Guy: I used to work with big consultancy company but found myself wondering whether this was ‘it’. So I started applying to smaller companies and it was whilst I was writing cover letters that I suddenly thought, why should I write these to someone else, why not just start up my own thing? I’ve always been obsessed with food so that was the obvious place to start, even though I’ve never had the balls to be a chef. I started playing with the idea and then one of my flatmates told me about this great market – Maltby Street Market – which had really only just started happening at the time. Vendors were starting to leave Borough Market because it was getting political and Maltby was the next thing. We managed to get a table there and it just happened. We [Lior and I] filled a spot and one thing led to the next, although nowadays that would never happen. You’d never get in. When we started it was middle of winter and I was working five days as a consultant and then making hummus in the evenings.
Wow, what was it like working at a market?
Guy: It took a good six months for people to start loving what we were doing and all the time we were tailoring what we had on offer to what people were buying.
Lior: It was great though; we had every opportunity to improve our recipe, just by giving it to people to taste and watching their faces.
Guy: It was also really valuable to have all the traders around us. Maltby was really the most ground breaking food scene in London at the time. We could watch what those around us were doing and learn from each other and create stuff. That’s something I don’t really see here. There it was amazing. And after about a year, and Loir had almost finished school, we made the decision to do this full time. We knew we couldn’t stay at the market. It was just too variable. Plus we’re from Middle East so we have to be warm. I have immense respect for traders: our first day was in the snow.
And why hummus exactly?
Guy: My university buddies always joked I should open a hummus place and I was like guys, I have a career. But then we remembered this when we started thinking about what we should do. Initially we thought we’d make salads – something fresh, ready-made to reach into the fridge for when you’re hungry. But when we thought about the logistics and timing, hummus was really one of the only things we could do. So we started off just making little pots to take home and then progressed to plates of food.
How did you make the transition to full time?
Guy: Lior and I had studied in the Netherlands before we’d moved to London and when we moved, we felt we’d lost out on quality of life. Simple things like cycling to work and having good drinking water – those were just gone. Plus we knew there wasn’t anything to do with hummus here whereas hummus bars already existed in New York and Berlin etc. So we thought ok, we’re going to move back. That was about 1.5 years ago and brings the rest of people into picture... What I’d learned from working at the market was that one can’t succeed alone. So I asked my brother to be my partner.
Dori: I was studying at Tel Aviv University but had always been a part of it all from day one in a way. But then Guy and Lior quit their jobs and were talking about moving countries and I thought well, why not? I could start my life here and own my own business rather than go down usual route.
So you’re all in Amsterdam by now. Then what?
Dori: We spent a lot a lot of time looking for a place. We weren’t ready to compromise and saw over 70 places over 7 months. We were on our bikes every day, checking the Internet, spreading the word. People thought we were crazy.
Lior: People did think we were crazy but we also hear a lot from people that they would have liked to do something like this. They say, oh, I also had a dream to open a hummus place. It’ s a fantasy for people to do something of their own and we’re the ones who did it.
Guy: And people thought we were especially crazy because we were ‘just’ making hummus. But we still didn’t have a place after 4 months and so we decided we had to do something. So we set up a delivery service.
A bicycle delivery service for hummus? That’s very Amsterdam!
Dori: Yes. We wanted to meet people face to face in order to get the word out. So whilst we were looking for a place, we’d come home, make hummus, take our bikes out to deliver and meet the people. During that time we came up with a name, a story. People came to really appreciate what we were doing.
Lior: A lot of the people who we delivered to are still our best customers.
Guy: Yeah, they pushed us to where we are today. They admire us for doing it and they love our hummus.
When did you find this place?
Lior: One of our clients was a café (Sugar and Spice on the Zeedijk) and it turned out there was an opportunity to do a pop-up there. They were closed on Mondays so we could use the space, which was really cool. Once again, we could experiment and see people reacted to what they were eating and see how a place could work. So we did that every Monday during the summer until we found this place. We found this in September 2014.
Guy: The place was totally empty so we had to do everything, but we got nothing but love from everyone. We’d met so many people during our first year and they encouraged us. We found incredible people to work with and they still help us. Our contractor just brought us this table today [pointing]. He found the sewing machine legs on the street and put a top on it. Actually everything in here was either made for here or found on the street. The Dutch throw all kinds of great stuff away.
That’s really great that you’ve had so much support from the neighbourhood.
Lior: So great. And so much support. For instance, during the renovation, we thought, ok, we have a network, maybe they can help us by donating stuff they don’t need – plates, cups, tables etc. So we invited people to bring anything they could.
Guy: Yea, a sort of crowd sourcing for inventory.
Lior: And this way they’re also kind of part of the place. It’s theirs, too. We’re really local. We didn’t announce anywhere that we were opening, just took the paper off the windows. It was the neighbours that were the first to come.
Guy: The corner wasn’t looking too great before, and people are really happy we made something of it.
What are your thoughts on Amsterdam as a city?
Guy: There’s so much to do here, we’re sorry we don’t have time to do more. Especially in food: the people that do food here normally aim high. The lower end, as in good food at good value like what you can get so much of in Berlin, doesn’t really exist.
Lior: We‘ve lived in a lot of places and I know that this is where I want to live for good. Sure, there’s bad weather but there’re so many good things. The lifestyle is great, it’s really relaxed.
Guy: When we came back, we made a conscious decision to learn Dutch. To be a part of it all and that really helps. It’s important to understand what’s going on around you. So now we always say there’re only two problems with Amsterdam: the weather, and the lack of hummus, but we’re sorting out the latter.
Can you tell me about the hummus you make?
Guy: We have one hummus, made of only five ingredients. The rest is part chemistry, part art. And playing with it and experimenting. There’s no one-way to make it. What I’ve learned though, is if you want good hummus, you can’t cut corners. That means using really quality ingredients. For instance we import our tahini, which is 100% sesame. The seeds are toasted and ground through rocks. The cold process makes it mellow – less bitter. You can either eat it plain or with one of two toppings. The first is with a magic egg, which is an egg that’s been cooked for 10 hours to give it its creamy, almost buttery yolk. The second is with slow cooked beef - that’s our twist because the European mind thinks that if there’s no meat, it’s not a meal despite hummus being all protein.
And hummus’ story?
Guy: We’re from Jerusalem but our hummus isn’t. I’ve lived most of my life outside of Jerusalem and made my first hummus in the states where I was living at the time. Everyone in the Levant has their own version of and it’s a food memory that I have from childhood. Traditionally people in Middle East have it for breakfast, warm. It’s full of protein and breaks down really slow in your body so it keeps you going during the day. It’s a working mans’ food. In Israel it’s more of a brunch lunch thing. In Jordan it’s 8 a.m. kind of thing. They just make one pot and when it’s done, it’s done. We do that too. We open at 12 and at 7pm if it’s gone, that’s it.
Thanks Guy, Dori and Lior for this interview! Stop by
Sir Hummus
at Van der Helstplein 2 in De Pijp, open Tuesday to Friday from 12 to 7pm and Saturday and Sunday until 5pm, and be sure to follow them on
Facebook
.
Sam Dirksz | Meesterknecht
Hidden amongst the old antique shops on the Kerkstraat in Amsterdam's Spiegelkwartier is the bicycle shop/cycling cafe
Meesterknecht
. Founded by cycling enthusiast and serial entrepreneur Sam Dirksz (formerly fixed-gear shop Pristine), Meesterknecht celebrates Amsterdam's rich cycling history whilst providing a space for contemporary cycling to thrive. Coffees are prepared with the shop's exclusive espresso blend 'Gangmaker' (the word for a a derny rider, or one that creates a slipstream for the cyclists following it) while the finest selection of road bikes, cycling clothing and accessories adorn the walls. By showcasing the best of what cycling has to offer in The City of Bikes, Sam and his team hope to inspire Amsterdammers to regard cycling as more than a vehicle for their daily commute. We talked to Sam over a frothy cappuccino about his journey and his future.
- Interview and photos by Margot van der Krogt
Tell us about yourself.
My name is Sam, and I guess you could say that I have a very broad background. I first worked as an electro technician. Then I transitioned into social work whilst studying psychology for a year. After that I moved to Amsterdam because the masters programs were better here. After returning from my travels in Mongolia the crisis hit which meant I had to do something else. Six months later I started Pristine Fixed Gear, my former bicycle shop. That was five years ago. Now it’s Meesterkneecht.
Why the interest in bicycles?
Cycling is an every day thing here in Amsterdam. Before Pristine, I never stopped to think about how practical cycling is, how sustainable and environmentally friendly and how Dutch it actually is. It all started with my former business partner who had a fixed gear bicycle, a really nice and simple bicycle. It appealed to me, but I never thought I would start a business with it. It’s still true that although the bicycle is very established here in the Netherlands – it’s a vehicle to get us from point A to point B – people are becoming increasingly aware that it can be more than just that. It’s also become a hobby of mine, and I believe that as an entrepreneur, you want to make a business of your passion.
The bicycle culture definitely has changed in the past few years.
Internationally it’s definitely growing, like in Asian countries and in the US. People are more and more enthusiastic about it and becoming more aware of the health aspects, also in the Netherlands. If you look at what we had done over the past five years with Pristine, we definitely see that the passion that’s always been there is growing. We were able to attract a group of people in their mid 20s and 30s who were so enthusiastic about the fixed gear bicycle that they started to approach bicycles in a more general sense. So you have the bicycle that takes you from point A to point B and then you have your training or racing bicycle.
I think it's interesting to look cycling’s history here in the city. After the Second World War, for example, people were seeking a new form of entertainment to express the new freedom they were feeling. There were several velodromes in Amsterdam (there’s only one now) and races were held in the city center. It was a kind of glorious time that we’ve forgotten; it’s a past that we as Meesterknecht want to look back on and relive in a new way. We’re embracing a passion, a craft that has made a comeback.
Tell us more about Meesterknecht. It’s much more than just a bicycle shop, right?
It’s an extension of what we started at Pristine: we had a bicycle shop downstairs and a lunchroom upstairs. We were inspired by cities where the passion for cycling was quite established, cities like Berlin and New York. When we started Pristine, people didn’t quite get the concept. But actually, coffee and roadies go together well and Meesterknecht is aplace where that comes together. It’s a place where people can meet up before heading out on a ride or discuss and plan their next one. It’s a place where people can get their bicycles fixed. And it’s a place where tourists can experience Amsterdam’s bicycle culture – they have to be careful not to get hit by a bicycle when crossing the road but there aren’t many places where you can get a feel for the culture, for its history.
You could say the coffee is the first step in the door.
I guess so. So many people don’t know how much you can actually do with a bicycle. Most people, if they need a new bicycle, go to Halfords and buy one for 150 Euros. That’s fine but after a year it will fall apart. Even though we know what a bicycle is (two wheels, a steering wheel and a seat), there’s much more to it. I think it’s important to highlight the longevity of a bicycle – spend a little more and devote a little more of your time on it because then it’ll last longer. It’s that simple. We’re trying to make people aware of that.
You’ve only been open for a few months. What have the responses like been so far?
The responses have only been very positive until now which makes me want to hear some kind of criticism so we can continue to improve (laughs). A lot of people really like what we’ve done with the place while others ask, “Wait, is this a café or a bicycle shop?” Our former Pristine clients really get what we’re doing and our new clients are happy we’ve created something they missed before. I’m happy we can fill that gap in this way.
Do you think the city of Amsterdam fosters ‘making’ or a ‘maker culture’?
I think ‘maker’ is something that comes from within you. You don’t do it because it’s a trend, but because the spark derives from the product or service you want to provide. That’s also what defines success. When you have a passion for something and that’s tied to the drive you have for that, it ensures that in times of doubt or crisis you keep going. The ‘maker’, the ‘entrepreneur’ then defines who you are.
Do you have favorite places in Amsterdam to highlight?
There are so many things I still have to discover. I’ve never been to the Anne Frank House, for instance, and I’ve lived here for six or seven years. I’m talking about history and heritage and I’ve never even been there! That’s an unfortunate thing about being an entrepreneur, you don’t have much free time. But I’m exploring the area around the Spiegelstraat because it’s close to the shop. Amsterdam is a small city but if you look at all that it has to offer, it’s actually pretty big. And I moved to Noord a little while ago and I’m really enjoying it there. I’m kind of tempted to start something there just because I know it’ll be ‘the place to be’ in five years.
What are your plans for the future?
There’s a lot I still want to do in my life (laughs). But regarding Meesterknecht, my ambitions are to become an established bicycle shop in Amsterdam. There are a few large players that have been here for a while and if you look at the concentration of the amount of people living in Amsterdam and the amount of (professional) bicycle shops, it’s quite limited. We want to make sure that people know to find us, and that when someone says ‘Meesterknecht’ you think of the pleasant atmosphere, the quality of the products we sell, and the delicious coffee we serve. There’s still a lot to do to get Meesterknecht to where we want it to be. But first, make sure the wheels are turning for the summer season. We’re looking forward to it!
Thanks Sam for this interview! You'll find
Meesterknecht
at Kerkstraat 168. Be sure to stop by during the week, open Tuesday to Friday from 10am to 7pm and Saturday and Sunday from 9.30am to 5pm. Follow along on
Facebook
,
Instagram
and
Twitter
.
Charlotte van Waes & Marieke Vinck | Charlie + Mary
In the middle of de Pijp, you'll find concept store
Charlie + Mary
, a great mix of international labels and local makers with a focus on sustainable fashion. The Amsterdam power duo behind Charlie + Mary is Charlotte van Waes and Marieke Vinck. Since 2009, they have taken Amsterdam by storm, setting up an
agency
that represents some of the fashion industry's most innovative and surprising ethical labels. Last year, they also launched the side project
Harry
, connecting the universally recognizable and important theme ‘Happiness’ with sustainable living. We talked to Charlotte and Marieke on a stormy winter day to find out more about their passion for sustainable fashion and their plans for the future. -
Interview and photos by Margot van der Krogt
Tell us about yourself.
Charlotte: I studied fashion management at the AMFI and then went on to work at Oilili in product development. I then started studying Culture, Organization and Management at the VU before starting up Charlie + Mary with Marieke.
Marieke: I also studied at AMFI and that's where we met. We got to know each other during an internship in Australia. When I returned to the Netherlands, I studied Policy, Communication and Organization at the VU. The course was very much focused on conducting business in a socially responsible way, which I thought should go hand in hand with fashion. I’d also been involved in product development for fashion accessories for a few years.
When did you know you wanted to start something together?
Charlotte: In Australia! Our internship was with a woman who had a few stores in Sydney. We saw these great things happening and had the chance to visit interesting concept stores in the city. At the time we were more involved in ‘true’ fashion. We knew we wanted something for ourselves, but weren’t sure what until we realized some of the interesting things we saw happening in other countries weren’t happening in the Netherlands yet. So we jumped at our chance.
Marieke: We were living in Paddington, a really great area in Sydney. You had all these really inspiring and innovative concept stores that we didn’t have in Amsterdam and we knew we wanted something like that for ourselves. Now they may be popping up all over the place, but a few years ago it was hard to find them. But it really wasn’t until we decided to do something with sustainable fashion that we finally had a goal. We had a concept, something we completely supported.
What happened next?
Charlotte: It took a while. Even though we’d first had the idea during our internships, we continued studying and working. Over the years, the idea kept popping back up and at some point it became really obvious that we wanted to do something together. So we started by writing a business plan and Marieke took a business course over the summer. That took us a while but as soon as we found a store space, we were open within two months. That was September 2009.
How’s it going?
Marieke: It’s been quite a rollercoaster. We started with the
concept store
in de Pijp on de Gerard Doustraat, which was very different to how it is now. It was quite a challenge to establish ourselves there but people were really supportive of the concept and kind of happy that we opened our doors. Quite soon after, we became an
agency
. That just kind of happened because we were working with a few brands that weren’t available in the Netherlands or were just starting out. They wanted to expand their reach, and more and more stores in the Benelux area were looking for sustainable fashion brands. Now, we also do other projects like our own label Harry, which we launched in April 2014. We’re very focused on true fashion and Harry widens that by pairing sustainability with happiness.
Are people becoming more conscious of what they’re wearing as compared to a few years ago?
Charlotte: Yes, definitely. We’ve noticed this happening within the context of the store, with our customers, but also with the agency. There are several shops that only sell products from sustainable fashion brands, but we’ve also noticed that more and more retailers, who previously weren’t too concerned with sustainable fashion, are realizing that their customers are asking for it and are taking the steps to find out more about it for themselves. The consumer is definitely becoming more conscious. It is also more present, new brands are popping up and there’s greater diversity in them.
Marieke: Luckily, yes! Which makes it easier now. Five years ago you really had to search for great sustainable fashion pieces and now it’s quite easy. You can dress from head to toe in honestly produced (and fashionable!) clothing. That’s quite unique.
Is that an international trend?
Marieke: Amsterdam is quite a strong community in that sense, with Strawberry Earth and quite a few shops that sells sustainable clothing. For a while, however, we were lagging behind other international cities. London used to have quite a few great shops, and some have survived, but many haven’t because of its high street culture. So I think Amsterdam has definitely taken strides in the right direction. It’s also a small city so things can move quite quickly once they start.
And the brands you work with are primarily international?
Charlotte: It’s very diverse actually. We work with the Dutch brand
Studio Jux
but also with
People Tree
from London and
L’Herbe Rouge
from Paris. We’ve also worked with brands from Germany and Scandinavia and the US, like
Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps
that date back to 1948 and are now made by the fourth and five generations of the Bronner family.
Do you have favorite places in Amsterdam?
Charlotte & Marieke: We really like working at the
Volkshotel
.
Olive & Cookie
is also a great place with delicious food, and of course there’s de Pijp; there’s so much happening here, it’s enough to just go for a walk through it.
And what are your plans for the future?
Marieke & Charlotte: We have so many! We would love to open a few more shops in other cities, like London and Berlin. And we want to further our own fashion line. The agency is continuing to grow, too. We have built up a solid team of colleagues who give us so much energy, which already makes us so happy – just think what it would be like to expand more on that!
Thanks Marieke and Charlotte for this interview! Visit the
concept store Charlie + Mary
at Gerard Doustraat 84 on Mondays from 1 to 6pm, Tuesdays to Fridays from 10am to 6pm, Saturdays from 11am to 6pm and Sundays from 1pm to 5pm. Find out more about the agency here, and Harry here. And be sure to follow their adventures on
Facebook
,
Instagram
,
Pinterest
and
Twitter
.
Florian Hessel & Onno van Zanten | Stooker Roasting Co.
We spoke to Florian Hessel from
Stooker Roasting Co.
, a – yup, you guessed it – new coffee roastery set up by him and
Onno van Zanten
that officially opened its doors last Saturday. Florian explains Stooker’s slightly different door policy and what the two have set out to do.
-
Interview and photos by Hannah Fuellenkemper
What are we drinking at the moment?
This is a bean from Rwanda and what’s so interesting about this one is that, characteristically speaking, we could expect a bean from Rwanda to have heavy, black fruit notes. But this is much more like something you could expect from the Yirgacheffe region in Ethiopia – a little like Earl Grey. Very well balanced, no bitters. No real spice. Basically, different countries have different flavor characteristics. What exactly that is depends on a lot – soil, climate, farmer, altitude, plant species, methods of the farmer… but generally, you can say a country tends to have certain taste trait. Kenya is full body, a sort of blue berry flavor. Sometimes it can even hint of tomato soup…
So you guys are sort of like the wine guys of coffee saying things like ‘tomato soup’.
[Laughs] That’s awful, isn’t it? Ok, so Kenya has a more savory flavor compared to say, Ethiopia, which is subtler. Flowery. Maybe not more fruity, but a different sort of fruity. And wait until it gets a little cooler – you’ll find it gets sweeter.
Are you ‘meant’ to drink this cooler?
No, it’s a preference thing. And that’s what Stooker’s about: we’re looking to show off all the different flavors in one bean, we want to show people that there are differences. We’re not saying this is how it should taste, or this is the best, but encouraging people to try for themselves and find their own preference. We’re roasting really balanced flavors. And in terms of temperature, we brew our filter coffee at 93 degrees; the warmer the water you use, the more you extract. If it’s a well-roasted bean – you’re going to want to extract all that flavor. But you might want to drink it a little cooler because that will let you experience more sweetness in the cup.
Then I guess now’s a good time to tell me more about Stooker. You and Onno worked at Lot Sixty One before this. What’s happened since then?
Yes but we’d met before that whilst working at Espressofabriek. I was still studying and working as a barista on the side, and at one point the idea started forming that we could do something on our own. So when Adam offered me the spot of Head Barista at Lot Sixty One, I jumped at the chance to learn more. It was the start of his venture and he gave me a lot of freedom to experiment so I could figure out what it was I wanted and liked best. I’d told him from the start that, ultimately, we wanted to do something on our own and he was really cool about it, offering to help us out when the time came. But before that, it was time for Adam to find someone to do the roasting and I was like, well, I know a guy… So Onno joined Lot Sixty One too and we stayed for about a year before the opportunity arose for us to do our own thing. It was a really useful period where we got to meet importers and form ideas.
But Stooker’s not just a coffee bar, right?
No. We’d thought about opening a bar with a roastery but then our focus shifted naturally to the roasting part. We’d both started with coffee because we thought it was a beautiful product, and yet one that people know so little about. We wanted to show people the differences, so we decided to concentrate on training and making sure places serve good quality coffee. There’re enough fancy coffee bars in Amsterdam, and they’re of such a high quality, but you don’t see the same progression in restaurants/lunch places, which means the difference in quality between the stuff they serve and that available at a coffee bar is increasing. There’s no need for that. Coffee’s generally the last thing you taste at a restaurant and you don’t want to end on a low note. I hear that a lot. Lunch places know coffee has to be good, but it’s more of a challenge for restaurants. Our goal is for both to serve really good coffee.
So Stooker’s a…
A workshop. It’s a roastery on this side where we roast and pack. We make 10 kg of each coffee we roast, which we do according to order. Behind me is where we store the beans and this, [pointing] is our training area. Training’s crazy important to us. We can roast the hell out of a bean, but that’s a waste if the next person doesn’t know how to use it. So we offer a training place 7 days a week. We train our client’s baristas and we’re going to start something really cool in the next couple of weeks…
…And you just opened!
That happened on
Saturday March 21st
. Soon, we’re going to start up Stooker Academy. There’s an organization, the SCAE (Speciality Coffee Association of Europe) that does a wonderful job promoting quality in coffee through its training programs. They’ve started a coffee diploma system and I think only about 250 people in the world have one, so it says a lot if you do. We’re certified to offer training and when you complete a module, you’ll get a certificate that you can take anywhere. It’s really cool to see that entrepreneurs in coffee are taking this seriously. There’s a real demand.
Where do you source your coffee?
We go through some really great importers. It’s difficult to have a direct relationship with a farmer. We’d love to, and we think we can grow towards that, but for now, we’ve got our importers. And there are some pretty cool ones popping up. For example there’s Lennart Clerkx who started This Side Up (he imported what we’re drinking at the moment). Leonard’s focus is on Rwanda. Proper importers like him search for the best coffee, forge good relationships with the farmer and sometimes help them invest in new machines, which, in turn, means they can make better quality coffee and eventually ask for more money for it because the importer can ask for more. That’s the kind of importers we’re happy to work with.
It’s crazy, the prices you pay for bad coffee.
Totally. And we want a part of our concept to be about making everything more transparent. I’ve seen this diagram for chocolate that shows where all the proceeds go. What the customer pays, who’s involved, who gets what. Making something like that for coffee would be an amazing project for us. We need to gather the right information over a significant time-span to do that and because we’ve just started, we can’t do it yet, but in a couple years: that would be really cool. It’s not just the farmer who needs a decent amount of money. There’s also the importer and the coffee cherry pickers, for example.
Tell me about the coffee you sell here.
Coffee is a seasonal product and you have to factor in that different origins have different seasons too. We buy quarterly because we don’t want to keep green beans too long and then you never know what’s not available any more. So we number our coffees, with each number signifying a taste range. Our 1 is a blend, really balanced, quite smooth. And let’s say you buy a couple bags and you’ve found your taste. You come back in a coupe months and, because the crop is different, we don’t have that one anymore. But we’ll always have something in the same number range. Onno roasts all coffee here too. It’s amazing to see him roast, develop his roasting profiles and do quality checks. At Stooker it’s all about quality, our collection of coffee literature is getting out of control lately, haha.
And now you're open on Saturdays?
Basically, we’re B2B but we also like the people who drink our coffee. We have a webshop but realize that if you live in Amsterdam, you’re not going to buy online. So once a week we’ll be open 12.00-17.00 for people to stop by for a chat, maybe do a workshop, try our coffees, do a cupping…
Stop by the roastery on Kastanjeplein 2 on Saturdays from12.00-17.00 to check out their new spot. If you miss the opening, don’t worry. Stooker will be open for you to visit each Saturday. You can also keep an eye to what they’re doing on
Twitter
,
Instagram
and
Facebook
.
Tim Boelaars | Graphic Designer & Illustrator
The Netherlands, although small in size, is known for its design history, and today, the country still counts many talented artists, illustrators and graphic designers. Amsterdam-based
Tim Boelaars
is one of them. The independent graphic designer, illustrator and cofounder of
Concrete Matter
, specializes in icon, identity, logo, and packaging design, and has worked for a whole host of international clients including
The New York Times Magazine
, AirBnB, Ray-Ban,
Wired
, CreativeMornings and more. We visited his studio in the west of Amsterdam, a quiet space just off the busy De Clerqstraat. We talked about his work and plans for the future while drawn to 'cabinets of curiosities' that adorned the room, packed with enough to spark interest and please the eye.
Tell us about yourself.
I grew up in Santpoort-Zuid, where I lived until I was around 16 before moving to Haarlem and finally, Amsterdam where I’ve lived for about 6 years. I guess everything started with my interest in illustration – something I developed quite young. It kind of happened in waves: I would be obsessed with drawing for a while and then my interest would fade away momentarily. My grandfather used to paint and draw as a hobby, and every Wednesday afternoon, he would sit me down to teach me how to draw, sketch and paint. This was all of course, nothing too serious, but something I loved doing and encouraged me to keep at it. In high school I got involved in graffiti; my notebooks looked like black books, and I would secretly draw on walls (laughs).
When did you start to focus on design?
I studied interactive media at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (HvA), and focused more on concept and user-experience. That’s where I developed an interest for web design and started an internship at Bravoure, a web design company in Amsterdam. After a year, I started working there part-time, whilst I reached out to others and looked for design jobs on Marktplaats (the Dutch Craigslist). I was 19 at the time, and decided I wanted to do as much work as possible. I didn’t have any clients and was hungry to get better. It paid nearly nothing, and was often doing work for free – but it got me excited about design – which I think mattered most. Once I got more involved in design, I noticed progress in the work I was doing and jobs I got asked for. This progress and never being entirely satisfied with the work I’m creating, has kept me passionate about design. All this time later, I’m doing what I enjoy and am fortunate enough to work on it full-time.
How did it start getting serious?
In the beginning, I used Dribbble quite often – where I was lucky enough to get in at the very beginning. I’m not sure, but this must’ve been at least two or three years ago. I posted scraps and illustrations about once a week. I think this is where I picked up a few more serious jobs. I remember my first so to speak ‘big client’ was Wired UK. When they reached out to me and, I was really surprised and excited. They told me they had found me on Dribbble.
Would you say you have a specific style?
I’m unsure. A lot of people say I do, but I do feel I’ve grown into this ‘style’ quite instinctively. I tend to work a lot with geometric shapes and on a grid. Because of this, I think my work is quite simple and often somewhat symmetric. I like the idea of focusing on the absolute most basic shapes. I like the challenge of constraining myself and finally have some kind of constraint always. My sketches are often super rough, sometimes even non-existent. I wish I could tell you differently, but my roughs are rather ugly and very premature. These are often just to get some ideas on paper. Oftentimes I dive straight into illustrator to get my lines straight. I like the idea of sketching on paper, but in all honesty, it doesn’t always happen. Sometimes I sketch directly in Adobe Illustrator and work my way forward.
Can you tell us more about the shop, Concrete Matter?
Together with Tomas Huveneers and Jacob Garvelink, I co-founded Concrete Matter. Before Concrete Matter, I was working with Tomas setting up a design studio. He’d studied at the IVA, a business school in Driebergen, and wanted to do something creative so we set out to work together. After a while, we realized that we found it difficult to set up an entirely new brand/studio. I also always enjoyed the flexibility of being a freelancer and started having doubts about the commitment of setting up a studio. When Jacob came up to us, he told us about his plans to start an online store asked wanted us to develop its visual identity.
What happened next?
We were all very excited about it and decided to join forces to set up an online store together. After running the web shop for more than a year and a half, we realized that presenting the products online wasn’t doing them enough justice. We had dreams of opening a store-front in the city and when we were handed the unique opportunity to transform an old video rental shop on the Haarlemmerdijk into a new space for Concrete Matter, we went for it. For six intense weeks we completely renovated the place, and opened our doors back in August 2013. Until last December I was still involved with the branding, photography and marketing. I recently made the decision to completely focus on my own work again - as the store was demanding too much of my time. Therefore, I had no other choice than to quit my activities for the store entirely. I had thought about it for while, but decided my own work was too important to me. I told Jacob and Tomas and they responded very well. I’m very proud of what we achieved and am happy to still be involved in decisions and drop by for a visit every now and again.
You work for many international clients. Have you ever had the desire to move abroad?
I’ve actually talked about this a lot with my girlfriend and also with friends from the US. For instance, I’d considered San Francisco for a while. I lived there for a 4 months in 2007 and fell in love with the city. When I went back in 2013, I was amazed by how much the city had changed. Don’t get me wrong, I still loved it, but I did feel it had lost a good deal of its authenticity due to all the gentri>ication. It might just be that I didn’t notice it before, or because I was a bit more naive when I was younger. The noticeable difference between rich and poor, put me off somehow. I’ve also thought about New York, but I every time I visit, I’m not sure if I’m cut out to live in a city that big, rushed and overwhelming. I grew up in the forest and think I therefore love nature and sometimes need a bit of peace and quiet; somewhat hard to find in New York. And it’s an incredibly busy city. Berlin appeals to me too most, and I fantasize about living there from time to time. But then again, it’s super close and I really like Amsterdam. Maybe I’m just not adventurous enough. I also really value that I’ve got my family, friends, work and home here. And I’m not sure why I would trade that in right now.
Do you have favorite places in the city?
I like to find the city’s hidden gems. In the Jordaan, there is an Italian place called Basilico, run by four grumpy Italian women. It’s brilliant. At lunch you can get a big and delicious pasta dish served on a plastic plate, for just 13 Euros. I really like that, it’s so authentic and not at all ‘hip’. I also like Hugo’s on Hugo de Grootplein, which seems to be influenced by New York bars. They serve great food and cocktails. Another favourite restaurant of mine is, Hotel de Goudfazant. The space itself is gorgeous and the food is delicious.
What are your plans for the future?
My absolute, far-into-the-future dream is to brand and own beautiful little bar or restaurant in Amsterdam. I’d need a great manager to run the show, so I wouldn’t have to be there every night, but I think it would fantastic to set something up like that. On a shorter term, I would love to design the visual identity of a beer or whiskey brand. Logo, packaging – the whole lot, but I think that’s the cliche dream of many male designers!
Liset Burrie & Jørgen Wilbers | ROOTS
Along the Amstelveenseweg in Amsterdam Oud Zuid, just a short walk from the Vondelpark, you'll find
ROOTS
, an inviting, beautifully decorated, foodie haven for both the curious and the health enthusiasts. Fueled by a passion to share their interest in food and healthy living, Liset Burrie and Jørgen Wilbers opened ROOTS in just a few months and now serve cold pressed juices and organic and seasonal meals, with a side of healthy living advice if you're interested. "Vitality to go" they call it and it couldn't be more true. We stopped by on a cold winter morning and talked about this adventure and their plans for the future while sipping steaming cups of fresh ginger tea.
Can you tell us about yourselves?
Liset: I worked behind the scenes as a production manager for a few years, but wanted to do something else. I’d had an interest in food for a while, and being gluten intolerant had drastically changed my eating patterns. But adapting what I ate also meant I had much more energy and so about a year ago, I remember telling Jørgen: I’m actually really interested in food; maybe I should do a course in food coaching? So I did.
Jørgen: I spent the last few years in the Marine Corps - I traveled all over and had been in Aruba for a while before coming back to the Netherlands. I was really fit and enjoyed keeping in shape, which led to an interest in the food I ate. It was when I came back from Aruba that I met Liset. In my last year at the Marine Corps there wasn’t much more for me to do; I knew that my time was up; that I’d done everything I wanted. I was up for something new and thought it a logical step to get into fitness and sport since Liset was working with food.
So how did ROOTS come to be?
Jørgen: Last June we were sitting at the dining table and I asked her, “What are you going to do when you’ve finished your course? What do you want to do?” Then one day we went on a long walk and passed by this storefront that was for rent. It had been a daycare center and we thought, wow, what a great space, imagine if we opened something here. We knew we had to do something about it. Two days later Liset called me at work. I was cleaning weapons actually, and she asked whether I could take the day off tomorrow – that we could check out the place. So I did, and from there, there was no turning back.
Liset: We wanted to create a place where people would like to come for delicious healthy food and drinks, and eventually we’d work in the dietary and fitness advice, something we believe people would really benefit from to help live healthy lives.
Was it a long process before you were able to open up shop?
Jørgen: After we saw the place we knew we wanted it. But there were five other initiatives that wanted to start something there too, so we were asked to present a plan, a one-pager, on what we wanted to achieve. We won them over! We were so excited and then it dawned on us: Fuck. Now what?
Liset: We didn’t have funding or a business plan but a friend helped us to put a plan together in a week. At the time there were a few juice bars in The Netherlands, but none of them did cold press juices so we couldn’t ask anyone for advice. Plus Jørgen was still at work; his contract would only end in July 2015. Luckily, he was able to get out his contract, which is pretty rare. So we came up with the idea in June and got the keys on the 1st of August. In about six weeks, we had to figure out the interior, work out deliveries and suppliers, what we were going to do with packaging, etc.
Jørgen: We had to be incredibly creative. While Liset was organizing everything, I was here in the shop fixing it up. We made everything ourselves and looked at Pinterest mood boards to get an idea of what we wanted it to look like. It had been completely stripped so we were able to do whatever we wanted with the space. By September 16th we had to open shop because our money was running out... So we just did it, we opened! And from that moment it’s just been nonstop.
Can you tell us about the different products you sell?
Liset: Our dishes are our own recipes but inspired by cookbooks, other people/chefs and other research. Everything is healthy. So if we’re serving our own version of stamppotje for instance, we use sweet potatoes instead of regular potatoes to cut back on carbohydrates. We serve cold press juices, which are pressed cold and very slowly with a slow juice machine. Most people know about juice presses, but what they don’t know is because the press spins so quickly (about 12,000-20,000 knots per minute), the juice is heated and the enzymes are killed. The slow juicer turns at 60 knots per minute, so the enzymes stay alive and the juice can be kept for 72 hours. The pulp in cold press juices is so liquefied, almost like water, that your body can absorb it in 15 minutes.
What have the responses been so far?
Liset: Fantastic, everyone is so enthusiastic. People are so happy that we’re here, also in this neighborhood, that we’ve started this. We have new clients everyday who tell us how much they like the different things they’re tasted, from the juices to the salads. It’s overwhelming sometimes.
It helps that people are becoming more conscious of what they’re eating.
Liset: Yea it’s definitely something that’s catching on in the Netherlands, especially in Amsterdam. We’re in a great neighborhood, which also helps. I don’t think we could have started something like this in Utrecht. People are starting to catch on though. And we’re more than happy to provide them with more information. A girl came in here recently and told us she wanted to changer her eating habits, but wasn’t sure what she should change. I really enjoy that part of it, helping educate people about making better choices. It's not just about selling things, our goal is to educate people.
Jørgen: A guy came up to me yesterday and was talking about this all being a trend, but that we were really making the most of. But I don’t think it’s as much a trend as it is a change in the way we think about food.
What are your plans for the future?
Liset: It’s funny, even after the first week we were open, people asked when we were going to open a second shop. I think it’s important to establish this place as best we can, so we have a good basis from which to expand. We didn’t develop this concept to make it into a chain, but if the opportunity were to arise, we’ll definitely think about it. We’re also in a relationship together, work 7 days (around 80 hours) a week. We have to be realistic. Another store means more stress, more work. If you have one store that’s going really well, you can also say, we’re going to work here a few days a week, take a few days off, have a family! Have some free time!
Jørgen: We would like to grow, maybe one more to two, three or even ten, as long as the service remains at a personal level. And not factory-style. Then it’s not fun anymore. And we would like to work in the advice, physical and dietary, so stay tuned!
Thanks Liset and Jørgen for sharing your story!
ROOTS
, located on the Amstelveenseweg 164, is open from Monday to Friday from 7.30 to 20.00 and Saturday from 9.30 to 18.00. Be sure to follow the couple of
Facebook
,
Instagram
and
Twitter
.
Text and photography by
Margot van der Krogt
Edited by
Hannah Fuellenkemper
Kevin Corcoran & Dimitri Mathijs | Nieuwe Mosterd
Sometimes you taste something and it's really as good as people say it is. That's the case with the
Nieuwe Mosterd
, founded by food enthusiasts Kevin Corcoran and Dimitri Mathijs. After discovering a recipe for mustard in a cookbook and trying it out for himself, Kevin was hooked. With the help of childhood friend Dimitri, the duo now whips up jars and jars of mustard using just a few wholesome ingredients, according to six perfected recipes; the flavors range from Apple Cider to Red Wine to Lager and Mint. There's no secret to it, it's just real mustard. "Mustard for your soul." We met Kevin and Dimitri one morning as they prepared a delivery in the comfort of their own kitchen.
Can you tell us a little about yourselves?
Kevin: We’re both from Limburg (well, my family is originally from Scotland). We’ve known each other for a long time: we played soccer together when we were younger. I moved to Rotterdam for university, and focused my studies on advertising. I started working at a branding agency after university and now I work at Natwerk.
D: I graduated from the Hotel Management School in Maastricht and did a Pre-master business administration (BA) at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam. During my time in Rotterdam I found out that a master's degree wasn’t going to make me happy. So, I moved to Amsterdam without a job or a plan. I ended up working at restaurant Fier and was promoted to manager after a few months. We recently opened our new concept, Rotisserie Amsterdam. I’ve been living in Amsterdam for a year now and it’s been great.
Have you always had a passion for food?
D: Food has an important place in our families. I remember my parents inviting people over all the time instead of going out for dinner. They were great hosts, and great cooks, and I really enjoyed it. When Kevin and I lived in Rotterdam, we would go to the market on Saturday and buy whatever we wanted to cook up great feasts. I guess you could say I’ve always loved food.
What inspired the Nieuwe Mosterd?
K: I found a recipe for mustard in a cookbook and couldn’t believe it looked so easy. I had all the ingredients at home and just decided to make it. After filling the first jar and leaving it for a few days, I tried it: it was so different to all the other mustards I had ever tried. Mustard is... mustard. We eat it with a piece of cheese or a Dutch kroket but we never really think about it. I started experimenting with different ingredients, creating different flavors, and before I knew it I had a lot of mustard at home. I realized that if I just narrowed them down to a few really good flavors, created a label to stick on the jars, I could create a new brand. At that point it really picked up and Dimer came along to help me out.
D: I was involved from the beginning as a friend and a mustard-tester because I really liked what Kevin was doing. I even suggested writing down the recipes so he could recreate them later (laughs). Kevin was looking for someone to help organize the business and that’s where I stepped in.
Do you think you’re helping people to change their approach to food in the Netherlands?
K: I think that we take a lot for granted in the Netherlands. We go to the store and buy a jar of mayonnaise and think that’s what mayonnaise should taste like. But it doesn’t have to. We’re so focused on food to go; we’re all so busy and everything has to be quick. But I want to show people to take the time to taste food, to question what makes it taste good. Like that when cooking steak with red wine you don’t even have to add salt and pepper, it’s just that good.
Is that why you post recipes on the website?
K: We don’t cook much with mustard in the Netherlands. I’m from Scotland where it’s used a lot. Since we love cooking, we just keep discovering new ways to use the mustard. From a marinade to a salad dressing to a butter substitute… There are so many ways to use mustard in everyday cooking.
D: We quickly realized that people weren’t sure how else they could use the mustard than with cheese or bitterballen. With the recipes we’re evoking a certain curiosity. Now people are sending us their recipes.
How do you make mustard?
K: We just use regular ol’ mustard seed. It’s really the most boring list of ingredients ever. Take this one: yellow mustard seed, biological apple vinegar, water, curcuma, pepper and salt. That’s it. We grind it in a kitchen blender, put it in large jars, add vinegar, water and spices and let is sit for about 10 days to 2 weeks. That’s enough time to soak up all the spices and the liquids, and it’s just exactly how we like it. Then we grind it again with more mustard seed and spices and fill up small jars. This way we really create something that’s different to the mustard you buy in the supermarket.
So how does it work, when you receive an order do you just get together and make mustard in your kitchen?
D: Yep, it’s really like that. We do everything ourselves, from the orders to the deliveries. We fill the jars and stick the labels. We make big batches, put them in buckets and fill the individual jars. Then we take a Car2Go and race around the city to deliver orders.
Why Amsterdam?
K: The Nieuwe Mosterd actually started in Rotterdam; I moved to Amsterdam for my job. I think we were just before the trend of ‘making’ in Amsterdam, not knowing that is was happening. And we started the Nieuwe Mosterd because we thought it was fun. Now we realize we were right on time. People really like it when you make one thing and you’re really good at it. People love products that have stories. Ours just happens to be mustard.
What are your plans for the future?
K: World domination (laughs). I’ve never really thought about it. We’re just going to keep doing this as long as we like it. When that happens, I’m calling it quits, and that’ll be fine because we will have achieved more than we ever thought we would and we’ve had a really great time doing it. I just wanted to introduce people to really good mustard. When people ask me how I make it, I just tell them to go make it themselves. Go make your own mustard, experiment with the ingredients and let me try it - I would love to! So as long as we’re having fun… That’s all that matters.
D: We were recently at Bilder & De Clerq for a tasting with suppliers. It still surprises us that people want to buy our mustard. It started as a hobby, and it still is one. And we want to keep it this way. We could make it bigger and bigger because there is demand for it but then we’re going to run into problems. Right now, we’re just doing what we can. If someone comes along who wants to make mustard with us, then yeah, we’ll think about it. Until then, we’re just going to keep making great mustard… Without an end goal.
K: Why don’t we put out a call out there for an old man who wants to make mustard with us!
Thanks Kevin and Dimitri for this interview! Check out their
website
for more and be sure to follow them on
Facebook
and
Instagram
. This article first appeared (in Dutch) in the first issue of the new publication Amsterdam &Co. Find out more on the
website
or order a copy of the
magazine
.
Aleks Pietrzykowska & Kim De Haas | Els & Nel
Simple, usable and reminiscent of the classic American composition books. Welcome the Weekly Journal. The designers of the time management tool, Aleks Pietrzykowska (1984, Gydnia, Poland) and Kim de Haas (1985, Utrecht), work together as stationary design duo
Els & Nel
in their new studio in the center of Amsterdam (and yes, it may look familiar; it was previously the studio of textile designer
Mae Engelgeer
). Fueled by a love for printed matter, a desire to "keep things neat", and a knack for problem-solving design, Aleks and Kim first designed the Weekly Journal in 2012. Now in its third year, the journal succeeds in making our somewhat chaotic lives a little more manageable. We talked to Aleks and Kim about their design aesthetic and their plans for the future.
Can you tell us a little about yourselves?
We met during our fashion communication studies at the Utrecht School of Arts (HKU) in 2005 but only started working together in 2012. We were working on our own projects back then, but that’s when we thought of the idea for the Weekly Journal. Aleks founded Oh! You Simple Things, an accessories brand that embraces youth and individuality, back in 2010. It started with a few pieces of jewelry and then expanded to the
Totepack
(or tote bag that can be worn as a backpack). Kim founded
Bedford
, an Utrecht-based cooperative celebrating art, design and music through various forms, in 2011. More recently we collaborated with G-Star as part of
RAW & RISING: The Gallery of Arts and Crafts
, initiated by Glamcult Magazine. We created a simple yet classy
denim case
, a translation of the ‘mobile office life’. The denim case includes pockets and compartments for a Weekly Journal, tablet or notebook, smartphone, pens and business cards.
Why the name Els & Nel?
Some of Aleks’ friends dubbed her Els - a great nickname if she were to become a DJ or do something else that required an alter ego. Aleks never started DJing so the name was just there, waiting to be used. Nel is short for Kim’s Facebook persona ‘Pieternella’. And it sounds catchy with Els. So, Els & Nel it is!
What inspired the Weekly Journal?
At some point we talked about how none of the journals we could find fit our needs. We had this ‘idea’ that we could create something better so we simply set out to make one. Well, actually 70 copies and they were sold within a few days! We were so surprised. We never set out to start a brand; we just wanted to create something we thought people needed. Turns out they did and suddenly we had become a business. With the Weekly Journal, we wanted to make people’s lives easier and create an aesthetic and practical solution to contemporary issues. This vision is something we hold on to and hope to expand in the future.
How have things changed over the past three years?
Over the past two years we have grown from 70 copies to 500 to now 2,000! We have also become more professional; our idea literally turned into a business, which required us to think more strategically about where we want to go with the label. We also just moved into this (great!) studio space a few months ago.
Do you think there's a difference between using online tools and print to plan our days?
Digitalization plays an increasing role in our lives, there’s no doubt about that, but we believe that the need for something tangible, such as pens and paper, has never disappeared. We wanted to create something that’s really there. We don’t uses online tools - we don’t really find them helpful in bringing about structure. Somehow we can’t manage to get organized when using with these tools. Maybe we’re a bit old-fashioned in that we believe we always can depend on pen and paper instead of technology.
How does the Weekly Journal differ from other agendas out there?
It has been adapted to the urban lifestyles we’re living. For example, we eliminated all the clutter you don’t really use. We formatted the journal so that all weekdays are shown equally on the left page. Then there are squared pages for notes that give the journal an additional function: that of a diary or notebook. That’s what makes it so practical and simple.
Does the city of Amsterdam inspires you?
We think it helps to change up your daily environment and travel someplace in order to really be inspired. We love cities like Berlin and London, and observing how people there live, move and go about doing their daily things. Every city has its own pace and dynamics. We love to just take that all in and bring our observations back to the studio to use as inspiration. But when we return home we realize (again!) and appreciate all that Amsterdam has to offer. What we like most is the openness or open-mindedness of people living here. No one judges the way you look, subcultures blend at party’s, and you’ll find a mix of styles and cultures out on the street.
What does a typical day look like for you?
Our days vary, and the only fixed moments are on our day together at the studio, which is Monday. We both bike to the studio (20 min), have our morning coffee around 9.30 and make a list of what needs to be done. Then we work until 1pm and take our lunch break. Our daily tasks range from shipping journals to emailing customers and retailers and maintaining our social media. Lately we have been working on the design and production of a calendar for a client. And of course we brainstorm and collect ideas about new products. It’s a lot of work, because being your own boss means doing everything yourself. Luckily we’re both quite flexible so our minds adapt easily to any sudden change of plans.
Can you name a few of your favorite places in Amsterdam?
We like Trouw for dancing and De Waterkant down at the river for drinks and nachos. Struik is great for Tuesday night drinks and their dishes of black beans, rice and chicken. Broodje Daan is a trucker’s café that serves a cheap, down-to-earth breakfast and Back to Black is our new favorite coffee place. Restored has the perfect mix of products and we’re big fans of the magazine shop Athenaeum (hello, printed matter!) We’re also like Foam and the Mini Galerie for upcoming artists. Oh, and the view from the bridges across the Amstel and Weesperzijde; you really feel like you’re in a big city.
What's next?
In the near future we want to expand our product line. And in the future we would love to collaborate with like-minded people and brands. We would love to be surrounded by a great group of friends and acquaintances who have started their own initiatives – we can learn so much from each other. Together, we create a ‘culture of making’.
Thanks Aleks and Kim for this interview! Find out more about the duo or order the Weekly Journal on their
website
. Be sure to follow them on
Facebook
,
Instagram
and
Pinterest
.
Tim Broekhuizen Holland & Robbert Wefers Bettink | Dick Moby
The summer months may have long passed and we may be preparing for yet another cold winter, but that's not to say that sunglasses have become irrelevant. Meet avid surfers Robbert Wefers Bettink and Tim Broekhuizen Holland of sustainable sunglasses brand,
Dick Moby
. In their office in the creative hub/hotel/coworking space the Volkshotel, the sun is still shining. After launching their brand with a successful
crowdfunding campaign
earlier this year to almost selling out their first collection, Tim and Robbert are busy preparing for 2015. And they're on a mission: by using a new bio-plastic acetate and spending 10% of their yearly revenue on projects with the Surfriders Foundation, they're inspiring not only the glasses industry, but society as a whole, to address plastic pollution and help find ways to create a bright future for plastic and the world's oceans. Here, they tell us more.
What’s your story?
Robbert Wefers Bettink: I studied fashion at the Hogeschool van Amsterdam and started a fashion label in 2009 called
Sober
with Cissy Noordeloos. It went pretty well, we received national and international attention in press and at tradeshows, but it was a difficult time to start your own clothing line, and we decided to move on. Then I helped out friends of mine at
Atelier de l'Armée
. When I met up with Tim, who had been playing around with the idea of starting his own sustainable sunglasses brand for about two years, we started Dick Moby together.
Tim Broekhuizen Holland: I’m actually a graphic designer. I studied at the Hogeschool van Kunsten in Utrecht and cofounded
Creative Monkeys
, an Amsterdam-based digital agency. After working in the field for several years I had this desire to actually create a physical product instead of online campaigns and websites. So I quit and started Dick Moby.
Why sunglasses?
Tim: We both grew up sailing and surfing. We’ve traveled the globe for the best surfing spots, and even in the most remote places, you find plastic on the beach. Plastic bottles, plastic wrapping, toothbrushes… It’s such a waste. Maybe the solution to plastic waste is to appreciating plastic for what it is. What if we start to see it as a valuable resource? Then we’ll start to treat it more sustainably and think of more things we can do with it. It’s interesting that when we think of plastic, like the discarded plastic on beaches, we think of it as trash but when we see it in the form of an expensive pair of sunglasses, we think of it as something beautiful. So we thought, why not we make quality sustainable sunglasses?
What makes them sustainable?
R: The initial idea was to use recycled plastic found in the ocean. We soon discovered that we couldn’t use this plastic to make the high-quality product we wanted.
T: It’s paradoxical; you might think you’re solving waste problems by making a pair of low quality sunglasses using recycled plastic, but you’re not actually solving anything because you’re making a product that no one wants. So for now we use bio-plastic acetate (M49), a new plastic made out of renewable resources (it doesn't contain oil so it can easily be broken down). But it’s an in between solution. Our mission is to make our sunglasses using recycled materials but it shouldn’t go to the cost of the quality. That’s why 10% of our revenue funds research on how to recycle plastic and to create awareness to prevent plastic pollution, with our partners,
TerraCycle
and the
Surfrider Foundation
.
OK, I have to ask about the name. Where did Dick Moby come from?
T: Dick Moby was a professional American ping pong player in the 1960s. He was actually the first person to switch from wooden to paddles. Unfortunately he broke his wrist right before the Olympics and never had his chance to shine. We wanted to honor him. And no, there's no relation to Moby Dick.
How did you go about creating your first collection of sunglasses?
R: It started with drawing a moodboard and doing research into what it is we wanted to create. The
first collection
was really about the brand – who do we want to be? How do we want to position ourselves? We wanted our sunglasses to have a classic but timeless design. So we started drawing; when we had a number of different designs cut out of cardboard, we tried them on about 20 different people. We then scaled our designs back to two or three, and asked a freelance designer to take a look at the ergonomics of the designs. Then we decide on the colors, the lenses, the finishing touches, etc. Creating a good pair of glasses is all about the details. (Watch 'The making-of Dick Moby' video
here
).
You ran a
crowdfunding campaign
to launch your first collection. How did it go?
T: We needed some money to start the production process. But the main reason we wanted to do crowdfunding is that we wanted to see if there was demand for a sustainable sunglasses brand. With just a few prototypes, we were able to test the demand, and get feedback from our target audience.
R: We’re a brand of the people. The crowdfunding campaign helped us to put our name out there, to connect with our target audience. The more than 600 people who helped fund the crowdfunding campaign are now proud ambassadors of the brand – that’s great.
What does a day look like?
R: First, coffee!
T: You have to take on so many different roles when running your own business. Sometimes we’re shopkeepers, packing boxes and maintaining lists. Other times we’re photographers. Then we’re salesmen at a fair in Berlin, and then we’re running to shops to deliver orders. It’s really a mix. But we’re really ‘making’ something. Rob, you’ve experienced this before. But for me, it’s like, wow, you’re doing everything yourself from the graphic design to the website to the actual delivery of the sunglasses.
What are your plans for the future?
T: World domination!
R: We’ve already reached the stage we hoped to be in five years from now. It’s all going so fast. I guess it means we are really able to tap into the market with these sustainable sunglasses. We’re currently working on our next collection and we’re looking into more ways to work with partners like the Surfrider Foundation.
T: We want to focus more on our mission to use recycled plastic for our sunglasses. We want to inspire the industry to start thinking creatively about the use of waste plastic. And we’re working strategically to develop the brand. 2015 is going to be a very interesting year for us.
Thanks Rob and Tim for this interview! More about Dick Moby on their
website
, and be sure to follow along on
Facebook
,
Twitter
and
Instagram
.
Anne Olde Kalter | La Farme
In a small town just north of Amsterdam, Anne Olde Kalter has set up the creative and letterpress studio
La Farme
(no, not an actual farm but a metaphorical one). Just four years ago, Anne left her agency job to start for herself. The farm represents her desire to create, to make, to work with her hands; her ‘
Ma’am Step Away from the Computer
’ print just about sums it all up. Anne now creates designs by hand and can often be found at the
Grafisch Werkcentrum Amsterdam
(for which she recently created
this great video
), getting her hands dirty using old letterpress techniques. We met up with Anne in the quiet of her home in the country to talk about what handmade means to her and how we would all benefit from taking a break from our screens once in a while.
What’s your story?
I always wanted to work in advertising, even when I was in high school. I studied communication science for two years but missed the creative side of it. When deciding what to do next I found the JUNIOR* Academy for Art Direction and Design in Amsterdam Noord. I learned a lot in those three years, but it was quite difficult to find work after graduation. I did find a job at Rich and worked there for two years, then moved to Hamburg, and worked at another agency when we moved back to Amsterdam. I was working on the Volvo account in an office next to the highway; I watched cars pass all day everyday, and on top of that, I had to work with cars and it didn’t make me happy. I was starting to do a few freelance projects on the side. The brother of my boyfriend was opening the restaurant
Radijs
in De Baarjes and asked my boyfriend and I to create their brand identity. I loved that; it was great to be in contact with the ‘clients’ myself and really ‘making’ instead of ‘thinking’. I realized that I missed that in my work; I really like thinking of concepts but I like realizing those ideas even more.
So what did you do next?
I took that step. I quit my job. At first I thought it was quite exciting. Then I started to panic and think, “I’m never going to be successful!” I decided to create a client wishlist of people or things I would like to work with/on someday, like the catering company my friend works at or publishing an illustration in flow magazine. That provided a lot of structure, and when I doubted myself, I would just work start calling and emailing people on that list. At first the jobs came in waves but now they have become more constant.
Have you developed your own style?
I find it difficult to pinpoint what that is but some people say, “Oh, I could tell immediately that you made this!” I don’t see it. I see every project as a new one. But there must be something that connects all my work. I create handmade designs. With everything I make I ask myself, how can I move away from the computer and create something really special. Maybe that’s a trend right now but I think people really appreciate that. Of course, sometimes you have to make something using your computer but there has to be a good balance.
What techniques do you use?
I use letterpress techniques. Just after quitting my job I went to New York City and stumbled upon a weekend course in letterpress. That’s when I came up with, “Ma’am step away from the computer.” I really enjoyed working with letterpress techniques so when I started researching where I could do that in Amsterdam, I found the
Grafisch Werkcentrum Amsterdam
. It’s such a great place; once you’ve done a course you can just get straight to work. Letterpress is a technique you do with your hands but I’ve also combined it with illustrations, like the
Cottoncake
moth. Sometimes I bring these handmade elements together on the computer, then make a plate and press that. There are interesting ways to combine the digital and the handmade.
What kind of projects have you worked on?
I work for clients (mainly branding) and create my own work (illustrations). Recently I created the logo and packaging for
Hammam34
. I created a book for them with my friend who is a creative and a stylist. I really enjoyed that. It’s great seeing your work contribute to creating a successful brand. I also make posters and cards using letterpress techniques.
So it’s going well?
I have been working for myself for four years now, and sometimes I stop and think, “I’m still here!” I’ve been on vacation to Bali and to Japan, I recently purchased a house, and I still get to do what I love.
Would you say that the city of Amsterdam inspires you?
Things are really happening on a global scale right now. It’s not just happening in Amsterdam, but also in cities like London and New York. A few years ago everything had to be straight and slick (created on the computer), and although I experienced that in the design world, it was happening in other industries too. Now we see people have moved away from that. There’s this universal trend towards authenticity; people are drawn to artisanal crafts and making. Back to the basics, if you will. And this renewed interest in handmade designs is a part of that. People want to create. People want to make something of themselves, and it’s a good time to do that. I’ve worked with many startups so I seem to be drawn to that desire to start something. And of course, the Internet has given us the freedom to communicate and reach large audiences. It’s incredibly easy to start a company today. It’s almost like once you’ve created a Facebook page you’re ready to go!
What does a typical day look like for you?
My boyfriend usually leaves the house by 8am so I try to get up with him and get to work early. But my days are all so different. I create deadlines by scheduling appointments with my clients, which could mean that I’m up working till 2am the night before. Some of my days start at home and end in the city, while others start in the city for a workshop or a meeting and end at home. A little while ago I had a studio in the city but I prefer to work at home. And I try to keep my weekends free.
Can you name a few of your favorite places in Amsterdam?
If I need to catch up on emails or meet with clients I like working at
Friday Next
on the Overtoom or at
Vinnies Deli
on the Haarlemmerstraat. I also love the area over by the Noordermarkt. De Pijp, of course, and Oud West is booming with new places like De Hallen. But when the new hangout Frits opens in the Baarsjes in a few weeks I’m sure that will be my new favorite!
What’s next?
I’m looking into setting up my own brand next to La Farme to work more freely and develop my own ideas. I honestly don’t have too many concrete plans; it’s all gone quite organically until now. I want to continue learning and right now, with every new project and every new client, I still feel like I’m learning something new. I’m actually just really happy with how things are going. And I’m not sure how things will be in two years from now but we’ll just have to wait and see!
Thanks Anne for this interview! Find out more on her
website
, buy one of her letterpress prints on
Etsy
or follow along on
Facebook
,
Pinterest
or
Twitter
.
Vera de Ruijter | Brainy Days
Nestled in the Jordaan, just off the busy Elandsgracht, is the unique concept store
Brainy Days
, an initiative of Vera de Ruijter. Every three months, the store undergoes a transformation according to a chosen theme (up until now 'Let's be adventurers' and 'Be blooming'): new products, makers and brands take the stage, the window displays are redone, and a
magazine
dedicated to the theme is published online. The current theme, 'Enjoy Your Rainy Days', a hint to the storm that is brewing (and new plans ahead!) boasts Rainfest ponchos, cutting boards in the shape of raindrops, Kiyoko organic lip balm, and limited edition prints from illustrator Sanny van Loon, among others. We talked to Vera about the adventure that has been Brainy Days so far and her plans for the future.
What is your background?
I first studied a very practical study in Utrecht where I learned things like how to showcase products and the basics of graphic design. I then went to the Amsterdam Fashion Institute (AMFI) to study fashion and branding. When I graduated, I couldn’t find a job that really fit with my ambitions so I started freelancing. I was a great way to find out what it was that I really wanted to do, as I worked on many different things, from photography to social media to marketing. I worked at sustainable brands like reusable water bottle
Dopper
and
Brrr
scarves and O My bag.
How did Brainy Days come to be?
I never planned to start my own shop. I worked out the store concept for Brainy Days on the beaches of Sri Lanka when traveling there earlier this year. When I got back to Amsterdam, I took over a store space from Brrr and it really took off from there. Before I knew it we were celebrating the opening of the store in April. I had built up quite a network of interesting people and brands through my work as a freelancer, and Brainy Days already existed in the form of a blog - I posted daily for inspiration and motivation. With the store, I was able to bring these brands and these people together.
And how did you do it?
I went into my storage and pulled out the furniture I had inherited from my grandfather, like the closets and the chairs, and painted them all white. I really just kept to what I already had and tried to be creative - I stacked crates on top of each other to make a counter, for example. I then chose the themes and started finding the right products to fill the space. I decided that I was going to create a space where I could really push myself creatively and really show people what I’m good at. That was more than six months ago and it has been going really well.
Can you tell us more about the themes?
I knew almost immediately that I wanted to work in themes. I wanted to keep people surprised and by working in this way, I could continue to develop my skills in styling and photography. The first theme was ‘Let’s Be Adventurers’, which came about when I was traveling in Sri Lanka, which was an adventurous journey in itself, but it was also when I decided to start the shop. I was really embarking on an adventure in that sense. I didn’t want it to be a clichéd collection of travel-related things, so I found vintage suitcases and travel alarm clocks, mugs with bearded men, etc. The second theme was ‘Be Blooming’, which was kind of the next step after the adventure had started – we’re growing and blooming! It was also summertime, so it matched the brighter colors of the days and the abundance of flowers and plants. Now it’s ‘Enjoy Your Rainy Days’, with raincoats and cutting boards in the shape of raindrops, water bottles, lip balm, etc. But it also refers to the idea that there’s a storm coming, something is about to change in the near future.
You have a web shop and magazine in addition to the physical store. Do you think the two strengthen each other?
I think they really do. In the magazine, I can flesh out the themes presented in terms of the products in the store with text and imagery. Some people don’t know that I have a magazine, while others who known the magazine and the web shop don’t know that I have a physical store space. I think it’s important to tell the stories behind the products I sell and the brands we support, and it’s important to create a visual identity. These are two things I can do online. We have created magazines for every theme, so one every three months. They might be more frequent in the future while we continue to expand the store, but we’ll look into broader themes based on perhaps colors or patterns.
Tell us about the statement, ‘Think, Collect, Create’.
Those are the three steps I go through when working out a new theme for the shop, the online magazine and web shop. ‘Think’ is about brainstorming that new theme. ‘Collect’ is about bringing together the brands and the people that fit with the theme. And ‘Create’ stands for how I develop the theme in terms of the styling and layout of the store, the magazine, etc. It’s really serves as the basis of how I work. And ‘brainy’ of Brainy Days is really quite a funny word. It gets people thinking – What is brainy? What does it mean to me? I think it’s quite accessible to a lot of different people. And it’s authentic, like the products in the store. Recently an older man happened upon the store and picked up a vintage alarm clock. He bought it because he used to have one just like it when he was younger. At the same time, a young girl walked in to buy a good quality leather bag. I love that contrast. Brainy Days is about bringing together brands and people.
Would you say that Amsterdam inspires you?
I really would. Since I’ve started the store I’ve noticed that there’s really so much happening. I’ve met so many inspiring people through the shop, like writers, illustrators, designers and makers… I’m not just selling great products but I’m creating an inspirational network of brands and people. I first realized that during the opening of the shop. I had invited a lot the people in this network and it was great to see everyone meet and interact with each other. Some then continued to work together on new projects, and that’s incredibly fulfilling.
Do you have a few favorite places in the city?
My boyfriend and I have this rule that we never eat at the same place twice, which pushes us to try new places, even if we have to bike to the east of Amsterdam, or to the south. But I really like De Laatste Kruimel for a great sandwich. Or Paviljoen van Beuningen for a delicious shakshuka, one of my favorite dishes. I like discovering the gems in the city, and shopping for vintage at the Noordermarkt, the IJ Hallen, or the small shops off the beaten track. I find new brands and products through blogs or through Facebook. And I can spend hours on Etsy or the online market place, Marktplaats.
Can you tell us about your average day?
On Mondays and Tuesdays, the shop is closed (for now). On those days I answer my emails, like requests from people who want to sell their products in the shop. I also pack and ship orders from the online shop. During the week I’m at the store but I still try to make time to meet with friends for a coffee, or to grab that dinner with my boyfriend. And I'm currently working on the future plans of Brainy Days. This is really my dream, and everyday I get up with a smile on my face.
Thanks Vera for this interview! Be sure to check out Brainy Days online to browse the great
magazine
and many products in the
web shop
, and follow Vera on
Facebook
,
Twitter
,
Pinterest
and
Instagram
. The store, located at Hazenstraat 33, is open from Wednesday until Friday from 11.00 to 18.00 (Thursday until 19.00) and Saturday from 12.00 to 18.00.
Alice Spadaro & Valentina Raffaelli | internoconcucina
Nestled in a quiet street off the busy market square Nieuwmarkt is a quaint, classic Amsterdam-style apartment where Alice Spadaro (1988, Padova, Italy) and Valentina Raffaelli (1985, Rovereto, Italy) have set up a temporary studio space. The heart of the home is the kitchen, which is not surprising for two Italian food enthusiasts who founded a design and research studio called
internoconcucina
(or "interior with kitchen"). Combining their Italian roots and design backgrounds, Alice and Valentina have created space for themselves to create products and develop a variety of projects with others, all related to the theme of food. With their ceramics collection
Les Madeleines
on the way to shops in Amsterdam shortly and their exhibition
Food-o-graphy
opening at SLA next week, we stopped by to catch up with the busy duo over a fresh out the oven blueberry cake.
Can you tell us a little about yourselves?
Alice is an industrial designer while Valentina has a BA in architecture and an MA in interior design. We have always been fascinated by cross-cultural exchange and enjoy traveling and exploring. We both moved to Amsterdam after our studies and have been living here since. It's not always easy being away from your own country, though. We constantly find ourselves connecting the fascinating and inspiring city we live in (Amsterdam) and our motherland (Italy). This has pushed us to strongly appreciate what is different between the two cultures and to look for more contamination to enrich our culinary (and also more general) horizons. We started
internoconcucina
(translated from Italian into "interior with kitchen"), a project which aims to overcome cultural boundaries and pursue research into a well-balanced and fully aware lifestyle.
What brought you to Amsterdam?
After graduating
from our studies in
Italy, we both felt the urge to leave the country where we grew up and explore, to delve into new realities. Born and raised in the Mediterranean area, where it’s common practice to make the most of the urban space, we were both attracted by the northern vibe and style, where inside spaces become places of gathering.
Truth be told, we didn’t chose Amsterdam specifically. It chose us. We both came here to do internships, which then became jobs and ultimately led to the switch to freelance work. We moved to Amsterdam in different periods and didn’t know each other at first, so when we met it was clear almost immediately that among the many things we had in common, we shared a huge passion for food. Reading blogs, books and articles, and cooking together for fun were just the beginning and a city like this gives you plenty of opportunities to do that.
Can you tell us about your passion for food?
Like we said, we're still very much bound to our country of origin, Italy. Our roots are there and these bonds continue to influence our daily lives. We grew up surrounded by the love for simple and genuine food and the attention for family traditions. Now that we live away from home, we feel the need to reconnect with our culture and its beautiful habits and rituals even more. The pleasure of cooking with friends, enjoying a simple meal and talking around a table afterwards are priceless pleasures. Food is also a symbol for the pauses in our day; we sit at the table together to enjoy a meal and food marks this time of sharing. The concept behind it is the core of our philosophy.
Internoconcucina
celebrates the kitchen's role as central in our living space, a scenario for (cultural) exchange. We start from these premises to create a dynamic, pleasant and stimulating environment, where food and its culture represent the core of our work. In our design process we combine this passion for food with our expertise to tell a story, which changes based on our client's need: it might be a production process, a particular product, a place or a restaurant. It’s not only about the food itself but mainly about the imagery behind it.
What inspired you to start
internoconcucina
?
We started collaborating on projects together and as they were mainly about our favorite subject, food, we decided to start our own studio that was exclusively devoted to it. We were looking for a name that would convey the intimacy of a place where people share one of the simplest and most precious pleasure in life. And we wanted it to be Italian. During one of our daily brainstorming sessions, we were discussing the studio space we wanted to build and we agreed on the fact that the presence of a kitchen was a must. That's why we chose
internoconcucina
(or "interior with kitchen"). It's as simple as that.
How would you describe your aesthetic?
In Italy the coexistence of old and new has always been there. Years of history characterize our environment, from the cities we live in to the small objects we surround ourselves with. We’ve always been fond of our traditions and aim to preserve this connection with our past, embracing imagery that cannot and must not disappear. Our attention for details, love for the small pleasures of life, and meaningful relations are profoundly infused in our design process and the projects we work on and develop.
What kind of work have you done until now?
As a design and research studio we have curated the communication and branding of a couple of cafés and restaurants here in Amsterdam, a biological shop, a wine tasting event in Italy, and have done several stylings for a kitchen catalogue in Milan. We are now busy on a large project for an oil mill on the Garda Lake, curating the communication and the art direction of the interior spaces. At the moment we’re also promoting our ceramic collection ‘Les Madeleines’ which will be available soon in shops in Amsterdam.
Would you say that the city of Amsterdam inspires you?
We consider Amsterdam as the perfect city for people to bring their own stories and pursue their dreams. Its pace and liberty constantly energizes us and the city feeds us with endless inspiration for our work. The magic, for us, is also in blending the north and south: the climate and some of the cultural habits are quite different from the ones we are used to. We have noticed that the memories of our past and our traditions are becoming more vivid here and we try to infuse our southern traits with the work we are doing here, thereby creating a bridge between these two cultures.
Describe a typical day.
We have been traveling a lot for work lately, mainly to Italy, so we haven’t had a steady routine for a while. When we work from Amsterdam, we try to stick to a daily schedule divided into two parts: emails, correspondence and research in the morning and active creation, brainstorming or production in the afternoon. Of course there’s lunch and at least a couple of tea/coffee breaks. We love to cook together and we do it almost everyday. It relaxes and inspires us, so when we need to catch our breath, we turn on the oven and start baking.
Can you name a few of your favorite places in Amsterdam?
We are big fans of thrift shops. We love to hunt for secondhand treasures, so we consider the IJ Hallen to be a paradise, along with the markets and dusty secondhand shops scattered around the city. Amsterdam is full of lovely spots and great sights, but what we love the most are the tiny glimpses of the city you see when sitting along the city's narrow canals. When it’s warm outside we pack our meal and eat on the street, our legs hanging over the canal's edge. When we want to treat ourselves we go to Raïnaraï on the Prinsengracht. The food is delicious and it’s the best place to be on sunny days.
What's next?
This summer has been really productive for us. We have some exciting news to share soon so stay tuned! In the spirit of mixing and mingling with other cultures, we’re going to expand our connections and travel in October Valentina is leaving for New York and Alice is going to Barcelona. And research plays a large role in our work. We are developing a workshop model that we will present soon and brainstorming about a future project that involves Italian traditions and artisans.
Thank you Alice and Valentina for this interview! Find out more about their work on their
website
, and be sure to follow along on
Facebook
,
Instagram
and
Pinterest.
Don't miss their exhibition
Food-o-graphy
at SLA on the Ceintuurbaan.
Alex Kitain & Erica Armistead | The Coffeevine
It's hard to deny that the specialty coffee scene has taken Amsterdam by storm. Eager to document this wave of cafés was coffee addict Alex Kitain (1983, Mexico City, Mexico). In December 2012, he launched the blog,
The Coffeevine
, a source of great reviews of cafés, not only in Amsterdam but across Europe. Earlier this year, with the addition of creative director Erica Armistead (1984, Santa Cruz, California) to the team, The Coffeevine set out to support the coffee community once more with a
coffee subscription service
, delivering fresh beans from Europe's leading roasters to the homes and offices of the coffee crazed, every month. We caught up with the duo during one of their pop-up shops on a late summer afternoon.
Can you tell us a little about yourselves?
Alex: I was born in Mexico City to a Mexican mother and a German father. I was raised in Germany, educated in the UK and have been a serial traveler since I can remember. I have already cracked the 100 countries mark and am always looking for a new adventure to get inspiration from. My international upbringing also made it easy for me to go and settle somewhere outside of Germany.
Erica: With an American father and a British mother I spent my first 10 years traveling between the UK and US up to 3 times a year. This had a profound effect as I was always part of two cultures and consequently consider myself both American and English. I moved to the UK when I was 10 and continued my education in the British school system, completing it with a Foundation Degree in Photography and a BA in Graphic Design.
What brought you to Amsterdam?
A: After university I did a trip around the world with some friends rather than going straight into a job but during my trip I applied for a bunch of marketing management trainee programs. Eventually I was recruited into a local Dutch program at British American Tobacco. After landing the job I moved here in October 2007 and have stayed ever since. It totally wasn't planned. In fact I was looking at moving back to the UK but fate had other plans for me.
E: Shortly after meeting my husband, we realized (having lived abroad previously) we both wanted to try our hand in another country again and four months after our wedding, a job offer brought us to Amsterdam! I continued to work in London for the first six months then went full time as a freelance Art Director and Designer. Be it working for my own clients or at local agencies this town is never short of inspiration.
Alex, you started the popular blog,
The Coffeevine
, at the end of 2012. Why coffee?
I remember I started drinking coffee during trips to the US where my dad had a holiday house until a few years ago. He'd always put loads of cinnamon on his latte and I sort of started drinking Starbucks coffee through him. My taste preferences didn't change for a long time and actually only started evolving after I discovered some of the local specialty coffee bars in Amsterdam. At first I wanted to launch an online shop for the best beans but then I started a new job and didn't have the time so I focused on my other passion, which is writing. The main reason I started the blog was because at the time there wasn't a single directory for the best coffee in town, definitely nothing in English and since most of my friends are expats I wanted to help them find the best coffee in town. We sort of went from there!
What inspired the specialty coffee subscription? What have the responses been so far?
A: The blog was always something that I did out of passion and because I wanted to support small local businesses. Since day one I made it my mission to only write about the best places and to never use the blog as a platform to criticize people in public. If a place doesn't convince me, I don't write about it. But that also meant that it would be hard to make money with the blog so I went looking for suitable concepts that could help us turn The Coffeevine into a business. Coffee subscriptions are already quite big in the US, but not here. I wanted to offer people all over Europe a chance to try some of the continent's finest beans and when this idea started becoming a realistic prospect, Erica joined the company and helped me make it happen. Last week we shipped our 4th edition and over the last few days we've been getting lots of Instagram, Twitter and Facebook messages from excited subscribers thanking us for those gorgeous coffees. Coffee roasters across the continent have been incredibly supportive and when you can call up the best roasters in any city and they can't wait to have their coffee featured in your tasting box, then you know you are doing it right.
E: Soon after Alex started The Coffeevine blog, I was asked to look into some branding and logo ideas. This started me on the path that I now walk with Alex as we journey through this wonderful evolving world of coffee. Having worked in both advertising and branding, when the thought arose to turn the blog into a business I was and still am honored to combine my love of coffee with creativity. But above all, having a business parter with whom I have such a great working chemistry makes my job all the more a pleasure. Coffee holds for each of us its own unique associations, however nothing gives me more joy than to witness when someone has a truly great coffee for the first time. That realization and astonishment as that first taste washes away a perceived expectation of what a coffee tastes like. That is my gold in a cup and why I am so passionate about sharing these beautiful coffees with anyone who is willing to try it. A coffee subscription that gives you the best coffees from all over Europe delivers that golden moment to more people every day. So to be able to read and watch our subscribers sharing their pleasure with us is truly wonderful, if only I could be there to witness it in person!
The coffee scene in Amsterdam has definitely changed in the past few years. What might be a reason for this?
A: Amsterdam has always been a forward looking city that's not afraid to set trends. That's one thing that I always admired about this place. But with regards to food and drink it was a big let down for many years. Now you have a different market every weekend, delicatessen stores on every corner, some of the finest cocktail bars in Europe and much more. Coffee is just one of those products that benefited from this change and I can only say, thank heavens! I think a lot of it had to do with the financial crisis and also the large expat community. People were fed up with paying a lot of money for a rubbish product. When you have less to spend you want to make sure that every penny goes that extra mile although now there are also people who are taking advantage of that by offering mediocre products in fancy packaging. You really have to be aware of what you buy and where, which is why we are also working on providing much more information about each of the coffees from our tasting box on our website soon. People want to be informed!
E: Ah Amsterdam. You are a special place in so many ways. What is truly special is to have such a number of people from so many countries in a relatively small space. Over 51% of the population in this city are from other countries which makes this such a great cultural melting pot and with it comes many different tastes and expectations. Although the Dutch have a long standing history with coffee it is primarily thanks to our Australian and New Zealand friends that Europe has finally been put on the coffee map. Most high class roasters in London, Berlin cafés and even a few local ones here in Amsterdam are in hands of people from down under! From less than a handful of speciality coffee shops 18 months ago to now over 30, Amsterdam is brewing up a storm and where there's great coffee, there's great coffee drinkers from the world over.
Would you say that the city of Amsterdam inspires you?
A: For me it's the myriad of cultures that live here, the city's tolerance and many events and festivals. I also love being so close to lakes and the beach, the fact I can fly anywhere from Schiphol and quickly nip home to Hamburg to watch Germany win the world cup (wink wink). I have never had a more international group of friends and when you walk down the street and randomly bump into people you know, you know you are at home.
E: I am a people person and I love to share experiences. Often that will be over a coffee ;) or at the dinner table, but those unplanned moments are the best. Be it working in our shop kitchen window and someone walks by that I know and they pop in for a catch up, or a last minute invitation to a picnic boat ride along the canals, Amsterdam is so accessible and flexible. Nothing is more than a short bike or boat ride away. Having been in London where it can take hours to travel A to B, your sense of freedom in this city I believe affects you in every way, every day.
What does a typical day look like for you?
A: Erica and I usually work from her house as that's also where we are currently storing all of our equipment and coffee. We usually meet at around 10am and start the day with a great cuppa Joe and discuss what's on the agenda for the day. We don't really have a set schedule or tasks, we just do whatever need to get done that day and then some! When you run your own business you don't really have a typical work week or day. I sometimes work 7 days a week until 11pm. It just depends on what's required. But when you do what you love and love what you do then it never feels like work really.
Can you name a few of your favorite places in Amsterdam?
A: All my favorite cafés are on our
website
. In terms of places to eat I always love authentic street food style eateries or places where people make everything by hand. There are number of nice Italian delis in town that offer delicious home made pastas, great Indonesian places, wood oven pizza shops and a couple of good tapas restaurants. I actually love cooking at home, especially authentic Mexican food, which you simply cannot get here. I love taking friends and visitors to places that are slightly off the beaten track, like Westergasfabriek, de Brouwerij t' IJ, NDSM, Slotermeer and other places like that.
E: Right now my best value for money dinner out with great wine is
Barrique
. Delicious food, good wine and excellent service, the three in one place can be hard to find in this town. I also love taking a friend's dog for a walk in the local park and striking up a conversation with fellow dog lovers and owners. Nothing like hitting the refresh button by feeling the grass beneath your feet and the sun on your face made all the better when shared with a wagging tail.
What's next?
A: First we're finalizing our upgraded website and making sure that everything works the way we want it. Then we're going to start advertising our subscription service online, offer small business solutions for creative agencies, many of the Amsterdam-based ones have already approached us. We also want to make sure that our subscription reaches as many people in as many countries as possible. We can't really reveal more but our list is loooooong.
E: We have been doing so many things between mile stones including pop-up shops, coffee tastings, B2B development and marketing strategies we are constantly on the move. So, yes, quite simply the list is indeed loooooong!
Bonne van der Ree | BonBon Boutique
In the center of Amsterdam, nestled between the busy streets Spuistraat and Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal, is the Rosmarijnsteeg, a pleasant refuge from the city craze and a calmer yet inviting stretch with unique boutiques and small shops. One of those, marked invitingly large windows, is BonBon Boutique , a one-stop-gift-shop with beautiful products by local makers, founded by former model turned jeweler Bonne van der Ree. After having worked in the modeling industry for quite some time, Bonne turned her passion for jewelry-making into a successful career, and now continues to create new pieces, marked by an elegant yet raw appeal, alongside running the shop. We met with Bonne on a warm late-summer afternoon and talked about her love for 'making' and her dreams for expansion in the future.
Tell us about yourself.
My name is Bonne. I was born and raised in The Hague and moved to Amsterdam when I was 23 years old to start modeling. I then started traveling a lot for my modeling work and lived in Sydney for four years. When I moved back to Amsterdam, I had to decide what to do next. At that time I was already making jewelry pieces, like rings, necklaces, bracelets and earrings, as a hobby and was introduced to materials like gold-fill. I started creating more beautiful things, as compared to my older work, and decided to set up a website to get my own business going next to the modeling work I was still doing from time to time. I then happened upon a temporary anti-squat space where I set up a studio and a shop. I thought running a shop was quite challenging at first as I was still creating my own pieces, but realized there was a future for me in this business. About two years ago I temporarily took over a shop with the help of a friend recently moved two doors down to this beautiful place. I really have my own shop now and it’s going very well. There are two people working with me in the studio, which means that I can really focus on running the shop. It’s fun right now and it makes me really happy.
Could you describe your style?
You could say my style is really refined but still a little edgy. Someone once told me, elegant but raw. In general I like fine and simple, and that has a lot to do with the materials I use. The gold-fill is very difficult to weld so my shapes are very simple. All of my rings, for example, don’t close completely, which is convenient because you can adjust the size a little bit but they are also sturdy enough not to get caught on things. How do you start creating new pieces? I never think to myself, oh this is what I’m going to make, and my pieces usually don’t turn out as I had originally imagined. I order a lot of my materials online and when they have arrived and I’ve laid them out, I’m usually inspired to start creating something. I work in collections, and those collections usually have a specific theme. Right now, I have incorporated triangles in a lot of my pieces. I was inspired by them after seeing them everywhere but have tried to use the triangle with a unique twist so that my pieces are not like everything you’ve already seen.
In your shop you carry products of other makers. How did that come to be?
It kind of happened organically. There are two jewelry lines in the store:
mine
and Monique van Bruggen's
studio mhl
. I’ve been working with Monique since the first store – we met and realized we both made jewelry and decided to run the first temporary shop together. From the corner shop to this new shop, studio mhl is a store-in-store, and I sell other products made by Amsterdam-based illustrators and designers. You’ll find prints and postcards by
Maartje van den Noort
,
Mirthe Blusse
,
Kim Welling
,
Het Paradijs
,
Studio Koosje
and many others. People often walk in the shop to show me their creations – I think it’s great that creative people are able to find me.
What does a typical day look like for you?
First coffee! I really need it, my brain doesn’t work otherwise. I divide my days between the shop and the studio. Shop days start at 9am to check emails and pay the bills. Then I open up from 11am to 6.30pm and usually don’t leave until 7.00 or 7.30. I try not to work when I get home, but I’ll often find myself stretched out on the sofa with my laptop, ordering new materials online. Studio days start at 10am. I have two really creative girls working with me right now, and while they’re working on bulking up the stock, I’ll get the odd job done. I try to design new things from time to time and that kind of happens sporadically. When it’s quiet in the shop, which it hasn’t been lately, I might get around to it. Or when I’m just hanging out at home.
Why do you think it has been busier in the shop?
I think there are a number of reasons. First, as compared to the other shop down the street, this space is very inviting. Through the large windows, you can see from the outside what you’re about to step into. And there’s more space – when there are three or four people in the shop it’s not immediately too crowded, which was the case in the other shop. I also think the economy has improved and I’ve noticed a lot of tourists this summer. It helps that we’re located quite conveniently, between the Nine Streets and the Kalverstraat shopping street. After renovating for a year and a half, the bridge on the Singel is open again and that’s been an important development. These kinds of things really affect entrepreneurs.
Can you name a few of your favorite places in Amsterdam?
I really like nice coffee places. And my boyfriend’s sofa (haha). He lives in Oost and recently, a number of great places have opened up, like Hartje Oost and Stek. Baut is also great and the recently opened Volkshotel. And I like to have picnics with my girlfriends in the park.
What’s next?
For now I’m going to stick with the jewelry line and the shop. I really see a lot of opportunities for growth. I don’t know what those opportunities are yet, but I’m going to wait and see. When I first opened a shop I had no idea where it would take me, but I had always believed it would turn out for the better. I have several concrete goals like expanding my distribution both online and offline and updating my website. And someday I would love to have a large studio where lots of people can work together and have a great time. It has to be fun, that’s most important. And then we’ll see. Maybe a second shop in another city, like Antwerp. Once things here are settled I’m sure the next adventure will come along. I’m so curious to see what it will be!
Thank you Bonne for this interview! You can find out more about BonBon Boutique and browse the collection on the
website
, and be sure to follow along on
Facebook
and
Twitter
. The
shop
is located at Rosmarijnsteeg 8 and is open from Wednesday to Saturday from 11.00am to 6.30pm and Sunday and Monday from 12.00 to 6pm.
Kamiel Blom & Martijn Blom | Blom & Blom
In a beautifully refurbished warehouse in the North of Amsterdam, just a few minutes ride by bicycle from the ferry on the IJ River, you’ll find the airy showroom and design studio of
Blom & Blom
. Founded by Kamiel and Martijn Blom, two brothers who share a passion for forgotten items from forgotten places with stories to be told, Blom & Blom hosts a collection of striking reclaimed lighting fixtures. Switching career paths at around the same time, the brothers now collect, restore and redesign industrial lamps and furnishings - often found in abandoned factories and military complexes in the former DDR (Deutsche Demokratische Republik) in East Germany - and give these authentic objects a new life while preserving their rich history. We visited the brothers, and their adorable dog Volta, to talk about their passion for these unique objects and their plans for the future.
Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
Kamiel: After my studies I ran an online design agency with two friends. I lived in Berlin for three years, and that was part of the reason this came about. When we were busy starting a new business, I started to think about whether I wanted to stay in the digital world. That’s when I decided to start Blom & Blom with my brother.
Martijn: It was the right moment for both of us. I was just finishing my last degree. I worked at Brunel, a project management and recruiting company during my studies. I had been working at Brunel for three years and was starting to think, is this what I always want to be doing? I studied business, communication policy, and strategy and had been in the business world for quite a long time. Before that, I studied architecture. When we decided to start Blom & Blom, everything came together: design, architecture (in the rebuilding of the shop), and business (I’m more in charge of the business side of things).
Why industrial lamps?
K: Good question, it has just kind of happened. I never thought I would have a fascination for lamps. When I was living in Berlin I visited a lot of old factories to photograph them, and developed a certain curiosity for them. I saw so many of them hanging from the ceilings of these factories. They were in really bad shape but if you looked through them you could see a certain beauty in them. Imagine I fix them up, I said to myself. They’ll be beautiful. That’s kind of how it happened.
M: We have always said that we will collect those things that we consider to be beautiful, but 90% of the time they’re lamps. I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that lamps can still be found in old factories. With lamps there’s another important element, since light can strongly influence an atmosphere. It’s something you can play with. We sell aesthetic objects that can really have an effect on a space.
Can you tell us about the process of finding new lamps?
K: The thing that’s so great about Eastern Germany is that all the places we visit have incredible stories to be told, and by way of the lamps we can tell those stories. Visiting the locations is the most fun. We’ll just drive around, take a weird exit off the highway and look for chimneys or train tracks until we find someone who is responsible for the factory and can be approached to sell what others might consider old junk.
M: That’s the second challenge. The average East German is relatively conservative but we have found various ways to approach buying the lamps. We either show people what we do with them and that we really make something great out of the old objects, or we tell them that we will photograph the original location and tell its story, or we literally put a wad of cash on the table. The funny thing is that every time we go on a trip, we have no idea what we’re going to run into. We find ourselves in the most bizarre places, meeting the craziest people.
How would you define your aesthetic?
K: I’m not sure there’s a specific style. We think it’s important to show the original exterior of the lamp so we don’t spray them or sand them down. It’s always a choice to leave something rough or make it shinier, and rust, for example, can be quite beautiful. We always try to clean the glass as best as we can and polish enamel pieces. But it always depends on the lamp, and most importantly, we want to keep preserve the history of the lamp.
You started as a web shop and recently opened a shop. What was the reason for that?
M: We’re both from the Internet generation and thought, yes, a web shop, that’s what we should do. We’ll focus immediately on the global market and don’t need a shop to do that. Interest in our products and our brand was generated quite quickly, and questions about a physical space soon followed. We had a showroom in a former slaughterhouse before opening this space but it was open on appointment only and was really a separate location. We thought to ourselves, if we’re really going to create a space for ourselves, it’s going to become our second home. It will be place where people feel welcome. The web shop is still going well but the shop has added so much extra value to Blom & Blom that we never expected. In the shop we can present the lamps in the best possible way, and we are able to show our aesthetic, how we think, how we work, how things should look according to us.
Would you say that the city of Amsterdam inspires you?
M: It was first our idea to be located in two cities, in Berlin (Kamiel lived there at the time) and Amsterdam but it was practically speaking quite impossible. Berlin still feels like a second home to us and it’s a great source of inspiration. I do think there’s a great energy in Amsterdam, and the entrepreneurial spirit is something that can be traced back through the city’s history. I have noticed it more recently, probably because we’re part of this movement ourselves. And perhaps it’s due to the economic crisis that people are saying, fuck, I don’t have a job, I’m going to create one.
K: People are thinking more creatively about what they want to do. You can continue to apply for jobs but you can also decide to start something for yourself.
M: The crisis has also resulted in the fact that economic success, your work and a sense of security and safety has become extremely relative. We didn’t just start Blom & Blom to do something fun; we really want to build something. We want to wake up in the morning and feel proud of what we’re spending our days doing. I can imagine that making and creating is the direct consequence of that. When I was 17 I thought, I’m going to study engineering and then I went into a completely different direction, business. But during my studies I asked myself, why didn’t I study engineering? Now I feel this need to create, to build, to make something physical. I think I have always had that in me but I’m just able to give it a place now.
What does a typical day look like for you?
K: I start with a walk in the Vliegenbos with Volta. We both live in Amsterdam Noord, I’m at 300m distance from here and Martijn at 800m. We start at 9am but our days are never the same. We have a lot of help in the workshop and in the office, which means that we’re a little more structured these days. We work primarily on the orders that have been placed, which means creating a passport and preparing the lamp for transportation. We’ve had orders from around the world. Around 35% are international orders, to the UK, Scandinavia, Switzerland and Germany. Some even go back to Berlin, and we think that’s so great. The first order to the US was to a famous Hollywood photographer, that was a real milestone. And we’ve sold as far as Hawaii and Australia and Asia. It’s crazy to think that a lamp we found in an old factory in Berlin and took back to Amsterdam to fix up is now hanging in a home in Hawaii. When we have time, we work on the odd project. We have so many lamps that require a little more time and creativity. Those are the most fulfilling projects.
Can you name a few of your favorite places in Amsterdam?
M: I’m always happy sitting around the campfire at Noorderlicht. Café de Ceuvel is a new favorite, they have sunshine on the deck from 10am till late in the evening. And it’s on the water. It’s a great place.
K: I’m a big fan of the Vliegenbos for long walks with Volta and my friends. There’s also a great woodsy area in IJburg where I often go for a walk. Or you’ll find me at Brouwerij de Prael. I love that place.
What’s next?
M: Take over the world, of course! We often talk about the greater story. We would like to create products in addition to the lamps. The balance between that what exists and adding your personal touch to creating things from scratch. Our passion remains with authentic materials and objects that tell a story. We have found that in collected lamps from abandoned factories but there are thousands of things that have that same quality and that can be taken from their original context and provided a new life. The sky is the limit.
Thank you Kamiel and Martijn for this interview! You can find out more about Blom & Blom on their
website
, and be sure to follow them on
Facebook
and
Twitter
.
Mirthe Blussé | Designer & Illustrator
There are several locations in Amsterdam where creatives gather to work and inspire one another. The former Volkskrant building (where the much-anticipated
Volkshotel
will open its doors next week) in the east of Amsterdam is one of those. Talented designer and illustrator
Mirthe Blussé
was one of the building's first tenants in 2007. After studying law, Mirthe realized her passion for the arts was something she couldn't ignore. Working for herself in a studio she considers her own playground, Mirthe has developed a style that exudes an unconstrained freeness and wholeheartedly embraces the handmade. We caught up with Mirthe in the midst of the building's last renovations to talk about her work and her desire to get her hands dirty.
Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
I first studied law – just a slight detour! I then started working at a design agency, Lost Boys. When I walked in the door I was immediately drawn to the work of the graphic designers so on the first day I asked, what do I have to do in order to do that? They told me, you actually have to go to an art academy, which is exactly what I wanted to hear. While working there I changed positions from a project manager to creative copywriter, allowing me to work more closely with graphic designers. In the evenings I studied graphic design at the Royal Academy of Art (KABK) in The Hague. It’s really the best thing I have ever decided to do for myself. Completing the evening course took about five years, with classes four to five nights a week. It was a lot, but it didn’t feel like it because I enjoyed every second. While the other students were discovering all the latest techniques and perfecting their every design, I was more interested in traditional printing techniques and the letterpress machines in the print workshop. It was great to bring together the new things I had learnt with old hand techniques. When I graduated from the academy I knew that I wanted to continue designing and needed to have my own studio space to do so. I wanted to have the freedom to do a range of different things, from graphic design to product design, styling and illustration. I found a studio space here in the Volksgebouw and have been here ever since. It has taken me some time to develop my style and figure out what I’m good at and what I want to do, but for a little while now I feel like everything has fallen into place. It’s a great feeling.
What are some examples of work you’ve done recently?
I feel lucky to have worked on so many different projects, which is exactly what I set out to do when I graduated from the academy. I’ve created sets for the Boekenbal (or ‘Book Ball’) with several other artists. I’ve worked with the Van Gogh Museum for their Friday late night openings during the Snapshot exhibition. It was really a dream come true. The exhibition itself was about the very first photographs taken by artists, which they used for their paintings. So I decided to work in the same way and created a modern collage based on a photograph by Breitner for the Friday night poster. Right now I’m working with the Volkshotel to create t-shirts and stationery items before they open next week. It’s great to be involved in something that’s actually happening right here. I’ve also designed several book covers, made illustrations for articles in magazines and children’s magazines, and created my own lines of postcards and posters. And you’ll find me in the printing workshop from time to time. My work really varies but I enjoy that. I still wake up every day and think to myself, how lucky am I to be doing what I’m doing!
And what defines your aesthetic?
Personally I’m most touched by the work of artists and designers in which you can trace their handwork. And that’s probably why I can’t do anything else but start making things by hand. I work with many different techniques. I’m always making small drawings of things I see and experience. I think what it comes down to is that I’m an observer, and those observations are translated into drawings and collages. My recent set of postcards is actually a series of collages. I paint them first, then cut out the different pieces, and assemble them. That’s when I realize the funniest mistakes, which result in the most spontaneous images. You can’t achieve that effect with a computer. I love that from a distance, the postcards looks like a clear image, but up close it’s not like that. You can see the rips in the cardboard and the strokes of paint. That’s how I work.
Would you say that the city of Amsterdam inspires you?
I have only ever wanted to move to Amsterdam because the city inspired me so much. I remember the posters of Anton Beeke and Jan Bons all over the streets... They were so intriguing. In the city there’s so much to see. The people are beautiful in their diversity. They are expressive which is incredibly inspiring. And there’s always something to do, hundreds of exhibitions, concerts and theater performances every month. I love that. Sometimes, though, I feel I need to escape from it all, and there are great places to do that. The Hortus Botanicus is an oasis in the city. I can really find peace there and spend hours reading a book in the comfort of the gardens. And of course, all the people who are starting up their own projects. Over the past few years we’ve really been able to find each other. I used to think that I was the only one who liked old printing techniques, the odd one out, if you will. But now so many people are interested in it. That’s great!
What does a typical day look like for you?
I’m actually incredibly disciplined. People think, oh you work for yourself, you can do whatever you want. But I enjoy leaving my house early in the morning for the studio, it’s just three streets away from here. I always have something to do. One minute I’m drawing or painting, the next I’m digitalizing work I’ve done by hand on the computer or meeting with clients for design projects. When the sun is shining I call the shops that sell my postcards and posters and jump on my bike for a few deliveries. But there are also days that I spend hours in the printing workshop. That’s incredibly hard work and at the end of the day I’m exhausted but it’s so worth it.
How do you separate your work and your private life?
I try to keep them separate, but lately it’s not working so well! I meet people all the time and sometimes those encounters turn into collaborations or projects. It doesn’t feel like work, in that sense. And work never stops for me. I’m always thinking about new projects or working out new ideas. I carry around notebooks and leave them around the house, even next to my bed, to write down my thoughts and try to move on from them. It’s important to distance yourself from your work from time to time, to enjoy the little things like cooking a delicious meal or watching a great film or going out for a few drinks with your friends. Otherwise you’ll go stir crazy!
Can you name a few of your favorite places in Amsterdam?
There are so many great places in the city, I’ll try to name just a few. Van Beek Art Supplies and Vlieger are real danger zone for me, haha. I really appreciate the Albert Cuyp market – the diversity of the food is wonderful, and I love the typical Amsterdam humor of the market sellers. The Amstel, at every hour of the day, is incredibly beautiful, no matter if you’re there for a picnic, a long walk, a boat ride or a swim (yes, I swim in the Amstel!) There’s one bridge over the river and when you cross it, you see the old city on one side and the modern city on the other. Sometimes I catch myself just standing there to take it all in. Also, I love treasure hunting. You’ll find me at the IJ Hallen flea market every month and at second hand shops about twice a week, I should really stop! I’m also very happy that the Stedelijk Museum is open again and I’m a regular at photography museum Foam.
What’s next?
I want to continue doing different things. I’m excited to be working with the Volkshotel and hope to continue doing so. In a few weeks I’ll be traveling to Spain for a workshop with the Japanese illustrator Katsumi Komagata – one of my heroes – to work out my plans for a children’s book. Coming fall I will work as an artist in residence in Barcelona. I will continue illustrating for magazines. Ever since I illustrated recipe cards for a German publisher I would love to illustrate a cookbook. Right now I’m very excited to be illustrating a series of Travel Guides for German newspaper Die Zeit. I say, never a dull moment!
Thank you Mirthe for this interview! Find out more about Mirthe on her
website
, check out her
Etsy shop
, and be sure to follow along on
Facebook
.
Imke Kok & Siti Boelen | Neighbourfood Market
Once a month, Amsterdam's foodies unite at the Westergasfabriek in Amsterdam West. Famed local chefs and starting caterers, biological farmers and bread bakers, sausage specialists and cheese makers, juice squeezers and coffee roasters all meet at the
NeighbourFood Market
, founded by food enthusiasts Imke Kok (1979, Roermond) and Siti Boelen (1977, Nieuwkuijk). With backgrounds in the TV industry, Imke and Siti have created a place for the sharing of great food and a platform to tell the stories behind not only the delicious products and the freshly prepared products but the makers too. We met with Imke and Siti at the market last month to talk about how they founded the market and their plans for the future.
Can you tell us a little about yourselves?
Imke went to study journalism in Tilburg when she was 18 and Siti studied communication science at the UvA. We first met around 10 years ago when we both enrolled in a course at the Media Academy. We worked together for a few years creating TV shows (including the Dutch show,
Wie is de mol?
) and became close friends. We're involved in editing, directing, reporting and format development. We started our own company, Sien (website under construction) about six years ago and started doing all kinds of things next to our full-time jobs. Siti still works at Blazhoffski as head of the Research & Development department but will start working full-time at our company, Sien, from the 1st of July. Imke has been working full-time at Sien for the past two years and occasionally works as a freelancer in the TV industry.
What inspired you to start the Neighbourfood Market?
We started working in the TV industry about four years ago and traveled together often. That's when it all came together. We realized that even though there great food markets all over the world, there wasn't one in Amsterdam (at the time). We decided we would start one ourselves. With the concept of a market, we could combine everything we enjoyed and considered to be important including great food, the company of friends and family in a nice setting, and be involved in the styling and interior design, PR and the telling of inspiring stories.
And how has it evolved over the years?
The Neighbourfood Market started around the kitchen table after work hours, but soon took up a lot of our time. We've really grown since then, and so has Amsterdam. We’re no longer the only food market in the city, so it’s important to differentiate ourselves. We still do everything ourselves. The DJ is actually our business manager, we draw all the signs ourselves, and the Friday before the market we look for furniture and decorations at second-hand stores to decorate the market. We hang up the lights, prepare the table decorations and take out the trash. Even though we work with volunteers, great people who are passionate about the market and want to help us out on their free Sunday, we still do the majority ourselves. We put a lot of effort into creating a pleasant atmosphere with fitting decorations, and feel a sense of pride when people spend hours hanging out, conversing with friends and vendors, and sampling freshly prepared foods at the market. That's when we’ve succeeded in creating exactly what we wanted: a relaxed, low-key setting, bringing together all types of people through foods they may never have tried before.
Can you tell us more about the market and the vendors?
The entrepreneurs who participate in the market have small starting businesses or catering companies that make use of the market to find new work. We want to create a platform for small entrepreneurs and allow them to reach a larger, or different, group of people than they would alone. We try to differentiate ourselves as a market by bringing together a variety of different foods and flavors, and to tell the stories behind the dishes. Many of the entrepreneurs have done other things in their lives but have made work out of a hobby, or are in the process of doing that. A school teacher turned baker, a PR expert who whips up home-made jams, an editor turned fusion chef, a stylist with a love for Korean spring rolls. Everything at the market is made fresh, and the vendors have the possibility to share their stories with the market goers. We're quite critical about the vendors, The food is important, but so is the shared experience. We're trying to create a relaxed, low-key environment for the tasting of a variety of different foods, trying new things, and learning what good food is all about.
Would you say that the city of Amsterdam inspires you?
Amsterdam is definitely inspiring. There are so many great things happening in the city and there’s always something to do. Sometimes it’s hard to find a peace and quiet with everything that’s happening around us. We like to head down to the south of Holland, to Brabant and Limburg where we’re from, or to the Flevopark or to the Gaasperplas for a swim in the summer. That's where we come up with our best ideas. But walking through the Haarlemmerstraat and popping into all the great shops helps too!
Can you name a few of your favorite places in Amsterdam?
Bar Bukowski for incredible cocktails and great beers, because we live in the east and we’re excited about everything that’s happening there. We also like Elsas, a classic Amsterdam-style brown cafe without any frills, and great beer. There are also exciting things happening at the Beukenplein in Amsterdam Oost - various bars, good food and large terraces. Cake at Coffee Bru (their second location, Rum Baba, is also a favorite). Another favorite place is the Flevopark. We also like to visit Amsterdam Noord for the second-hand stores (where we find furniture for the NFM and our office) and have coffee at Pussy Galore. And Cafe Modern has been on our list for dinner for a while now. There’s so much to do in Amsterdam it’s hard to keep track of it all, but we do our best!
What does a typical day look like for you?
In the mornings we head to the office where we meet up with our colleagues Martijn (our business manager), Nanna (freelancer), and two interns. We make a cup of coffee and go through the daily to-dos. We brainstorm together in between checking emails and share the things we think are interesting or the things we’ve read. Nanna and the interns are in charge of the markets, keeping the website up-to-date, and answering our emails. Siti and I are out and about a lot more, meeting with representatives from the various city districts, for example, or other initiatives for partnerships, possible sponsors, bloggers, etc. We’re working a lot more on other projects right now, but we keep a close eye on the Neighbourfood Market. Every flower vase must be positioned correctly, every comma must be in the right place in the press releases… Everything must be perfect.
What's next?
We’ve been dreaming about opening a permanent location for a long time now. Think a large old factory space where we can do whatever we like in terms of the interior decoration and start collaborations with other great initiatives. An incubator for food and creativity. And we want to continue to expand the Neighbourfood Market. We’re incredibly happy with our partner, the Westergasfabriek, but we think it would be great to pop up in other city districts and even other cities. We recently had our first event in Utrecht and that was a great success. On the 21st of June we’ll be at the Krugerplein in Oost, and on the 28th of June, we’re participating in the Elle Festival in the Jordaan. We’re working out a lot of our ideas and plans and we don’t think it’ll be too long before we can realize it all. How great will that be!
Don’t miss it, a special weekend edition at the Westergasfabriek, on Saturday from 12 to 10pm and Sunday from 11am to 6pm. This month’s theme is MAN MADE in celebration of Father’s Day. For more information about the Neighbourfood Market, visit the
website
, read the
blog
and follow along on
Facebook
.
Mette te Velde | Strawberry Earth
On the Bilderdijkkade in Amsterdam West, Strawberry Earth has formed an inspiring collective together with Charlie + Mary (sustainable fashion), Waarmakers (product design) and Berry (coffee bar). Mette te Velde started the
Strawberry Earth
blog in 2008 to inspire creative people to make sustainable choices based on the idea that everyone can have a positive impact on the world. The blog features great products and must-dos, like delicious treats at organic cafes and restaurants, clothing giveaways, and discounts on beauty treatments. With the third edition of the Green Film Making Project and several events on the way, Strawberry Earth is much more than an inspiring website and must-read blog. We caught up with Mette at the Strawberry Earth HQ to talk about her plans for the future.
Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
I grew up in what you could call a ‘hippie family’. My parents taught me a lot about nature and how to respect it. After studying journalism I worked for the Dutch broadcast association VARA (Het Lagerhuis, Vals Plat, De Wereld Draait Door and Vroege Vogels) and as a columnist for the Dutch newspaper Het Parool. I lived in New York with my boyfriend
Ikenna Azuike
about five years ago it was there that we were inspired of the many cool and innovative ‘green initiatives’. That’s when I decided to start
Strawberry Earth
, a blog to inspire young creatives to make sustainable choices.
What does Strawberry Earth do?
We inspire creative people to make green and social choices. We believe you can have a positive impact on the planet with every choice you make. It has grown into a source of daily inspiration for those interested in sustainable living, eco friendly design, and a good laugh. With a team of 13 people we connect you to the latest in sustainable fashion, design, film, food and oh well, everything else that makes us smile. On our
blog
we also offer specials and some of our favorite brands you can buy online, from backpacks to yoga lessons. With Strawberry Earth we also try to shake up the creative industry by connecting the key players to our partners and strawberry friends, accelerating the transition to a fair, social and clean world. With our Green Film Making Project, for example, we challenge young filmmakers to shoot sustainably. And we organize events. With the motto, “Get drunk for the environment”, we were able to create a more sustainable bar thanks to the revenue of our first event.
Can you tell us more about the Green Film Making Project?
The
Green Film Making Project
challenges Dutch film professionals to make production processes more sustainable on all levels. We’re literally taking the film industry into the future. We have been collaborating with entrepreneurs, trade organizations, leading institutes in the film sector and key broadcasters since 2012. The Green Film Making Project closely cooperates with the two chief academies in the Dutch audio-visual industry. We have gathered the most important tips and tricks in the first Dutch Sustainable Film Production Guide, How to Green Your Film Production (so far), that can be downloaded in Dutch. Dutch actress Thekla Reuten is ambassador of the Green Film Making Project. This year we’re organizing the third competition in the field of green filmmaking, and inviting European film students to participate in this challenge.
Would you say the city of Amsterdam inspires you?
New York will always be my favorite city but what I truly love about good old Amsterdam is that there is room for creativity, innovation and ambitious ideas. I enjoy working and living in this comfortable bicycle-friendly city where we think in opportunities and make amazing things possible. People here are opinionated yet humor plays an important part in everyday life. What’s not to love?
What are your favourite places to visit?
You’ll often find me at
Berry
, the coffee bar at our Strawberry Earth HQ on the Bilderdijkade 27. Owner Tiemen serves the finest coffee, ‘bloody berries’ and homemade carrot cake. We also share our office with
Waarmakers
(product designers) and
Charlie + Mary
(fair fashion agency). I’ve always dreamt of a collective like this. We bring together the very best in sustainable fashion, design, film and food, all under one roof! Other favorites include
Vinnies Deli
and
Beter & Leuk
, great places that serve organic and seasonal dishes.
Deli-Caat
just opened its doors, but it’s already my go-to for take-aways. For my daily groceries I stop by EkoPlaza or Marqt. On Saturdays I love to visit the Noordermarkt - I never leave without eating a delicious crepe. I also like to take a stroll in the Hortus Botanics or shop at our friends’ shop, Charlie + Mary, in de Pijp. They offer a a great selection of sustainable fashion brands for both men and women.
What does a typical day look like for you?
I wake up with my boyfriend Ikenna and our two-year-old daughter Suki. We eat breakfast together – do a shoulder shake - and then head off to work. In the office I usually start with a cup of coffee, a newspaper and respond to my emails. My days are packed with team or partner meetings and finding new projects and innovations for our blog and the Strawberry shop. After a day of hard work, I try to relax with yoga every once in a while, although this doesn’t happen as often as I would like!
What's next for you and Strawberry Earth?
We will continue to work on the Green Film Making Project with the goal of taking the film industry into the future. We also work closely with partners in the fashion and design industries as there are great developments taking place in the field of sustainable innovations. For example, it’s now possible to create silk from wood pulp, and designers are making lamps from biodegradable materials like fungus. The problem is that designers often don’t know about innovations like these. We’re working with the industry to map and share this valuable information.
Thank you Mette for this interview! Find out more about Strawberry Earth on the
website
, check out the
blog
or follow Strawberry on
Facebook
and
Instagram
. Stop by the Strawberry Earth HQ on the Bilderdijkade 27 and grab a cup of coffee, a smoothie or freshly baked goods at
Berry
, open Tuesday to Friday from 8.30am to 5pm and Saturday and Sunday from 11am.
Brian Boucher & Esther Berger | Olives & More
In the middle of the busy Pretoriusstraat in Amsterdam Oost, you'll find
Olives & More
, a beautiful corner shop selling (organic) olives, olive oil and other delicious goods, founded by Brian Boucher and Esther Berger. After selling their products at markets around the city for several years, the couple decided to create a space where customers could buy freshly-made tapenades, pesto and hummus, uniquely prepared olives, and tasty olive oils from around Europe. By opening a shop, they have fused their expertise (as a chef and project manager in the arts, respectively) to further drive their entrepreneurial spirits. We met up with Brian and Esther on a lovely sunny afternoon to talk about how it's going and their plans for the future.
Can you tell us a little bit about yourselves?
Brian: I’m a chef. I’m originally from Dublin, Ireland, and went to a professional school for cooks. For about 8 years, I worked in Dublin, Melbourne and London at five-star hotels and Michelin star restaurants. I was then introduced to Esther through mutual friends, and my life changed! We had been to Amsterdam a few times to visit Esther’s family and really liked the vibe here. We thought it was time for a change, and even though Esther had a job at a museum and I had a job at a restaurant in Ireland, we took a risk and it definitely paid off!
Esther: I lived in Ireland for 12 years. I studied fine arts and worked at the Irish Museum for Modern Art for two years as a mediator and assistant curator. Then I met Brian. When we decided to move to Amsterdam, we didn’t know very many people and had to build up our own networks. I worked at Galerie Martin van Zomeren for a short time to get my foot in the door of the Dutch arts sector, and then went on to gain work experience in the education department at Foam. I worked there as a project manager before becoming an assistant curator. After working at Foam for 5 years, I decided I wanted to work for myself. We have two children, Oscar and Aaron, and it was nice to create a good life-work balance.
You opened the doors of your shop, Olive & More on the Pretoriusstraat just a few months ago. Why olives?
Brian: When we first moved to Amsterdam I worked at the restaurant Envy 4 days a week. I was looking for something to do on the side. In Dublin I had worked at a specialty cheese shop called Sheridan’s Cheesemongers so I started a small business of importing Irish and English cheeses. It was going well but I wanted to sell the cheeses at the local markets. Since cheese was so well established, I looked further and saw that no one was doing anything with organic olives and olive oil. A friend of mine in Dublin had a good business selling olives and het put me in touch with contacts of his in France and Spain. Then I started selling olives at the Saturday market at the Nieuwmarkt. We started with 8 buckets and 6 different types of olives and tomatoes and now we have 22. We try to add a personal touch to the olives. People have become more discerning and more aware. They’re not willing to put up with second-rate things. They want the best. I can really stand over the quality of our products and be proud of that as well.
Esther: We prepare the olives as well. We have really great products from suppliers whom we know personally. The olives arrive in salty water and Brian soaks and rinses the olives, and marinates them if need be. The quality is there but you can have an influence on the end product, make it more your own. And it’s good to specialize. If you do too many things, you can’t devote yourself 100%. Now we can say, this is what we do: the core business is olives.
How did the shop come to be?
Esther: More and more people were asking if we had a shop, especially at the markets. We didn’t have our own space, a home if you will, and we were really looking for one. Brian was also looking for a new production space because the company was growing and the space we had wasn’t big enough. When we finally saw this place at the Pretoriusstraat we said, this is perfect. It all made sense. I didn’t have another assignment at the time so I said, let’s just make this happen together.
Brian: It’s also a very positive area. Everyone is very proud to be here and we have more freedom to express ourselves. We’ve had stands at the markets on the Nieuwmarkt, Zuidermarkt, and Pure Markt, which has helped us to build a client base. It’s funny because we’ve noticed that people in Amsterdam really stay in their part of the city. They say, “You’re in Oost now? Oh no! We have to cross the Amstel!” But they do come.
Esther: And we like to take risks, we don’t take the easy route. When things come your way you can either say yes or no, and this just made sense. It’s been nice making it happen and working on it together. Our customers know where to find us now and they come by for a chat.
Would you say that the city of Amsterdam inspires you?
Brian: We’ve been in Amsterdam for 8 years and you can definitely see how much it has changed. A few years ago it was so difficult to find a good coffee or a decent sandwich. The options were incredibly limited. Now there’s an awareness and appreciation for quality. People are willing to pay for it and take a risk. I think it’s because the Dutch are very open to travel but they tend not to stay away too long. And they bring things back. In that way, the city is very open. Expats and people from around the world fit into that culture easily. The city lacks a little of the cynicism of say, London or Dublin. People are quick to give you feedback here and you have to be open to constructive criticism. But people don’t try to put you down.
Esther: I think it’s in Dutch blood as well, ondernemerschap, or entrepreneurship. They’re a little stubborn, or stuck in their ways, and that explains why so many people are starting their own things. There’s definitely a do-it-yourself attitude. The Dutch have that confidence. If you look at Dublin, for example, people don’t have that confidence. In Holland you learn to speak up for yourself.
What does a typical day look like for you?
Brian: We get up early with the boys, and have a nice breakfast together if we can. Then it depends on what day it is. On a workday one of us will take the boys to the crèche and we'll go to the shop to work. Normally it’s a continuous process. I prepare what needs to happen during the week. Some olives will be in water and will be ready to be packed, for example. We also deliver our products to various restaurants and shops, including The Jane in Antwerp, Hotel de l’Europe, Restaurant Daalder, Envy and Baut. I make the tapenades, pesto and hummus so that everything's ready to go. Esther mainly focuses on the shop and our contact with clients and the press, and takes care of the administration. She also created our style with friend and art director, Lucie Pindat. Together they screenprinted our stationary and tote bags. The weekends are quite busy too with the shop and the markets. Right now, Mondays are family days. We’re still trying to find the right balance.
Can you name a few of your favorite places in Amsterdam?
We live in Oost so we have a lot of favorite places around here. We love Restaurant Merkelbach and Park Frankendael because it’s a child-friendly oasis in the city. If we’re lucky to arrange a babysitter, we might head out to Bar Bukowski for cocktails, or Kriterion to see a good film. We get coffee at Coffee Bru or Rum Baba. And we just had a lovely dinner at Restaurant Daalder.
What’s next?
At the moment we are just focusing on developing the shop, our presence at the markets and supply our products to restaurants, and continue what we do best at the highest possible level. Want to continue meeting and working with other passionate people in the city, and we would like to introduce other activities like tastings, summer apertivos and table d'hote in the shop. In the end it’s about being happy with what you’re doing. It’s about really creating something.
Thank you Brian and Esther for this interview! Follow Olives & More on
Facebook
, and find out more about the shop on their
website
. Olives & More is located on Pretoriusstraat 68, and is open from Thursday to Saturday from 11.00am to 6.30pm.
Saskia de Valk | Vlinder en Vogel
In the Netherlands, we're lucky to be blessed with the abundance of beautiful flowers, year round. And, when you do a little research, you can find organic ones in the mix. These flowers are grown naturally without the use of pesticides or fertilizers. With a passion for seasonal and organic flowers, Saskia de Valk (1970, Venray) of design studio,
Vinder&Vogel
, creates bouquets that are quirky, lush and wild, almost like you’ve picked the flowers yourself. Her work with flowers and natural materials is marked by temporality, referencing her background in theater and exhibition design. We spoke to Saskia about her work and what continues to inspire her over a cup of tea in her studio in Amsterdam Noord as the sun set over the IJ river.
Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
I’m a designer. I studied theater design, and although I didn’t work too much in theater design and décor, a running thread in all my work is that I use natural materials. A few years ago I just happened upon flowers. I was buying biological flowers for myself and came into contact with great people. Friendships were formed. From there, everything just happened. I started to work more from the intersection between design and flowers. I’m not (and don’t feel like) a traditional florist since I don’t have my own shop. My work is also bound to the seasons since I work with organic flowers. In the winter it's quieter and I work on other projects like festival or product design.
Did you learn how to work with flowers, or did it come naturally?
It just kind of happened, really. I worked with a florist for half a year, one day a week, because I felt I had to learn the techniques. I thought to myself, OK, I need to do this if I want to work with flowers. It actually didn’t go very well at all! At that point, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to continue working with flowers. But I realized that I just had to do it my own way. I knew I had a feeling for it, just like people who can naturally paint well. It’s not far off from my creative background. And the ease of arranging flowers is just a matter of learning by doing. I have developed my own style, and I guess you can say my style is creating bouquets that are inviting. I use field flowers to create pieces that are quirky, lush and wild, almost like you’ve picked the flowers yourself.
What kind of projects do you do?
I work with flowers in commission. Projects vary from flowers for a wedding, or a bouquet, or flowers for mourning. I also work for large events. I think people come to me because they want something more natural, with a wilder aesthetic. I don’t have very unique flowers –they’re actually the ones you can find just about everywhere– but I think they're quite beautiful. I always buy organic flowers that have either been grown in a nursery or outside for that natural look. And as a designer, I like to work on different projects simultaneously. Recently I was very interested in different glass types. In February, I created small pots with bulbs sprouting the first green of spring for
showUP
, a trade show for home wares and gifts that took pace in Amsterdam Noord. The pots carried a narrative themselves: they gave you that winter feeling of the bulbs but signaled the start of spring with the first green.
And as Vlinder&Vogel you have you own project line. Can you tell us more about Bloemenlab II?
Bloemenlab II
, or Flower Lab II, was a result of working with flowers and always being left with the one or two flowers that had snapped off, and usually end up in the trash. I was also working with lab equipment and the two things just kind of came together, and I started using the glass jars for the leftover flowers. I noticed that the flowers were then given a stage to tell their own story, a platform from which to study them. An ode to the unused. I also dry flowers. I pick flowers myself, I tend to take flowers with me wherever I go. I was recently in Switzerland and brought flowers back with me pressed in my notebook. Dried flowers are delicate, so I sew them into linen cloths. This way, they become small miniatures, or paintings. These things just kind of happen naturally. On the one hand, I want to capture something, and on the other, I’m very drawn to temporality. In theater and set design you also have to create something that’s then taken down for the next show. Traces of this contrast between temporality and permanence can be seen throughout my work.
And do you always have flowers at home?
Haha, I often do. They’re usually the sad leftovers. I work with flowers so much that I don’t feel like I necessary need to have them at home, but I do think they’re very beautiful. Since I live in the city and don’t have my own garden, I really enjoy the warmth of flowers on the kitchen table. They draw your attention and can provide you with a sense of ease. I think greenery is important and it’s proven to be good for you! So yes, I do have flowers at home, but not an exaggerated amount. And sometimes I put together a bouquet just to see how a flower behaves and changes. Especially when I’m not familiar with a flower, I like to study it before I use it in commissioned arrangements.
Would you say that the city of Amsterdam inspires you?
Yes, definitely. What I like about Amsterdam is working with other designers and makers. I recently worked with illustrator Maartje van den Noort. We created small packages of seeds – she was responsible for the packaging. We have a similar interest in nature and flowers, and I love the energy that results from working together and the beauty of creating something out of collaboration. I also have that with food and flowers I work with studio mate, Tessa van Grafhorst of De Taartrovers/Keukebende, on interactive cultural projects for or with children. Together we’ve worked on projects for the Fantastisch Kinder Film Festival, Museum Beelden aan Zee and EYE Film Institute. Collaborations have taken on many different forms and have ranged from food to preservation to decoration.
What does a typical day look like for you?
A flower day starts early in the morning. I leave to buy flowers at the nursery of Jan Knook in Beemster. I then drive back to my studio, where I begin my day with the organizing and arranging of flowers for bouquets and orders. I bike all over the city to deliver the flowers. In between deliveriess I check my email and make phone calls. When I'm working on larger projects I need a lot of time to prep and work out my ideas and find inspiration in the world around me. I have a lovely family (my two daughters are already at school) but I love to begin and end my days altogether.
Can you name a few of your favorite places in Amsterdam?
A few of my favorite places include my garden and my ferry rides to Noord to and from my studio. I also love the city in the early in the mornings, and EYE Film Institute, where I can find myself just daydreaming when taking in the beautiful view, or where I can get lost in a film.
What’s next?
I hope to continue working with inspiring people, and to one day find a space where all my ideas can come together. I'm thinking a mix of a garden and a studio, a place for inspiration and the sharing of ideas amongst creative people.
Thank you Saskia for this interview! Find out more about her work on the
website
of Vlinder&Vogel. You can also find out more about organic flowers at
SIMPLY SLOW
's get together,
Scent of Spring
, with Saskia and
Isadora Lebouille
of
Annindriya
Perfume Lounge
on Sunday May 18th.
There is currently a waiting list but you can add your name in case a place opens up!
Elmer Oomkens & Francesco Grassotti | White Label Coffee
At the end of the Jan Evertsenstraat, across from the Mercatorplein in Amsterdam West, you'll find a coffee gem by the name of
White Label Coffee
. The duo behind the specialty coffee bar, Elmer Oomkes and Francesco Grassotti, started their careers in coffee at Brandmeesters (in Haarlem and Utrecht, respectively) and met while working at the Espressofabriek in Amsterdam. Since then, they have fueled their entrepreneurial ambitions and opened up a place of their own. A city escape with a Scandinavian aesthetic, the duo serves up delicious coffees made from home-roasted beans. We caught up with Elmer and Francesco a few days before the first edition of the
Amsterdam Coffee Festival
, to be held in the north of Amsterdam on Friday May 2nd and Saturday May 3rd.
Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
Francesco: While studying in Utrecht, I was a regular at Brandmeesters, a coffee place in the center. I was there at least once a week, sometimes even everyday, and when a position opened up, I applied immediately. That’s how I ended up working in coffee. Starting as a part-time thing, it became more and more important to me. From there I went to work at the Espressofabriek in Amsterdam, and stayed there up until a few months ago. That’s where I really learned everything I know about coffee, and it’s where I met Elmer. Six months ago Elmer told me he wanted to start for himself, and he asked if I was interested in joining him. Starting for myself was something I wanted to do for a long time.
Elmer: I studied psychology. Towards the end of my studies I wrote a paper about the psychological processes of law and was fascinated by the combination of the two. I started studying law, did a few internships, and even applied to speak at an event at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam. I didn’t get it and the next step would have been to write a PhD proposal. I realized I was missing something - there wasn’t one topic that I wanted to spend four years of my life on. So I decided to do something very different. I always liked coffee and I applied for a job at Brandmeesters as a store manager in Haarlem. While working there I met people who were working in the coffee industry in Amsterdam. They convinced me to apply for a job at the Espressofabriek, which I did. Coffee gave me a lot of energy. While before I was just writing papers and stuck in my own thoughts, I was now actively making something.
Why coffee?
Francesco: I’m not sure. I’m half Italian so I grew up drinking coffee from a mocha pot – I even had one at university. But when I started going to Brandmeester I realized how good coffee could actually taste (Italian coffee is secretly not very good!) Italians are known to make a great espresso, but they once invented and stuck to it. They haven’t really experienced all the new developments that are being made in coffee today.
Elmer: I traveled a lot and I have always quite drawn to the countries where coffee is grown. I think it’s fascinating that it’s grown there but consumed here, and that it’s such an enormous process from the coffee plantations to the coffee we pour in our cups. And there’s so much you can do with it. I didn’t drink much coffee growing up but when I started drinking really good coffee, I couldn’t stop.
When do you decide to work for yourself?
Elmer: I was working at the Espressofabriek for a while when this just kind of happened. I really wanted to create something myself. I first had the idea to open a coffee bar/workspace with a friend of mine who’s a graphic designer. When we were leaning more towards pursuing the coffee bar aspect of it, we asked Francesco to join us. It became more about coffee and eventually we continued just the two of us.
Francesco: I always wanted to do something for myself. It’s so nice to work at a place that you’ve helped to create; it feels kind of like home. When I was working at the Espressofabriek, the idea of opening my own place felt very far away because I didn’t have the financial capabilities to do so, but when Elmer asked me if I was interested, I immediately said yes.
And how’s it going?
People have been really positive. Our parents have been very supportive, so have our friends and the people in the coffee industry. It’s interesting because people don’t just talk about the coffee, they’re also talking about White Label, the space. A friend of Elmer’s is an architect and he was interested in helping us out. We ended up basically giving his architecture firm the freedom to do what they wanted. We were in really good hands, and we’re really happy with the outcome. The interior compliments the name, White Label, which refers to a carte blanche, if you will, something that’s open to interpretation, that’s simple, and that stands for a certain quality.
Would you say that the city of Amsterdam inspires you?
Definitely, there are a lot of young entrepreneurs in the city at the moment. These are great times. We're curious to see how de Baarsjes in West and areas in Amsterdam East will develop in the next few years.
What does a typical day look like for you?
One of us usually gets up earlier than the other to set up and open in the morning. We don’t have agreed-upon times when we should be in. We think it’s important to come in when we’re ready to. For now, this works for us. The weekends are busier so we’re here more, but during the week it comes in waves. We roast at the Espressofabriek on Wednesday mornings. Since we don’t have our own roaster here (yet!) people don’t immediately know that we roast our own coffee beans, but we are keen on sharing that story with our customers.
Can you name a few of your favorite places in Amsterdam?
We often visit the Espressofabriek – we both worked there for a long time and we’re still great friends with the people there. You can also find us at Lot Sixty One Coffee Roasters, we’re good friends with Onno van Zanten and Florian van Hessel. Francesco and Onno actually lived together for a little while. When we’re in East we like to stop by Coffee Bru or the CoffeeCompany at the Oosterdok. The coffee industry in Amsterdam is like one big family. Nationwide it’s actually a very close group of people. If you tell someone you work in coffee, there’s an instant connection. And in Amsterdam, we’re not each other’s competition. We’re sure that if we were both sick one day, we could ask Lex Wenneker of Headfirst Coffee Roasters to fill in for us, or if we run out of coffee we could borrow beans from Rick Woertman of the Espressofabriek.
What’s next?
A roaster! It’s expensive but that’s what it’s all about – roasting our own coffee beans. We hope to have one in the next few months. We’re also looking into collaborating with restaurants in the city. We hope to influence a new development that you can find both good food and good coffee in one place, which isn’t usually the case right now. Long-term plans include visiting coffee plantations and building up relationships with local farmers to try out new things together. But for now, we’re just going to focus on making sure things go well here!
Thank you Elmer and Francesco for this interview! Stop by
White Label Coffee
at Jan Evertsenstraat 136, open from Monday to Friday from 8am to 6pm and Saturday and Sunday from 9am to 6pm. Don't miss Elmer and Francesco at the
Amsterdam Coffee Festival
on Saturday May 3rd, they'll be at the True Artisan Cafe from 4 to 7pm.
Marga van Oers | StoryTiles
The Dutch have been making white tiles since the 16th century, otherwise known as Witjes or 'Whities'. Visual artist Marga van Oers (1986) has embraced this historical craft but a personal touch. Just a year ago, Marga launched a campaign on the Dutch crowdfunding website,
Voordekunst
, and after a successful two-week run, raised enough money to produce the first batch of tiles known as
StoryTiles
. With an eye for detail and a humorous touch, Marga combines elements of classic Dutch tiles and old magazines cutouts to create collages that evoke an emotion, and leaves it up to the viewer to create a story. We caught up with Marga in her home in the middle of the Jordaan in Amsterdam West.
Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
I studied communication science but realized it wasn’t what I wanted to do. I have always been creative but never knew how best to express myself. I decided to enroll in a teacher’s degree for the fine arts. It’s traditional in the sense that you learn a bit of everything, and I needed to master the techniques. During those four years I was drawn most to ceramics and collage. I worked at Loods5 at the same time and noticed that there was a shift between art and design – they were coming together more. I knew I wanted to create something affordable that people could have in their homes, something that would make them happy, and that would exude a sense of authenticity and craftsmanship.
What inspired you to start StoryTiles?
It was about a year ago. I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do when my grandmother gave me a box of old tiles. I immediately thought, this is it, I have to do something with these. Tiles are actually just small artworks, and when I started working with them, I realized their potential. When I shared my idea with my sister-in-law, Judith Beek, over coffee at
KOKO’s Coffee and Design
, she wanted in. Before we knew it, we were working out the details. It costs a lot of money to start something, money we didn’t have. Judith came up with the idea to crowd fund our first production of tiles on
Voordekunst
. We made a
video
, launched the campaign, and raised our goal of 3,000 Euros in just 15 of the 30 days we had.
And how’s it going?
After producing that first batch, we launched a website, contacted shops, and presented StoryTiles at the Woonbeurs in October 2013. Judith lives in Singapore, I guess you could say we have a long-distance ‘Skype relationship’, but it works for us. I’m in charge of design and production and Judith focuses on the administration and manages our contacts. About a month ago, we found a company to pack and send our tiles, which is saving us a lot of time. I have this memory of sitting on the floor with my cousin and my friend in my old studio surrounded by hundreds of tiles and boxes, packing them individually and jumping on my bike to the post office with hundreds of boxed tiles stacked in my bicycle basket – it was a nightmare! It takes time to figure everything out. But it’s fun. It feels like one big adventure.
Can you tell us more about the tiles?
I have two lines, the
Old Dutch Tiles
and the
Modern Tiles
. I collect old tiles from the 16th and 17th centuries for the Old Dutch Tiles line, and make collages with old cutouts. The collages are baked on the tiles and melt in the glaze. From there the tiles are transported to the packaging company and I don’t have much control over it anymore It’s hard to explain the process, it just happens really. I’m usually working on several tiles at once so I can make connections amongst the different designs and come to more interesting results. I try to do as much as I can by hand – I’m more inventive that way.
And does each tile have its own story?
The name StoryTiles comes from the idea that these Dutch tiles have their own stories, as do the cutouts, and together, they form a new one. People do ask me about the stories behind the individual tiles. It’s not necessarily a story but a feeling. There’s always an interaction between different objects or creatures, or an emotion that’s brought about. I’m not usually interested in purely aesthetic images. I want to create something. Everyone knows these old tiles, but I like to think I’m bringing them back. There’s a new energy in them that people seem to be drawn to.
Would you say that the city of Amsterdam inspires you?
Definitely. I do think that the entrepreneurial drive is something you either have or you don’t. But those who have it are drawn to Amsterdam because this is where things happen. Sure it’s a small city but there are opportunities here. People help each other. We’re also at the
Sunday Market
once in a while with other makers and creators. You really sense the need to make, to do, to sell. There’s a desire for something real. And there’s an interest in the story behind a product. You can really feel that in Amsterdam.
What does a typical day look like for you?
It’s funny, I feel like my time is divided into projects, into steps that will lead me where I want to go. First it was project Woonbeurs, then project packaging, project website, project photos for the website… My year is just divided into chapters, and I live from one to the next. Small things pop-up in between, like new deliveries or a weekend market. Judith is an important part of it all, and I love going through it all together. I’m so involved with what I’m making that it’s nice to have someone who can be more objective, take an outsider perspective, and be more critical. That’s important. And it feels like we’re running a family business, which is making us work even harder.
Can you name a few of your favorite places in Amsterdam?
I’m a hardcore Amsterdam West fan and love the Westerpark. I don’t shop too often, but when I do, I’m usually doing a round of the shops that sell my products, like
Hutspot
and
Stedelijk Museum Shop
. Or I stop by
Kitch Kitchen
, it makes me happy. I like to visit museums and exhibitions in Amsterdam. What’s great about working for yourself and being ‘free’ during the week is that it feels like the city is still sleeping since everyone’s at work. Since I manage my own time, I feel very free.
What's next for you?
People have asked me if I’m ever going to get bored of the tiles. No way! I see so many opportunities, and have so many new ideas. We just launched
StoryWood
, for example, in
Milan
. These are collages printed on large pieces of wood that are up to 2 meters in length. We’re also working launching new product lines in the near future. The thread through all the products will be the stories they tell.
Thank you Marga for this interview! Visit Marga's
website
for an overview of tiles or a list of stockists, and follow StoryTiles on
Facebook
and
Twitter
.
Victor van Doorn & Pim Schachtschabel | Uncover Lab
A competition for the best design to
engrave on a MacBook
for King Willem Alexander brought Victor van Doorn (1987) and Pim Schachtschabel (1988) together in April 2013. Their friendship inspired them to take Victor's first venture
Uncover
, the customizing MacBook with laser-cut modifications, to the next level. After a three month pop-up stunt on the Zeedijk and a store-in-store at popular concept store Hutspot on the Rozengracht, the duo is now moving to the
Local Goods Store
in de Hallen in Amsterdam West. With a team of enthusiastic graphic designers, Uncover Lab brings to life everyday objects like iPhone covers, MacBook backs and Moleskine notebooks by engraving them with custom or ready-to-go designs. We spoke to Pim and Victor about how things are going and their plans (and dreams!) for the future.
Can you tell us a little bit about yourselves?
I’m Pim. I grew up in Amsterdam and when I graduated high school, I traveled around the world. I spent some time at Emily Carr in Vancouver, and lived in London where I worked at a cocktail bar that I helped set up. When I moved back to the Netherlands I started studying engineering in Delft. I’m currently finishing my studies, living in Rotterdam, and I’m cofounder of Uncover Lab. And I’m Victor. I was quite bored in high school and started a film production company with a friend of mine. I then spent a year making an app but never got to the point that I thought, this is it. I had also become involved in customizing MacBook with laser-cut modifications as
Uncover
. We were the first in the world to do this.
What inspired you to start Uncover Lab?
A friend of Victor worked at The Next Web and was involved in deciding which startups could have a few minutes with the king (the crown prince at the time). Even though we were told to keep it quiet, we decided to launch a competition for our meeting with the king. iCentre sponsored a MacBook that we could design and give to the king. We launched a competition for the best design and from the 124 submissions, we selected one as the winner – that one was Pim’s.. We didn’t know each other before that, and when we met, there was an immediate click. Victor mentioned that he wanted to focus more on engraving as opposed to taking laptops apart and cutting out designs, and that he would like to open a store someday. Pim said, if you start a store, let me design it. That’s how it all started.
And what happened with the king?
Pim had designed a complex crown and we were up late making adjustments the night before our meeting with the king. Victor had to put the MacBook back together again and spent the whole night doing it. When we finally presented the MacBook to the king he told us he couldn’t accept it. He wanted to buy it from us. It was a great experience. It didn’t result in a lot of business but people who work in the industry know of us as the guys who made a MacBook for the king. The most important thing that resulted from this project was our friendship.
What happened next?
We wanted to start our own store, but that resulted in a lot of questions. What does it look like? How much money do we have? We don’t have much, so how are we going to make this happen? Victor met with the organization of the Zeedijk and lobbied to get us a location for three months. We fixed the place up in just a week. During the construction, we asked Barcelona artist Borja Sanchez to create artworks on milky sheets stuck to the windows of the store. On the day of the
opening
we peeled away the sheets and ‘uncovered’ the lab (destroying the artwork). We were open for three months, from 2pm to 11pm everyday. When our time was running out on the Zeedijk, we noticed that Hutspot was working on opening a second location on the Rozengracht. We approached them with our concept and they invited us to take up on prominent space in the store. That’s what Uncover Lab is now, a store-in-store.
How’s it going?
It’s going well! It took some time to get used to because we were used to having our own space. On the Zeedijk we were open late and often hosted movie nights in our store with our friends. We had all the space we wanted. But we’re very happy to introduce our concept to more people. In general it takes people some time to get to understand what we do and how it works. We try to explain it the best we can.
So how does it work?
We have a database of great designs made by talented graphic designers. People can also have custom designs made. We work with wood (like cases for iPhones and iPads), leather, aluminum (like MacBooks and iPhones) but we can also engrave glass and paper.
Would you say the city of Amsterdam inspires you?
Pim: I grew up in Amsterdam, studied in Delft and live in Rotterdam. In Rotterdam, there are many opportunities for young people. I always thought this was because it’s cheaper and perhaps easier in some ways to start something in Rotterdam as compared to Amsterdam. But it surprises me how well things are going here. I’ve really learned a lot and come to appreciate Amsterdam’s open attitude towards new ideas.
Victor: I was inspired by Fablab in de Waag, the first maker space in Amsterdam started by Alex Schaub and Bas van Abel, modeled after the open source format that was born at MIT. I spent a lot of time there and always thought it was more on the geeky/crafty side. There was a huge gap between Fablab and design stores like Droog, which were too inaccessible. With Uncover Labs, we were able to bridge that gap. We created a space where people can come in and see the technology for themselves.
What does a typical day look like for you?
Victor: I live around the corner so I stop by the store everyday. I don’t drink or smoke so in compensation, I treat myself to a sandwich across the street every morning. I go climbing regularly and often work late.
Pim: In the mornings I have breakfast while reading the newspaper. I bike to my university, which is about a half hour ride. Then I study all day, bike home in the evenings, and try to get some exercise in, like swimming. In the evenings I try to do some things for Uncover Lab. I lead a double life of studying and staying involved with Uncover Lab!
What's next for you?
Pim is more concerned with making sure things are going well here. Victor's the one who will go to London for a few days and visit all these great locations for a possible second Uncover Lab store. If we were to expand internationally we would start in London and then look at San Francisco. Our ambition is to bring the concept abroad but we have to make sure things are going well here first. And we want to become a platform for young graphic designers. It would be great to exchange designs between graphic designers in Amsterdam and graphic designers in San Francisco. Let’s see where it goes!
Thanks Pim, Victor and Esther for your time! Uncover Lab will move to the
Local Goods Store
in de Hallen in Amsterdam West, opening Friday April 17th. Find out more about Uncover Lab on their
website
, or follow them on
Facebook
.
Femke Agema | Fashion Designer
Playfulness abound! Amsterdam-based fashion designer
Femke Agema
(1982, Hoorn) creates collections that blur the lines between sculpture, fashion and art, and in doing so, conceives new worlds that blossom with life, color and possibilities. We first spotted Femke's work at
KOKO Coffee & Design
, and her outspoken, playful and fantastical designs stayed with us. We visited Femke at her studio in de Baarsjes to talk about her newest collection,
Mould
, a vibrant array of designs of varying textures and patterns that bubble with vitality in true Femke Agema-style.
Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
I wasn't sure what I wanted to study after finishing high school. After working and traveling for two years, I decided to apply to the art academy and the fashion department interested me the most. I was admitted to the HKU Utrecht School of the Arts and studied and lived there happily from 2002 to 2006. I won the HKU Award for my graduation collection,
Hide Out
, which is a prize for the most innovative graduation project. With the prize money, I was able to take my time finding out what I wanted to do next. For the past few years I’ve been running my own fashion label, Femke Agema. My designs are characterized as wearable clothing with a twist that border between fashion, art and object.
What brought you to Amsterdam?
I met my boyfriend, graphic designer
Baster
, at the art academy. He graduated a few years before me and found an apartment and studio space in Amsterdam. I moved in with him when I graduated and we have been living together in Amsterdam for seven and a half happy years!
What inspired you to start your own fashion label? And how is it going?
It just kind of happened, really. At least, that’s how it feels. I don’t feel like I made a definite choice after I graduated from the art academy. I guess you could say I secretly made a choice since I didn’t job hunt right after I graduated. I figured that if I found a job and became accustom to the luxury of a guaranteed monthly salary then making the step to working for myself would have been more difficult. My experience so far? It’s hard work. You have to be flexible and take on many different roles as your own boss, and need to be patient. I’ve been doing this for a little while so there’s gradual progress, but I still have to work very hard.
Can you tell us about your latest collection?
The summer collection,
Mould
, was inspired by a photograph I found of mushrooms. The texture and the clustering of the mushrooms really struck me. Mushrooms can be found in so many different forms and colors - nature is ingenious! I then gathered images that were similar to that one of the clustered mushroms, like images of crowded and overly-packed bicycles, cars and donkeys. The bundling of repeated forms is beautiful. It doesn't matter what the forms are, if they're milk cartons, baskets, mushrooms, etc. This collection of images I pinned up on my bulletin board formed the start of the collection. The collection that follows this one is the winter one, which will also include a few golden oldies from previous collections.
Would you say that the city of Amsterdam inspires you?
It's hard to say, I actually don’t know any different.
What does a typical day look like for you?
My life is a little crazy right now since I became a mother about four months ago. I’ve been back at work for a few weeks now, but my daughter often comes to the studio with me since she won't be going to daycare until May. Now my days are very different (and less efficient) than normal!
Can you name a few of your favorite places in Amsterdam?
I'm often at the Rembrandtpark since it’s close to my studio and my home. I take long walks here with my dog, Pepi, as I love watching the seasons change. Another favorite place is this studio in de Baarsjes. Until recently I shared the space with my best friend Will (he’s an English copywriter) – he has now left for a job somewhere else and I’m going to miss him very much! I don’t have favorite coffee places. I'm frugal and I make my own coffee, haha. But I recently had dinner at
Repéré
and can highly recommend it.
What's next?
I’m busy with the new collection. There’s quite a lot of pressure to get it finished because I’m a little behind. I'm going to include successful items from previous collections in this new collection - the popular Zigzag Sweater from the
Nigliktok
collection is making a come back in a new color combination. Classics with a new twist.
Thank you Femke for this interview! Find out more about Femke and her work on her
website
, or follow along on
Facebook
. You can also find pieces from Femke's latest collection at shops in the Netherlands including
KOKO's Coffee & Design
.
Mark de Lange | Ace & Tate
Introducing classic designs with a contemporary twist. The best part? You no longer have to pay hundreds of Euros for a stylish and durable new pair of glasses.
Ace & Tate
offers Italian, handmade frame cuts from the finest acetate and fitted with high-quality lenses, all for the price of (just!) 98 euros. Based in Amsterdam, the eyewear company was founded by magazine enthusiast with an eye for design, Mark de Lange (1981, Laren). We stopped by Ace & Tate's new office at
Bouncespace
on the Overtoom to talk about the concept and where they're headed next.
Can you tell us about yourself?
I’m cofounder of Ace & Tate. Previously, I was the Managing Partner of
Global Grid Capital
, an early-stage investment firm with a strong focus on tech startups based in Amsterdam. I guess you could say that with Ace & Tate, I wanted to do something for myself. I wanted to really create something.
What inspired you to start Ace & Tate?
When I was in New York City with my girlfriend in 2011, I purchased a beautiful but expensive frame for a pair of glasses. Back in the Netherlands I had to place prescription lenses and they cost more than the frames themselves. It surprised me because a pair of glasses didn’t strike me as a particularly complicated product to manufacture. What’s strange is that I have 25 different pairs of sneakers, but only one pair of glasses, and that I don’t wear my sneakers when I go out to dinner but I always wear that same pair of glasses. That’s when I started thinking, why can’t we offer affordable yet high quality and stylish glasses? Why is it that you can only find either lower quality pairs at high street opticians and expensive frames at optical boutiques? Why don’t I find the middle ground? So that’s what I did.
It started with research. I wanted to know how the industry worked, who the key players were, basically everything I needed to start my own eyewear company. I visited several glasses fairs, downloaded all the exhibitor guides and started calling, emailing and faxing (yes… the glasses world is an old one). I pitched my ideas at fairs and exhibitors scoffed - they didn’t think my concept would work. Eventually I came across a family-owned business in Northern Italy with more than 50 years of experience in making eyeglass frames. They were interested, and it really took off from there. We found a factory, accumulated funding, worked out our business plan, and created our first collection. Our designs are inspired by the great classic eyewear styles but updated with a contemporary twist. We also selected materials, and our main material (the one we named our company after) is acetate, a flexible and durable material that comes in a variety of colors and patterns.
How have you been able to cut down the costs?
The problem with eyewear is that just a few very large companies control the market, keeping the prices needlessly high. Add to that the incredible mark-ups that are the industry standard, and you have expensive glasses. In the traditional way, you pay too many people (the designer, the manufacturer, the licence holder and the retailer). We’ve been able to cut out several links in the chain and bypass traditional channels by selling online. We’re doing things on our own terms, and we’re able to engage with the customers directly.
You launched in June 2013. How’s it going?
It’s going very well, better than we expected so we’re very happy. People are very enthusiastic and happy with our products, which is really a reward for all the hard work we’ve put in. We’ve grown from 3 to 12 people and counting. They cover all aspects of the business, from an optometrist to a designer to a web designer to a logistics coordinator to a customer service manager. We take customer service very seriously, and by focusing on it, I think we can really distinguish ourselves as an eyewear company. Our products can be purchased on our website, but we have several showrooms so people can try the glasses on, find out what they like, and ask for advice. We make sure that our high level of customer service can be traced throughout the customer’s entire purchasing process.
Would you say that the city of Amsterdam inspires you?
I’m from Laren but have lived in Amsterdam for more than 13 years. It definitely feels like home now. Although we did consider launching Ace & Tate in a city other than Amsterdam, we decided to start here because of our existing network. The Netherlands is a pretty compact market to test products, and if it works here then it should everywhere else. I’ve never seen Ace & Tate as a Dutch company. We love Amsterdam but we have international ambitions and don’t want to be tied to a specific city.
What does a typical day look like for you?
The first thing I do when I wake up is look at what happened the day before. I look through the statistics and check my email. I’m usually late in the mornings – I jump in the shower, jump out, and race to work. I’m here the whole day. My time now is divided between the expansion of Ace & Tate (including the expansion abroad) and the creative side of things (I'm responsible for the brand and our products).
Can you name some of your favorite places in Amsterdam?
Where should I start… I’m a big fan of
SLA
, the Sarphatipark and the bookshop Mendo. If I’m talking about books then I should mention the American Book Center and Athenaeum Nieuws Centrum (I’m addicted to magazines!) I love my apartment. Recommend Foam and EYE Film Instituut. Van Dobben has the best
filet americain
sandwiches in the world. I frequently visit The Movies, and I’m a big fan of the restaurant Bak in the West and Rijsel in the East.
What’s next?
We’ve recently expanded to England and we're launching in Germany this summer. We’re not sure what the definition of a European player is, but we think it’s becoming an important brand in the eyewear industry in several European cities. With London on the map and Berlin on the way, we’re heading in the right direction.
Thanks Mark for this interview! For more information, visit the
Ace & Tate website
. You can also try on a pair of Ace & Tate glasses at one of the showrooms, including
Hutspot
in Amsterdam, and buy them
online
.
Hilary Metcalfe Ramirez | Hilary's Table
Fleeting, surprising and not-to-miss are just a few words to describe Hilary Metcalfe-Ramirez's (1983, Los Angeles, California) pop-up brunches and dinners. A Harvard University graduate and food enthusiast, her pop-up venture, Hilary's Table (also known as
Hilary's Pop-Up Events
) is the result of a slightly gypsy background, a love for thoughtful food and cooking, and the women in her life and travels. We met with Hilary at her beautiful home on a Saturday morning. As we talked about her passion for food and her thoughts for the future, she prepared the loveliest winter ginger cookies.
Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
I grew up between Los Angeles, California and Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, where I moved at age 11. My Mother ran a boutique hotel and restaurant in a tiny beach village. We ran barefoot in the dirt streets and hung around her nouveau Mexican-Californian kitchen, waiting for treats. At 15, I lived with my gourmandise godmother in a sleepy village on Cape Cod in Massachusetts. She threw lavish dinner parties with rarely a repeat table setting or menu. She taught me about finer ingredients and helped me develop technique in the kitchen. At Harvard University in Cambridge, MA, I studied Sustainable Development (Environment) with a focus on threats to food systems. Later, I studied in France where I lived with an incredible French woman in Strasbourg who fed me a different regional specialty every night and taught me about French food and wine. In 2007, I moved with my husband, Omar, from Boston to Zurich where I worked in sustainable investments in Sub Saharan Africa.
What brought you to Amsterdam?
My husband and I were always drawn to Amsterdam. We visited often when we lived in Zurich and when an Amsterdam work opportunity came for him in late 2008, we didn't think twice about making Amsterdam our new home.
What inspired you to set up Hilary's Table?
The fantastic people I met in Amsterdam inspired me, and learning to love the present moment made it happen, easier said than done most of the time! But, I believe that if something is challenging, then it’s probably worth doing. The experience has been incredible, full of learning and growth. Combine my slightly gypsy background, my love for thoughtful food and cooking, and the women in my life and travels... The threads have always been there, but I didn't have a platform. Then everything fell into place exactly as it needed to.
A friend who tried my food at a summer BBQ in 2012 demanded I do a pop-up. Within moments, all my excuses dissolved as everyone there had something to offer to help make this a reality. Before I knew it I had a sous-chef, several waitresses, Omar would be my front-of-house and George Haddad offered my first venue (now
G’s
in De Jordaan).
Would you say that the city of Amsterdam inspires you?
Amsterdam inspires because there are so many people living alternate paths and this is accepted, if not nurtured. In our ever-standardizing and globalizing world, it can seem like we are factory produced to serve as a cog in a system. And in the places I had lived before, deviation from the track made you a sort of deviant, but usually assumed to not be “successful” - in a world where success is an egoistic definition relating to possession, wealth, position, power, etc. The smaller, winding and creative paths are not traditionally as valued. This path is also often the one of an entrepreneur or maker. Before wealth or recognition, although that can be a result, their success is living their passion and giving the product of that honestly to the world. I think that's beautiful!
What does a typical day look like for you?
I sometimes feel like I'm balancing plates on sticks because on top of Hilary’s Table, where I do weekend pop-up feasts, brunches and dinners, I also have a corporate day job as a Senior Manager in a multinational media corporation. I also organize some private dining events and collaborate on food projects, like developing the menu for the lovely and adorable team at
Trust
in De Pijp. This means my days are always different with some constants.
There is work-work and then there is fun-work, which is anything relating to food, events and nutrition. Fun-work involves reading cookbooks, culinary textbooks, blog surfing, ingredient hunting, market scouring, dish sampling, test cooking, costing, location scouting and theme brainstorms with my supportive and creative friends and team including Cath Laporte, Karine Pierre-Louis, Amadeus Henhapl and husband Omar, the willing test subjects.
Can you name a few of your favorite places in Amsterdam?
I love the places that represent that start-up mentality in Amsterdam and offer something unique, makers from different walks.
Bubblekid
Amsterdam, a hair salon, vintage store and bike shop in one filled with great people,
Bakers & Roasters
café in De Pijp, virtually any biological organic or specialty food market, like Johannes Verhulstraatmarkt or Noordermarkt, and Trust.
Trust
is a warm place where the team works hard to maintain positive energy in their cooking and in the space, and having developed the day-to-day menu myself, I can vouch for the food!
What's next for you?
Ongoing pop-ups of course but I’m also working on a collaboration with an award-winning Illustrator and fellow cook with whom I have worked before, expanding on our mutual love for both secretly and blatantly healthy food, delivered it in a sexy way with that little element of surprise. We are still deciding between fixed and roaming relocation and more but stay tuned!
Thanks Hilary for this inspiring interview! Follow
Hilary's Pop-Up Events
on Facebook to stay up-to-date with upcoming events.
Mae Engelgeer | Textile Designer
The work of talented textile designer
Mae Engelgeer
(1982) can be described as fresh, modern and eye-catching. With a background in styling and textile design, Mae combines bright colors, striking graphics and beautiful materials to create beautiful ranges of products, including bedding, tea towels, cushions and scarves. I visited Mae in her studio off the Kadijksplein in the center of Amsterdam, in a building she shares with other creatives like illustrator
Maartje van den Noort
. With plans to expand from weaving to knitting, furniture fabrics, carpet-design, and ceramics, it was clear from our conversation that Mae is only just getting started.
Can you tell us about yourself?
I’m from a small city called Harderwijk but have been living in Amsterdam for almost 11 years now. I studied styling and textile design at the
Amsterdam Fashion Institute
, and graduated with a collection of mostly handmade pieces that were silk-screened, knitted or embroidered. I worked in the fashion industry for two years, and learned a lot about the whole process. But I was itching to do more. I wanted to work for myself and work with textiles again. I decided to start an MA in Applied Arts at the
Sandberg Institute
, and it was there that I was able to experiment across a range of media. I studied with people from different disciplines, from jewelry makers to ceramists to glassblowers… We worked together and inspired each other’s work. It was a great experience, and I realized that textiles could be more autonomous. I had found the perfect balance between art and commerce.
When did you decide to work for yourself?
For my graduation project, I created a fabric that was picked up by the
Frozen Fountain
and sold in their shop. From there I created a collection that included blankets. I liked the idea that people could buy my products and have a little piece of mine in their homes. At that time I was still working part-time as a stylist and freelance designer. I had my daughter, and I worked part-time and created my fabrics next to that. But my drive to continue to create and to think of new things kept me going. Eventually I decided that I had to go for it. People were recognizing my fabrics and were interested. I was getting more requests which made me realize there was a place for my products. I believed I could translate my vision, of combining graphic elements and color, into products that people could recognize and want to purchase. When I found my studio space it was just another confirmation that I was doing the right thing. Now I’m still very happy when I wake up in the morning and bike to my studio. I don’t consider it work. I’m just doing something I love and I’m passionate about.
How's it going?
It’s been very busy! I presented my work in Milan last April and it’s been very busy since then. I realized that I want to focus on creating new things as a designer. I don’t want to become a brand and make only commercial products. I don’t want to sacrifice the quality or produce in countries or places I don’t feel comfortable with. I like working with different people or companies to create interesting products, and I continue to work with different mediums that are close to weaving. I’ve just starting knitting, making furniture fabrics, designing a carpet and even some ceramics… All with my own signature. Now that I have a child, I’m also more driven to make it work. And I want to maintain the flexibility of being my own boss. It’s a lot of work, even in the evenings, but then I have a day with my daughter in return. I’ve also been working with interns for the past year and a half, and it’s so nice to share ideas and not to have to do everything myself. Most of them are working for the studio as freelancers. It’s nice to build a team of creative people who know me, and the studio. I’m also working with new agents and distributors now, which means I have to let others do things a bit more then I’m used to. I’m very careful about that because I am what I sell and I believe strongly in that personal connection that I’ve had with my clients. I don’t want to lose that. I have a strong vision and I think I make good quality products. I will do everything I can to preserve that.
Can you tell us about your work?
I create designs that are mostly a mix of a graphic element, a new or specific color combination, and tactility of soft yarns. My work contains some kind of openness, and that translates to who I am as a person, but I think it’s also something that characterizes the Dutch.
How does a collection come to be? What's the process?
For every collection there’s one thing that I focus on. I created a collection with bows because I wanted to focus on an element that’s considered one of the most decorative in design. The next collection was a more blocky one, and previously, I gave the zigzag a new look. So that’s really the first idea I have. Then I think of a color palette. I pick out a single color like mint, or more recently, lilac. My concepts are less about a story but more about the materials and based on a feeling I have. I usually let an idea of mine sit for a few months and then translate it into a mood board. This helps to visualize my thoughts, for myself and for the interns. I usually sketch the design on paper and then enter it into the computer. When we’re at the textile lab, we translate it into an actual product by testing it on the weaving machine and adjusting the design if necessary. I usually spend one or two days at the TextielLab in Tilburg. It’s a very intense process. You don’t have a lot of time and you really learn to make decisions, fast.
Would you say that the city of Amsterdam inspires you?
Amsterdam is a busy city but you don’t have to participate in the chaos. I jump on my bike to work in the morning, to the studio, then off to a meeting… I’m really inspired by the liveliness, and the buildings. And I have a lot of friends who are involved in design in someway or another. I’m mostly surrounded by people who think like me, are inspired by similar things, and are open to new thoughts and ideas.
What does a typical day look like for you?
My day starts with coffee. You could say I’m a coffee addict! When I arrive at the studio that’s the first thing I do, or I get a coffee to go along the way. We turn on the computers and make lists of what needs to be done, and lay out things that need to be sent out. We might have a meeting, or several, throughout the day. But every day is really different. Yesterday, for example, we were knitting in the lab and today we’re here preparing the designs for the furniture fabrics. But Amsterdam is great because it’s so easy to get everywhere.
Can you name a few of your favorite places in Amsterdam?
I recently visited the
Stedelijk Museum
for the first time since they reopened. I went with my daughter, and we both loved it. It’s such an inspiring place, and I thought to myself, I have to come here more. I also love biking to work in the morning or spending time at the Vondelpark.
What’s next?
I’m definitely in a nice flow right now. I’m starting to think more strategically about where I want to go with the studio. I’m looking forward to working with more inspiring people and companies and creating beautiful products together. I have the feeling that I’m going in the right direction. And I just want to keep having fun!
Find out more about Mae and her collections on her
website
, and webshop
Magasin Mae
. You can find Mae's products in shops around Amsterdam including
Restored
on the Haarlemmerdijk.
Onno van Zanten | Barista
In Amsterdam, you can find coffee bars on almost every corner. But finding the gems among them is worth the scout. Lot Sixty One Coffee Roasters , a specialty coffee bar located in Oud West, is one of them. Here, they not only roast their own beans but enlighten coffee enthusiasts about the art of brewing coffee. Head Roaster of the popular joint is Onno van Zanten (1983, Alkmaar), a true coffee enthusiast who took a plunge in the coffee scene more than nine years ago. We caught up with Onno on a rainy Saturday morning to talk about the coffee scene in Amsterdam and his plans for the future.
Can you tell us about yourself?
I have been working in the coffee industry for nine years. I started as a sales barista at Douwe Egberts, and even though I enjoyed it, the company was too large for me and I left to become a consultant, giving workshops and providing restaurants and cafes with quality coffee beans. In 2010 I served coffee at events across the country in a mobile espresso bar, but found myself working for the masses again, and decided to take a step back. During my time at the Espressofabriek, I started to really focus on the quality of green beans. Since June 2013, I have been working at Lot Sixty One Coffee Roasters.
Why Lot Sixty One Coffee Roasters?
I’m Head Roaster at Lot Sixty One, along with my colleague, Head Barista Florian Hessel. We have a really great relationship with the owners, Adam Craig and Paul Jenner, and by working here, we have the possibility to buy and work with really great coffee. At Lot Sixty One, we stand for a certain quality of coffee. We roast our own coffee beans, giving us the ability to control the quality to some extent. The roasting process is very complex but incredibly important in defining the taste of the coffee. You can roast beans lighter or darker, faster (resulting in a more sour taste) or slower (more sweet in taste). Then it depends on how the coffee is grown, where it’s grown (high or low altitude), how it has been harvested (washed or unwashed), and eventually, how it has been roasted. When you start roasting, you create profiles that record the temperature and amount of time roasted. You then taste the beans, compare it to your profile, and make changes if necessary. It’s an ongoing process, and we’re always learning. At Lot Sixty One we roast every Tuesday.
Let’s take a step back. What interested you in coffee in the first place?
I’m always looking for things I can make, think crafts and finer things that require precision and dedication. A cup of coffee really listens to you – the amount of grams of coffee you use, the amount of water and the temperature… That has always really appealed to me. Eventually I found myself learning more about growing coffee and harvesting it, and the techniques to brew coffee. I think it’s fascinating to see how something grows and blossoms.
What does an average day look like for you?
I’m either sample roasting, which means that I’m roasting and tasting beans that have been sent to us from other countries. I might be packaging and delivering orders to several of our accounts, or out tasting new coffees for the shop. You can also find me behind the bar, or hosting workshops and public coffee tasting events called cuppings. We prepare coffee with roughly grinded coffee beans and slurp it (loudly) with a spoon – this is the best way to taste the coffee. This process is an experience that people really enjoy it. It’s a good way to introduce people to the beans we have in store, and teach them more about coffee in general.
Would you say the city of Amsterdam inspires you?
Amsterdam is really a city where everything’s possible. More and more, people are supporting specialty shops and new initiatives. We’re buying our bread at the bakery, vegetables at the grocer, meat at the butcher, and coffee at the coffee bar. Amsterdam is the perfect place for this. There are exchanges between makers in Amsterdam that I find to be so incredible. They inspire us and we inspire them.
The specialty coffee market is quite small and we all know each other. We’re very open and interested in learning from each other’s experiences. We all want to teach people more about coffee, so why not do that together? Does that mean we’re standing up against the larger coffee chains? Not necessarily, we have Starbucks to thank that people are accustomed to drinking coffee outside of their homes. But we’re bringing coffee to the next level.
You could say that coffee has become a trend in Amsterdam. Do you think this goes hand-in-hand with being more conscious about what we’re consuming?
I hope it’s not a trend. I really believe in quality coffee, and think that in the Netherlands at least, we’ve grown up with a certain standard of what coffee is and what it tastes like. If you compare that to the quality of coffee we serve here at Lot Sixty One, there’s a huge difference. More and more, people are looking for quality, and that’s really connected to awareness and knowledge about where coffee comes from and how it can be enjoyed. It’s interesting when you think about the fact that we know almost everything about wine – we know that a Pinot Noir is a little lighter than say a Merlot. But despite the fact that Douwe Egberts has been around for 250 years, so many people don’t know much about it. More recently, people have started asking questions like, what kind of coffee beans do you have? Where do they come from? What’s the difference? That’s where specialty coffee shops like this one come into the picture.
What’s next?
I want to continue introducing Amsterdam to good quality coffee. I want to teach people why they shouldn’t buy pre-ground coffee and why they should care about the roasting date on the package, for example. Once they start to understand that, then they’ll start to realize where they should go to find quality coffee in the city. That’s what I hope to continue doing on the client-side. I also want to become more involved in the behind-the-scenes process. Let me give you an example. I was in a small coffee bar yesterday and the guy next to me paid 3 Euro 80 for an Americano. As someone who knows more about coffee, I know that you can’t defend those kinds of prices. If you’re buying coffee beans for about 10 Euros a kilo, then a cup of coffee doesn’t cost you more than 50 cents. The price doesn't reflect that, and even though the prices are 'normal' for Amsterdam, it’s not transparent. It should be very simple: you’re happy to drink a cup of coffee and I’m happy to serve it to you. I’m happy I can buy it from a farmer and the farmer is happy that people are buying and drinking quality coffee. My goal is to be able to tell that story. But I fear there’s a long road ahead…
Thank you Onno for this interview!
Lot Sixty One Coffee Roasters
can be found on the Kinkerstraat 112, and is open Monday to Friday from 8am to 5pm, Saturday from 9am and Sunday from 10am. You can also find out more about brewing coffee at one of
SIMPLY SLOW
's
get togethers
with Onno van Zanten (Sunday February 2nd and Sunday February 16th).
Maartje van den Noort | Illustrator
As a frequent visitor of the smaller, more unique shops and boutiques in the city, I happened upon the work of talented illustrator
Maartje van den Noort
(1981, Gouda). A
postcard collection of birds
(including a parakeet, jay, golden oriole, blackbird, and more) caught my eye, and the honest simplicity of her work intrigued me. Moving from Zeeland, where she grew up, to Rotterdam, where she pursued studies in graphic design and the visual arts, Maartje now calls Amsterdam home. She lives with her husband Ruben van der Scheer, and works in a studio space in a creative hub right off the Prins Hendrikkade. I visited her in her studio to find out more about her passions and what inspires her.
Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
I grew up in Zeeland, the lower part of The Netherlands. Drawing was a big part of my childhood, I remember drawing princesses and making dresses for Barbies with my neighbor. I kept myself busy with creative projects. I knew I always wanted to do something creative in my life. I knew I wanted to make things. I moved to Rotterdam to study graphic design at the
Grafisch Lyceum
where I studied graphic design and styling – I remember watching a film about
Lidewij Edelkoort
(trend forecaster) and being mesmerized! It became quite obvious that I was a little too messy for graphic design, and one of my teachers suggested I attend the
Willem de Kooning Academy
. And I did. I studied autonomous arts, which meant that I was freer to do what I liked. The academy is quite a conceptual art academy, and I definitely learned a lot. I was able to experiment, and realized I was drawn to drawing, to illustration. The two studies, combined, were the perfect mix.
When I finished my studies, I was living in Gouda, and I was determined to become an artist. That is what I studied after all. I had a few small jobs here and there, and started making my own products. I knew the ladies of
Restored
(Petra van Roon and Marijke Hukema) who asked me to create lanterns for their store on the Jan Evertsenstraat (the store is now located on the Haarlemmerdijk and is run by Marijke and her husband David). In 2009, I was working more in Amsterdam, and made the move here in 2010 when I married Ruben. I guess you can say my career blossomed when I moved to Amsterdam.
What has your experience been working for yourself as an illustrator and graphic designer?
I love working for myself. It has been a long road, full of frustrations and learning to accept that this is my way, but now I wouldn’t want it any other way. Sometimes the insecurity is difficult, but I can live with a little of it, and I’m happy to take on new assignments. It’s all an adventure. Sometimes it all gets to be too much and I get stressed… That’s the hardest thing about being your own boss, there is no 'end of the day' as long as I don't say so.
Can you tell us about your work?
I focus primarily on illustration, and apply the drawings to other materials like textiles. When I graduated from the academy, I often caught myself looking to combine textile and paper. I enjoy applying my drawings to different fabrics, and would actually like to experiment more with textiles. There’s something about it… There’s usually a story, or some kind of history… There’s depth to textile that I often miss in paper.
People often ask my, why birds? Why nature? In the past I have focused more on people, then I went through a phase of houses and structures and forms. Slowly my interest transferred to nature. I think it was around the time that I admitted to myself that I love to draw, that my work doesn’t always need a concept behind it. Nature is such a complex, beautiful subject, and full of contradictions. Interesting enough for me to work with. The
bird postcards
are just products really while other work of mine, like
these prints
, is a little more free, open to interpretation, and able to spark your imagination…
Would you say that the city of Amsterdam inspires you?
Yes, although, I have to admit, it freaks me out sometimes and I feel like the city can drain all my energy. But the city always brings me something new. I love the diversity of the people, the smallness of the city, the Flevopark that is so close to our home, and my neighborhood and my neighbors. They really make me feel at home. Having friends next door is such a luxury. And I value all the small boutiques where I find other people like me. People who are like magpies and try to find beauty and display it in their own way.
What does a typical day look like for you?
I wake up at 8am, have breakfast, pack my things and bike to the studio, which is only about 10 minutes away. At around 10 or 11am I need coffee, so I either make it in the studio or I buy it on my way. In the studio I check my email and make a list of what needs to be done, then pack orders that have been placed in my online shops. At around 1pm we have lunch together – I share the studio with Sandra Turina, Maike Wiegman and Nicola Reiter. After lunch I bike into town to drop off packages, or I spend my time making new things like drawings, scarves or etchings. I also like to spend time at the Grafisch Werkcentrum Amsterdam. I try to do this around one day every two weeks. But, to be honest, everyday is very different as I have so many things to do.
Can you name a few of your favorite places in Amsterdam?
For shops, I can recommend Restored, Bon Bon Boutique and Annliz. For food and drinks, my favorites include Boterham, Wilde Zwijnen, Latei, Branderij, Qawha D’or, Elena’s Pasta / Mezzo and Orloff.
What’s next for you?
I hope to work together with other designers or brands to create beautiful new products. One day I would love to illustrate a book, and I would love to continue creating illustrations for magazines. But the most important thing, for me, is to keep creating. I need to continue to find the time to sit down, and draw.
Thank you Maartje for this interview and for inviting me to your beautiful studio! Maartje's work can be purchased on her
website
, or at several shops around the city including
Restored
and
KOKO Coffee & Design
. For an overview of stockists, check out her
website
.
Caroline Kruijssen & Karlijn Timmermans | KOKO Coffee & Design
Located in the heart of Amsterdam's most notorious neighborhood, the red light district,
KOKO Coffee and Design
is a quiet refuge, a sense of calm amongst the craze. Combining their love for fashion and coffee, Karlijn Timmermans (1984, Den Bosch) and Caroline Kruijssen (1982, Sekondi, Ghana) have curated a beautiful place full of warmth. You'll find great coffee made from
Caffènation
beans (Antwerp)
, loose teas and delicious cakes and a stunning collection
of handpicked designs including clothing by
Sanne Jansen
and
Femka Agema
, jewelry, home decor, totes and prints by illustrators like
Studio Doeke
, and rotating exhibitions (currently of paintings and drawings by illustrator
Suzanna Knight
until March 12th). We talked to Caroline and Karlijn about starting KOKO Coffee & Design.
Can you tell us a little about yourselves?
(Karlijn) After studying Media & Journalism in Rotterdam, I worked at a media research agency. I soon realized it wasn’t my passion and went back to work part-time at a shop in Den Bosch, selling designer clothing, where I met Caroline. I was working at the shop to save money so I could travel for half a year (that half a year turned into a full year in Perth, Australia, where I worked at the
Dome Coffee
). It was hard to come back home but when I did, I decided to move to Amsterdam with Caroline.
(Caroline) I’ve always been very interested in fashion and studied Lifestyle & Design at the Willem de Kooning Academy. After starting my studies, I realized that I’m more practically based, and began to work as a freelance stylist. I found an internship at ELLE Magazine, where I developed my skills as a stylist. It’s hard to find a position in this competitive world, and I decided that I wanted to add something instead of wait for a styling job to come up. I took things into my own hands and set out to create a place where beautiful clothing, good service, and client-centricity could come together. They’re cliche words but they’re so important when starting a shop. We strive to do this everyday at KOKO.
What brought you to Amsterdam?
(K) Caroline and I moved to Amsterdam to work at a new clothing store on the Spiegelgracht. After I started, I didn’t feel like it was the right place for me, and just wanted to make coffees all day! One day, Caroline told me to start my own coffee bar, and I decided to change career paths to get more experience in the coffee world.
(C) We both had the idea to move up to Amsterdam. I’ve always been in love with the city. Amsterdam offers many more opportunities than Tilburg, where I grew up.
What inspired you to start KOKO Coffee & Design?
(K) We share a strong vision of what a store should be. When we moved to Amsterdam we couldn’t find a place where we could drink good coffee, find inspiration, and shop for interesting clothing. We’ve seen the combination of shops and other concepts in other cities, and we believed it could be possible to do this but that all the aspects should be carried out with love and passion. That’s very important to us, and underlies the basis of KOKO Coffee & Design. Everything you can buy here has been collected with care. We like the products and hope our clients do too. It helps that we (Caroline and I) have always worked well together – we complement each other in many ways. Starting off as colleagues, we have become great friends. And when we go to buy new products, we often select the same things, that’s really special.
(C) After my internship at ELLE, I wasn't sure about what I wanted to do. I remember Karlijn and I were hanging out one night and we started working out all of our ideas – her plan to start a coffee bar and my ambition to continue with styling. We decided to start a shop with an espresso bar, to create a place where our passions could come together under one roof. We wanted to create an honest and approachable place where people could feel at home, have a cup of coffee and take a peak inside our closet (and buy the pieces too!)
Would you say that the city of Amsterdam inspires you?
(K) The freedom that I’ve always felt in Amsterdam inspires me. And Amsterdam continues to surprise me everyday - I can bike around and suddenly see something I’ve never noticed before. It never gets old.
(C) Amsterdam is always lively and there’s always something to do. When I’m in Amsterdam I feel like I’m part of the world. You find so many international people here, but at the same time, Amsterdam can feel very small, much like a town.
Can you take us through a typical day?
(K) KOKO opens at 9am and I’m usually here by 8.30am to get everything ready. The mornings are usually quite busy but during quieter moments, I check emails and discuss the week with Caroline. We close the shop at 6.30pm and usually take another hour to clean up before we head home or grab a glass of wine.
(C) We open at 9.00am. I start my morning with a flat white, take a photograph of the shop for our social media channels, and make sure the shop is good shape.
Can you name a few of your favorite places in Amsterdam?
(K) When I’m not drinking coffee at KOKO, I like to stop by Lot Sixty One Coffee Roasters or Headfirst Coffee Roasters. We invite our friends over to KOKO for drinks with wines from Vleck. For beers, we like de Zotte or de Tuin. Our favorite Thai place, Occha, is around the corner and we recently discovered Rosa’s Cantina, another great place for a bite to eat.
(C) Thanks to KOKO, we receive invitations to openings or exhibitions almost every week. These are usually fun evenings when we meet people with different interests.
What's next?
(C&K) We're going to concentrate on maintaining the quality of KOKO Coffee & Design, and expanding the men and women's collections. We aim to set up an agency or flagship store where we can represent the fashion labels we believe in. And a second location would be really great.
Thank you Caroline and Karlijn for this interview! Be sure to stop by
KOKO Coffee & Design
on the
Oudezijds Achterburgwal 145, open Tuesday to Friday from 9am to 6.30pm, Saturday from 10am to 6pm and Sunday from 12 to 6pm.
Alexander Six | Six & Sons
New to the popular shopping street, the Haarlemmerdijk, is the concept store/coffee bar,
Six& Sons
(just a few doors down from
Restored
). Former art director and set designer Alexander Six always had a passion for interior design, and launching a webshop a year ago was just the first step. Now, Six & Sons has manifested itself as a crafted and beautifully curated space with a unique selection of products including Swedish porcelain
ByMutti
, Tokyo-based
Postalco
stationary, and
Campfire Cologne
from Portland, Oregon. Its raw and manly interior is anything but cold, people have flocked to the newest hotspot for not only its great selection of products but the café upstairs, serving cups of coffee and tasty treats. We spoke to the man behind it all, Alexander Six, to find out more.
Can you tell us a little about yourself?
I was an art director for films and commercials for 10 years, where I was responsible for set design and decor. In 2007 I designed the interior of
Olivers
, a restaurant in the Zuidas, and started to do more of that kind of work (with apartments, etc.) I’ve always been passionate about interior design and collecting beautiful things, and I finally realized that I wanted to have my own shop, a place where I could collect and sell all those beautiful things I had found. That’s really how it happened. Just a year ago I started doing this part-time, next to my work. Two days a week I traveled to markets, looking for pieces to fix up, and sold them online in my
webshop
. Before I knew it I was presenting my collection at markets in the city, at
Hutspot
, and at the Woonbeurs. It was then that I decided, now is the time to start doing this for real.
Six & Sons went from being a webshop to a physical shop on the Haarlemmerdijk. What has your experience been so far?
The webshop was a safe way to see if people were interested in the concept. Not that it’s easy to maintain - a webshop is just a like a real shop, but perhaps even more complicated because it doesn’t have a physical location. You really have to make sure people can find you. Hutspot really helped me with that. We’re talking about vintage furniture here, and people always want to try out a chair or hold a product before buying it. I guess the webshop functioned as a catalogue, sending people to check out the products at Hutspot.
Since then it’s been a roller coaster ride. I had a stand at the Woonbeurs in October, and around that time I went to check out this location. Three weeks later it was mine. Crumpler, the store that was here at the time, needed three weeks to pack up. Renovating took another three weeks and then I opened the doors. It all went very quickly! But I’ve received many compliments on the assortment of products and on the shop’s interior - I’m very happy.
Can you tell us a little more about the concept? And why the name ‘Six & Sons’?
It’s a shop and a coffee bar for several reasons. Six & Sons is my universe of things that I consider beautiful, and things I like. And I really like good coffee. Then, I sell a lot of furniture and the best way to to do that is to let people use it. And in the café, people can try out the chairs and use the tables. I also really like that people come and go, it’s very lively. People may come for a cup of coffee or a cabinet or a sweater or bar of soap, it’s all possible. That’s what I like the most - it’s more than a shop, it’s a mini-warehouse.
Then the name, Six & Sons. Well, my last name is Six, and I consider myself to be the curator. My ‘sons’ are the craftsmen, the artists and the designers who have either made the products or have given the products a new life. A lot of the old pieces I sell have had many different lives, and that ‘wear and tear’ was made possible by the sons. This shop also has two official ‘sons’, whose products can be found in the shop including
UNDSCVRD.com
, a webshop with a collection of bags and accessories for men, and
The Hunting Ensemble
, a webshop with menswear.
I sell products from all over the world, from America to Japan to Scandinavia to China. I'm usually in contact with small businesses, like these two girls in Portland who sell
bars of soap
, and they’re just excited to see their products sold in the world. Making those connections has been really great – I can now fill up so many vacations to cities all over the world!
Would you say that the city of Amsterdam inspires you?
Definitely. I think cities in general are very inspiring. I love the fast pace and I think the people are inspiring, they're usually one step ahead in terms of aesthetic and wants and needs as compared to people in the countryside. I think the city also has a lot to do with the success of the shop. And the street especially. I consider the people who walk down this street to be more open and honest. They’re not here just to buy something. They're here for the experience. That’s why I really enjoy being able to invite people in for a coffee.
What does a typical day look like for you?
My girlfriend and I, we're not morning people. Our mornings are quite chaotic and we’re always running to get our daughter to school and our son to daycare. After I drop my daughter off, I bike to the shop. I usually get here at around 8.30am so I have some time before I open the shop at 9am. Everyday is quite different. I might work behind the counter, examine the inventory in the basement, travel to markets to find new items, or go to the workshop to fix up old pieces.
What’s next?
I’m focusing on the store for now. I can do so many different things with this space, it’s exciting. I think that by opening the store, I have proven my abilities as an interior designer and I hope to do more in this line of work. I also want to collaborate with others and make new products, for example, with UNDSCVRD, The Hunting Ensemble, or Hutspot. We’re also looking into selling more women’s clothing in the future – clothing with a manly touch. And I’ll continue to add to the assortment, to find and buy beautiful products, and sell them. I’m just going to focus on doing that for a year, and then we’ll see!
Thank you Alexander for this interview, and all the best to you! Six & Sons is located on the Haarlemmerdijk 31 and is open Monday to Friday from 9am to 6pm and Saturday and Sunday from 10m to 6pm.
Rozemarijn Koopmans, Nick Topp & David de Zwart | Multitude
Multitude is the multidisciplinary design studio of designers Rozemarijn Koopmans (1988, Utrecht), Nick Topp (1988, Arnhem) and David de Zwart (1989, Zutphen). Having met during their studies at
ArtEZ Institute of the Arts
in Arnhem, working together after university seemed like the only way to go. Since then, they have been working on a variety of different projects from the design of Milan's
Tuttobene
exhibition to the in-store communication of the biological supermarket
Marqt
to the visual identity, website and packaging of dried-fruit brand
Artisani
. I visited their studio in de Pijp, where they work with several independent industrial designers in a minimalistic and almost serene space, driven by passion and professionalism.
Can you tell us a little about yourselves?
We all grew up in Gelderland, an area not exactly known for its widespread creativity (although Arnhem does it’s best). I guess we shared a similar creative drives as we all entered the Graphic Design department at
ArtEZ Institute of the Arts
. We weren’t in the same class until the third year, when we chose the same minor-program and developed a shared interest for editorial design and research. We applied for a university-based master program in Amsterdam because we all felt the need to increase our skills in these areas, and during our studies, focused on design critique and writing. We then started to work on projects together and it only seemed logical to continue doing so after university, which led to starting Multitude.
What brought you all to Amsterdam?
David and Nick had moved to Amsterdam in the last year of their studies and Rozemarijn moved right after the year finished. We all would have moved to Amsterdam regardless of our master’s programs (Arnhem gets quite boring once school is over but the two kind of collided. Amsterdam is a great place to live - it’s not a metropolis but still large enough to feel anonymous at times. There are great museums and galleries and we really enjoy being part of the creative scene.
What inspired you to start Multitude? What have your experiences been so far?
Nobody really proposed the initiative to start an office. The idea to continue working together seemed like the only logical thing to do. We developed a set of skills during our studies that still complements the work we do now, with and for people that we admire. This has given us the opportunity to work with a wide variety of clients, for whom we created both visual and theoretical projects. We are responsible for the
Tuttobene
exhibition in Milan, which showcases Dutch design talent during
Salone del Mobile
, but we also work for the biological supermarket
Marqt
. We are also working on a research project that investigates the position of the court of law in the 21st century, and Rozemarijn teaches a course in Arnhem called Network Cultures. It’s great to be able to work on so many different levels.
Would you say that the city of Amsterdam inspires you?
We are very fond of Amsterdam, but we would move to New York in a heartbeat if the opportunity came along! But Amsterdam has a very nice atmosphere, with great initiatives in design, shops, music and food. We work in a beautiful part of the city (de Pijp) and the Albert Cuyp market is right around the corner. Anything you might need is within reach, from print shops to the
Stedelijk Museum
. Amsterdam can be a bit dreamy at times, which makes it quite sympathetic.
What do your typical days look like?
Usually, we are at the office together working on our projects. We plan our days together, divide our to-do’s, schedule meetings, and take care of whatever comes our way. We have to be quite flexible as there are always emergency projects that pop up when you least expect it, and we have to travel to clients all over the Netherlands. You could hardly call it just a full-time job, we are
always
working to some extent, even on Friday nights over a couple of beers.
Can you name a few of your favorite places in Amsterdam?
Well
Café Brecht
(Weteringschans 157) is definitely a favorite hangout, their beer collection is great. We are often around the area of the Zeedijk since we all love Asian food, we can recommend
Thai Bird
(Zeedijk 74). We are also fans of
Wilde Zwijnen
,
Vinnies Deli
,
De Trut
(support your local gayscene everyone!),
De Twee Zwaantjes
,
Roest
, the Noordermarkt (don't miss the bread stands!), and the bookstores
Athenaeum
and
Mendo
.
What's next for Multitude?
We’re looking forward to 2014! If all goes as planned, we will start working with interns soon. We hope to work on more international projects, and find some more time to do self-initiated projects that deserve more attention.
Thank you David, Nick and Rozemarijn for this interview! You can find out more about Multitude on their
website
, or follow them on
Facebook
.
Lisa Rooimans & Paul van Duuren | Sweet Cup
The little gem
Sweet Cup
joined Amsterdam's specialty coffee scene, or revolution you might say, earlier this year. Lisa Rooimans and Paul van Duuren are the couple behind Sweet Cup, a hole in the wall meets laid-back living room speciality coffee shop behind the craze of the Leidseplein. Having dreamed of having their own place for a while, they opened their doors, with their adorable pup Sjefke, in May. You'll now finding them roasting their own beans, serving delicious flat whites with some of the best latte art I've seen in town, and dishing up red velvet cupcakes and classic Dutch apple pie. Definitely worth stopping by, even just to escape the craziness surrounding Leidseplein (and for the smell of roasting coffee beans)!
Can you tell us a little about yourselves?
Paul has been working in restaurants and catering since he was 14 years old – and he’s done just about everything. He then traveled to the US and on his return, found a job at MobiCcino, a company that arranges coffee bars and baristas at festivals and events. That’s where we met. Lisa had also worked in restaurants, and was interested in learning more about wine but ended up at MobiCcino. Paul continued on to work for
Screaming Beans
(Hartenstraat 12), where he was really introduced to coffee and coffee-making, and
Coffee Bru
(Beukenplein 14). Lisa took a step out in the art world, but always knew she wanted to start something for herself.
What inspired you to start Sweet Cup?
Coffee is our passion. We wanted to create a place where customers could receive personal attention. When we found a way to start our own place, we jumped on it. And it went really quickly.
Can you tell us more about owning your own coffee place?
We did it everything on an extremely low budget from the renovations to the branding. When you have a small budget you have to be creative. You really have to be driven to make it a success and that was really true in our case. When thinking about a name, we were actually on a completely different track – Wild Roaster – but Lisa thought it sounded to tough. Paul came up with the name,
Sweet Cup
, which is actually an English term for a really sweet cup of coffee. And since Lisa bakes cupcakes, cakes, cookies and other sweet treats, it was perfect.
What makes us different than a lot of cafes or restaurants that serve coffee is that we roast our own beans. What this means is that we select green beans from several importers. We roast small amounts at a time, allowing us to cater to those we prefer filtered coffee (a bag is about 250g) and consistently deliver fresh coffee. Roasting our own beans allows us to offer a selection of different coffees that we like ourselves, in a varied price range.
Would you say that the city of Amsterdam inspires you?
We actually think that starting something in Amsterdam is very difficult. Like we said, we got lucky. We have noticed though, that more and more people want to work for themselves. People have their own ideas and want to work those out. I have friends in other fields of work who, when they heard we were starting our own coffee place, said, “If you can do it, I can too!” It’s almost like something you pass on. It seems very unattainable until you see someone else do it. You don't need very much to start a small business today. The Internet has also made it a lot easier.
What does a typical day look like for you?
Lisa gets up at around 7.30am during the week and 9am in the weekend, while Paul and Sjef stay in bed a little longer – Sjefke doesn’t like getting up early. Lisa gets things started at Sweet Cup and Paul and Sjef show up a little later. People come and go and at the end of the day, we close up and head back home. It’s not that exciting!
Can you name a few of your favorite places in Amsterdam?
Let’s see…
Small World Catering
(Binnen Oranjestraat 14) is one of our favorites, as is
Gartine
(Taksteeg 7). But we work seven days a week, 13 hours a day… So we don’t make it out very much. Sometimes colleagues drop by for a cup of coffee, or we go to Coffee Bru – they sell our coffees and we sell their teas. But it’s always after work and we’re often tired of our long days. But we do participate in the
Koffieomfietskaart
and that’s been really fun. We send customers to the other coffee places listed on the card. Every place has a different philosophy but that’s what makes coffee so fun. It’s mostly young people working in the Amsterdam coffee scene so it’s interesting to share knowledge and our tips. You often find that baristas work at one coffee place but live closer to another, so we’re always running into each other.
What's next for you?
Paul has a plan for the future – he wants to own his own micro-lot, a small plot of land for growing coffee beans. If you own a micro-lot, you can determine what to grow there and what happens during the growing process. Even once the beans are harvested, there’s still a lot you can do with them. That’s definitely a dream. But right now we’re busy setting up a website and a webshop. We’ve had a lot of international customers who have asked, “Can I buy your coffee online?” We hope to get there, but we’re focusing on the Netherlands right now. We also want to give workshops, like coffee roasting workshops (we're organising one
today
with Alex Kitain of
The Coffeevine
) or latte art classes. We’ve only been here a few months… We’ll see how it goes!
Thanks Lisa and Paul for this interview! Drop by for a coffee from Monday to Friday from 8.30am to 6.30pm, Saturday from 9.00am to 6.30pm, and Sunday from 11.00am to 6pm, on the Lange Leidsedwarsstraat 101.
Hyshil Sander | Illustrator & Designer
When visiting
Hear Hear
on the Heisteeg in the center of Amsterdam, a certain set of postcards caught my eye – cards by illustrator and designer
Hyshil Sander
(1983). Her playful, ethereal and dream-like drawings stayed with me and I was inspired to find out more. Living in IJburg with her husband and six year old daughter, Hyshil works several days a week in a studio space in Amsterdam Noord. I met up with her to find out more about the inspiration behind her work and her experiences working as a freelancer.
Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
I grew up in the countryside in the north of the Netherlands. At a young age I was already very interested in magazines, which, as you can imagine, wasn’t very common where I grew up. And as a child I loved to draw. All children draw, but my mother used to tell me that it was pretty excessive with me. It was not a surprise that I ended up studying at the Minerva Academy of arts and design in Groningen. I moved to Amsterdam half a year before I graduated – I really couldn’t wait to start working. My first internship was with Elegance, the magazine. From there I worked for several magazines including Elle Girl, Santé, Marie Claire, Cosmopolitan, Red, Elle, and Vogue. I switched between contracts and working for myself, and took some time off when I had my daughter at age 23. Now, I have been working as a freelancer illustrator for the past year and a half. It is the first long stretch of time that I have been illustrating and working on my own projects, and it’s going really well. From making birth announcements, graphic identities, and window displays for shops, to selling prints on Etsy, my work is so diverse. I have been really busy but I love it and I'm very grateful.
What inspired you to start working for yourself?
It has always been a part of me. I think it can be traced back to my time at the art academy. The Minerva Academy is – well, was – a very free academy, and I really identified with that way of working. After working with contracts for a while, I was really ready to start for myself. I had built up a large network over the years, learned a lot at the different magazines, and had made enough connections to find work myself. Once you start to work for yourself, and it’s going well, it’s really hard to go back.
Where do you find inspiration for your work?
I have always been very inspired by my childhood in the countryside. I remember riding our horses without saddles early in the morning, before my parents even woke up. Or playing a hide-and-seek game in the summertime, my sister on horseback, and me, hiding in the fields of tall grass. Or that one time we found a gigantic carp fish in a pond on our grounds. The beauty and dreaminess of all of it, but with an odd twist… My work is also very girly and feminine. It's very important to me that my work is soft, and compared to all those women who feel the need to be hard edged to prove that they’re strong, I believe in being vulnerable.
Would you say that the city of Amsterdam inspires you?
I really love Amsterdam, and feel very at home here. What inspires me most is that Amsterdam has been preserved very well as a historical city. You can find sights, like street corners or doors or windows, that haven’t changed in hundreds of years. Not like the old photographs that have faded over the years - they feel distant and make it hard to imagine what it was like back then. But you can just be walking in the city and find yourself walking back in time. I really like that about Amsterdam. When I graduated from the academy I was really fascinated by this idea in general - I took photographs that tried to capture the unity of landscapes. It was that time gap, between what it looked like years ago and what it looks like today, that really intrigued me. And it still inspires me today.
What does a typical day look like for you?
The start of the day is usually quite hectic. I make my daughter breakfast and take her to school. And then it depends. I have, what I call, practical days and workdays. Practical days mean doing things out of the house, like sending Etsy packages, visiting shops to stock up on products, or making window displays. These days are really fun, but also very tiring. Or I spend days at the studio that I share with creative studio Boereiland. My workdays are real office days - I check my emails, drink coffee, draw for most of the day, and have lunch with the others. Then I head home to pick up my daughter. In the evenings, I relax and hang out with my husband and often work some more.
Can you name a few of your favorite places in Amsterdam?
I really like Amsterdam Noord, where my studio is and you can find places like the low-key hangout, Noorderlicht. I’m also partial to Amsterdam Oost, where I lived for a few years. I was recently in the area for dinner at Wilde Zwijnen, one of my favorite restaurants in the city. I love visiting museums, and preferably by myself. The Stedelijk appeals to me more in terms of the art, but I prefer the Rijksmuseum to wander through the galleries. And the shop Velour is really my discovery of the year. If there could be one place where I could get everything for free, it would be there!
What's next for you?
After designing the graphic identity for Lennebelle Jewelry, I was asked to work together on a children's line (Lennebelle Petites). Together we came up with some really fun and cute ideas for mothers and daughters - and I designed jewelry! This will go into production very soon and I’m very excited about it. I’m also working on my first exhibition with my friend and wonderful photographer Hüsne Afsar, which will be a series of illustrated photographs accompanied by a small booklet. Meanwhile, Christmas is almost here so the cards are flying out and I’m working on a birth announcement for what may be a Christmas baby. Yesterday my amazing daughter turned six and two days before that my husband had his birthday too, and tomorrow it’s off to Red magazine for some good old freelance designing!
Thank you Hyshil for this interview! You can find her products for sale at
Hear Hear
(Heisteeg 8) and
ANNA+NINA
(Gerard Doustraat 94), and on Etsy. Be sure to visit her
website
for more information and request custom work, and follow Hyshil on
Facebook
and
Instagram
.
Jop van de Graaf & Nina Pierson | SLA
EAT. SHARE. LIVE. is the tagline of Jop van de Graaf (1984/Haarlem) and Nina Pierson's (1985/Amsterdam) new concept,
SLA
. Having opened in July of this year, SLA has become a much talked about (and visited!) spot in De Pijp, serving healthy salads, juices, soups and snacks, so good and packed with flavor that you forget they're healthy. I met up with the duo to find out more about why they started SLA and their ambitions for the future.
Can you tell us a little bit about yourselves?
Jop has a background in the event industry. He co-founded Open AIR, a large festival in the Netherlands, and had his own event company, Carnivale, for a couple of years. He finished his masters in Real Estate Finance (UvA) and worked for a real estate company for one and a half years before starting SLA. Nina has a background in PR and has a Bachelor in Communication Science and a Masters in Journalism (UvA). She owns her own company
PUP
, a creative agency that guides over 130 new talents in various disciplines and connects them to commercial and cultural clients. We have been a couple since 2008, and living together since 2011 with our two cats Reva & Elfi.
What brought you to Amsterdam?
Jop wanted to study here and moved to Amsterdam in 2004. Nina was born in Amsterdam and after living abroad (in Thailand) and in a suburb 20 minutes outside of Amsterdam, she returned to Amsterdam in 2006 to begin her studies. Most of our friends were here so it was never really an option to go anywhere else.
What inspired you to start SLA?
We came up with the idea after traveling through Burma (Myanmar) and reading the book,
The Food Hourglass
(De Voedselzandloper). It inspired us to change our lifestyle and become very conscious about what we ate. The book focuses on how certain foods can influence the ageing process. It explains, on a scientific level, what carbohydrates, saturated fats and proteins do with your body. We were totally hooked after reading it. When we came home after our trip, Jop was inspired to change his career, believing he had to tell people how important it is to lead a healthy lifestyle. With our busy lifestyles, we kept searching for somewhere we could eat – something healthy and not too expensive. But we just couldn’t find the right place in Amsterdam. This inspired us to start something for ourselves: SLA.
Can you tell us more about the concept of SLA?
Our tagline is EAT. SHARE. LIVE. And that’s exactly what it is. Eat good and healthy food (eat). Make this good and healthy food accessible to as many people as possible (share), and in doing so, create happy and healthy lifestyles (live). At SLA, we serve salads, juices, soups, and snacks that are so full of flavor you might even forget that they’re hearty and healthy. Bringing the best of both worlds, without the frills. All of the meat and poultry we serve is 100% organic, just as the grain-based and dairy products. Fruits and vegetables are 90% organic. Our beer is locally brewed, the wine organic and worthy of our food, and the coffee served with the fairest flair.
And what has your experience been so far?
It’s been hard work but really great! Jop wakes up everyday with so much energy and excitement for what the day will bring. We are still looking into perfecting the day-to-day things, like employee costs and efficiency handling, but that only makes the work more exciting. But the overall response from our customers has been really great. We take this as a huge compliment and another sign that we did the right thing starting SLA.
Would you say that the city of Amsterdam inspires you?
Actually London and New York inspired us more in the overall concept of SLA, because there were not that many salad bars in Amsterdam to find inspiration. However, Amsterdam is our city and we love it. The city has become more and more a metropolis over the past few years, and can now be compared to cities like New York, London and Paris. It’s really such an inspirational city with tons of creative outbursts, like great (newly opened) museums, loads of festivals and underground events, and great shops, restaurant and cafés popping up on every corner. It’s really cool to see how many young entrepreneurs are doing their ‘own’ thing.
What does a typical day look like for you?
Every day is different, especially now that we are opening a second location. Usually, we spend our mornings checking and answering our emails. At 12.00 we open. Jop works ‘on the floor’ at SLA until about 20.00 – there it’s all about making salads, juices, coffee, tea, etc., and checking supplies. Every once in a while we have appointments with press and partners, that’s mostly Nina’s job. Jop is currently spending most of his time at the new location and meeting with our interior designers, the NICEMAKERS. Nina mainly focuses on all the press requests and social media, and is responsible for the SLA LAB (workshops) and the SLA Shop (opening on the Westerstraat).
Can you name a few of your favorite places in Amsterdam?
We have a lot of favorite places so where should we start? Some of our favorite restaurants include de Kas, Indiaas Eethuis Agra, Balthazars Keuken, Buffet van Odette, The Lobby (V Hotel), Cafe Modern, The Alchemist, De Couscous Club, A La Plancha, Rakang, and Lot Sixty One and Mems for coffee. Favorite shops include Anna+Nina, COTTONCAKE, Hutspot, The Barber, Concrete Matter, SPRMRKT, Baskets and Maison NL. And of course all these other inspirational places such as the Stedelijk Museum and FOAM, Delight Yoga and De Nieuwe Yoga School, Noordermarkt on Saturdays, Kwikfix Massage, and C Cosmetics.
What's next for you?
We are opening a second SLA on the Westerstraat mid-December. But our dreams are even bigger! We want to open up more SLA’s in Amsterdam, but want to introduce as many people as possible to the SLA philosophy so we are also looking into other cities like Utrecht, Rotterdam, The Hague, and Maastricht. And maybe, perhaps, one day, we might go abroad with our concept to cities like New York, Stockholm, London, or Paris... The concept of eating healthy food and leading a conscious lifestyle is universal, timeless, and speaks any language.
Thank you Nina and Jop for this interview! SLA can be found on the Ceintuurbaan 149 and is open from Monday to Saturday from 12.00 to 21.00 (and now open on Sundays too!)
Rena Noordermeer | Hear Hear
Rena Noordermeer (1984) is the founder of
Hear Hear
, a "tiny two story shop in Amsterdam". Hidden in the Heisteeg, Hear Hear houses a beautiful collection of treasures (think cards, prints, books, bags, jewelry and more) from all over the world. Originally from Naaldwijk, Rena grew up in Rotterdam and made the move to Amsterdam for love (her boyfriend, Sam, co-owner of
Pristine Fixed Gear
). After making the move to the city, she fulfilled her dream of owning her own shop - Hear Hear recently celebrated its one year anniversary. Here's what she had to say.
Can you tell us a little about yourself?
I started studying graphic design at the Willem de Kooning Academy in Rotterdam a few years ago. Even though it was a very inspirational time, I realized that I prefer to collect other peoples’ work as opposed to creating my own. It was during my time at the academy that I decided I wanted to start my own store, and that I wanted to collect and to sell beautiful products.
With a background in graphic design, and an interest in interior design, I have been actively following blogs for a while now. I kept coming across products that I really liked, but couldn’t find in Amsterdam. That’s when I started the webshop,
hearhearamsterdam.nl
. What started as a webshop has now expanded into a ‘real’ shop in one of the greatest little places in Amsterdam.
What brought you to Amsterdam?
Love! I felt it was time for a change and my boyfriend Sam and I wanted to live together. I was living a pretty flexible life in Rotterdam and Sam was already living in Amsterdam, running a bicycle shop on the Kinkerstraat called
Pristine Fixed Gear
. It was more practical for me to move to Amsterdam (so romantic, I know!) and I’m still really happy about that decision.
What inspired you to start Hear Hear? And what has your experience been so far?
Hear Hear had been a webshop for about a year when I found the location on the Heisteeg in the center of Amsterdam. Sam and I would occasionally look at store spaces in the city, and when I found this one in the Heisteeg, I knew it would be perfect. It really fit with my dreams and ideas of Hear Hear: open brick walls, beams running along the ceiling, an all white interior… I jumped on the opportunity. And I’ve been open for one year now. It’s been a year in which Hear Hear has slowly transformed from an empty space into a unique store. Owning your own shop is hard work. I work 24/7 but I get so much in return. People are really enthusiastic which makes it all worth it.
Would you say that the city of Amsterdam inspires you?
Definitely! I think Amsterdam provides many more opportunities to realize and achieve your dreams than other cities. People come to Amsterdam to have a good time, or to start something. That’s very inspiring. And, it helps that Amsterdam is beautiful when the sun is shining, and even when it rains.
What does a typical day look like for you?
Sam and I wake up between 8.00 and 9.00. Sam gets up before me. I usually stay in bed and scroll through my
Instagram
feed, listen to the birds, and make a plan for the day. Once I finally get out of bed, I watch the news and make breakfast. By 10.30 I’m on my bike and attempt to avoid the thousands of tourists on my way to work. I usually have about 15 minutes before I open the shop, so I take my time, chat with the postman and the neighbors, and grab a coffee. At 11.00, the doors open. During the day I keep the store tidy, talk to people from all over the world who happen to wander by, keep an eye on my emails and browse websites in search of new products. By 18.00, I close up and meet Sam on my way home. We cook something for dinner and usually hang around the house. I’m a little bit of a homebody – I speak to so many people during the day that I don’t feel the need to go out anymore in the evenings.
Can you name a few of your favorite places in Amsterdam?
The goat farm in the
Amsterdamse Bos
is one of my favorite places. It’s this great little farm in the middle of the forest, and despite all the kids, it’s a really calm place. And goats are so cool! You can cuddle the animals, or grab a bite to eat in the cafe. You’ll also find fine products such as cheese and honey, and you can follow workshops.
What's next for you?
I keep discovering beautiful products that I would like to sell in the shop. Everyday I search for treasures that I can add to the assortment I have here. The shop is less than a year old, but I regularly hear from enthusiastic customers that Hear Hear might just be the best shop in Amsterdam. And that’s a great compliment. It would be great if Hear Hear reaches the top 10 best shops in the city – highly recommended, a must-visit, a favorite. The potential is there, now just the fame! And perhaps then I can dare to dream about opening a second store some place else…
Thank you Rena for this interview, and all the best to you! Hear Hear can be found on the Heisteeg 8 in the center of Amsterdam, and is open from Tuesday to Friday from 11.00 until 18.00, on Saturday from 11.00 until 17.00 and Sunday from 12.00 to 17.00. Or visit the
webshop
!
David & Marijke Hukema | Restored
Restored
is a great little shop, or better yet, "a platform, a source, a store" on the Haarlemmerdijk, one of the busier shopping streets in the center of Amsterdam. I've known about it for a while, and have stopped by occasionally, but only recently found out that a former colleague of mine, graphic designer
Ruben Doornweerd
, created the visual identity of Restored. Ruben put me in touch with the shop's owners, David (1982, Heerjandsdam) and Marijke Hukema (1983, Enschede). I recently visited the shop and chatted with David - his wife was at home with their newborn baby, Avie.
Can you tell us a little bit about yourselves?
We are David and Marijke. We have been married for seven years, and live together in the Baarsjes in Amsterdam with our two daughters, a newborn and a toddler of two. We both have backgrounds in graphic design - David studied multimedia design, and Marijke graphic design. We met at a course we had both signed up for called Bible & Arts about 10 years ago. We were both interested in the connections between faith, imagery, beauty and art. During our studies, we started dating and soon after decided to move to Amsterdam. David started working at the art café, Dwaze Zaken, and Marijke had always dreamed of owning her own shop/creative platform. In 2008, Restored was founded.
What brought you to Amsterdam?
We are from very different places in the Netherlands and were searching for a place to start our lives together. Amsterdam seemed to us to be a vibrant and inspiring city to live, so it was an easy choice.
What inspired you to start Restored? What has your experience been so far?
The dream was to have a physical place to foster the merging of beauty, creativity, and people. The shop was the ideal platform for all of these things - a shop, in its very nature, has a very open character. We constantly search for unique collections, interesting brands, and products with interesting stories behind them.
We now work with a small team to maintain our store, blog, webshop, and social media. We work with young designers and great emerging brands. Over the past few years, Restored has been quite successful (we also recently renovated the shop's interior). The location has a lot to do with that as the Haarlemmerdijk has become a very popular shopping street in Amsterdam. The street has a great mix of artisanal shops and unique concept stores, but you'll also find your average supermarket and grocery stores.
Would you say that the city of Amsterdam inspires you? If so, how?
The open character of Amsterdam really inspires us. People are open-minded. You can really go your own way. Even if you were to go to the supermarket in your pajamas, no one would judge you. We also love that there’s so much to do in the city. We especially enjoy all the festivals and outdoor concerts in the parks in the summertime.
What does a typical day look like for you?
We get up early and make a large pot of oatmeal for us, and our two year old, Ela. We take Ela (and soon baby Avie) to the daycare two days a week, and work together in the shop. On the other days, one of us stays at home with the girls. We live in an apartment on the third floor and don't have any outdoor space, so the park is our favorite hangout. There’s a coffee place nearby so all the parents and their kids can enjoy it.
If we manage, we have dinner all together, and once we’ve put the kids to bed, we watch a movie together. Or one of us might go out to meet friends, or visit the theater, or play sports. And when we’re lucky, we arrange a babysitter so we can enjoy an evening out together.
Can you name a few of your favorite places in Amsterdam?
Have you heard of Cinemum at
The Movies
(Haarlemmerdijk 161)? It's great, you can take your baby to the movies! We also like
Café Cook
(close to our home) – we think its the best terrace in Amsterdam West.
Two For Joy
(Haarlemmerdijk 182) makes great lattes and they roast their own coffee beans!
Café Dwaze Zaken
(Prins Hendrikkade 50) is really a gem in the city center - in the midst of all the tourists, it's a place that serves artisanal food and has a really relaxed atmosphere.
What’s next for you?
Dreams and ideas abound, but nothing concrete yet. First, we’re going to look for a suitable family home in Amsterdam. We also want to work on Restored's online presence, and we would really like to expand the ‘platform’ that has become Restored. Not just more space, but more collaborative projects with designers, for example. We would like to start our own collection of products, create a magazine, and set up a coffee bar, a studio, and a shop, all under one roof. But we’ll see what happens. We believe in letting things happen naturally, and following our hearts.
Thank you David and Marijke for this interview! You can visit their
website
and
webshop
, or visit their shop on the Haarlemmerdijk 39, open Monday from 13.00 to 18.00, Tuesday to Friday from 10.00 to 18.00 and Saturday from 11.00 to 18.00.
Ruben Doornweerd | Graphic Designer
Welcome to The Makers! To start this project, I would like to introduce
Ruben Doornweerd
(1988, Zwolle), a talented graphic designer based in Amsterdam. I was lucky enough to work with Ruben on a few projects in the past, and was thrilled that he wanted to create a logo for this project (thank you Ruben!) I visited Ruben's design studio in a shared studio space in the attic of a row house in De Pijp, just around the corner from the bustling street market, Albert Cuypmarkt.
Can you tell us a little about yourself?
After finishing secondary school, I wanted to either continue with music (I was a drummer) or start studying design, as I wanted to create artwork for band covers. I was accepted into the graphic design department at the Arnhem art school (ArtEZ), and soon found out that graphic design would encompass a lot more than just designing artwork for band covers. During my studies, I discovered that I really enjoyed creating and translating ideas into something visible and tangible. I studied for four years, worked overtime on school projects, and pushed myself to learn more and to continuously improve.
What brought you to Amsterdam? What inspired you to start for yourself (your design studio)?
Right after graduation, I applied for a starter grant (from the government). This grant supported young artists for a period of a year, and was designed to help artists undergo research projects and/or start for themselves - this grant, unfortunately, no longer exists. I was traveling around New Zealand when I heard that my grant proposal was approved. In Wellington, I did an internship at a small design studio called The International Office. It was there that I was motivated to set up my own studio (I also highly recommend the book,
Studio Culture).
When I returned to the Netherlands, I moved in with my sister while I was I was looking for an apartment, and a studio place. Within two weeks of searching for work, I was contacted by
David and Marijke Hukema
, the owners of the small shop,
Restored
. They were looking to rebrand their store. That was two and a half years ago.
What have your experiences been so far?
I've worked on many interesting projects in this time. I still enjoy my work every single day. I was also fortunate enough to work at a creative agency in the city. At
Vandejong
I helped design, among others printed materials for the first and second edition of
Unseen
. I have really learned a lot over the years. I have also come to realize that I need a particular work environment in order to be creative and productive. I need to work alone, in silence, but also need to be in the presence of other people to discuss my work. And I need to be able to play loud music. The attic studio that I share with five others (fashion designers and graphic designers) fits these needs perfectly.
Would you say that the city of Amsterdam inspires you?
I would. I really enjoy biking across town on my racing bike. My morning commute, from my apartment through the canals, to De Pijp, is always an inspirational start to my day. Everyone is biking to work and the city really comes to life. I also enjoy having short coffee breaks in the city. It helps me to take a break from my work, focus on something entirely different, and clears my mind. Every now and then I like to get away from the city and travel to the Norwegian or Scottish wilderness for a week or so. I really need this to recharge.
What does a typical day look like for you?
I get up in the morning. I cook oatmeal and brew a pot of black coffee while checking my email and reading the news. I then pack my computer in my backpack, walk down the four flights of stairs in my building, and grab my bike to cycle to work. When I get to my studio, I leave my stuff at my desk, grab a second cup of coffee and make a plan for the day. I usually make a trip to the supermarket to grab lunch as an excuse to get away from my screen. I prepare a couple of sandwiches back at the studio and eat together with the others. At around 14.30, I go out for a walk in the park or grab a coffee at a place nearby.
Can you name a few of your favorite places in Amsterdam?
For coffee, I recommend
De Vredespijp
(
Eerste van der Helststraat 11
), a cafe and furniture shop combined, and
Two For Joy
(Haarlemmerdijk 182) for the best cappuccino in town. For lunch, I like
De Laatste Kruimel
(
Langebrugsteeg 4
) or
Buurtboederij
(
Spaarndammerdijk 319
) when the sun's out. For dinner,
FA. Spijkervet
(
Admiraal de Ruijterweg 79
),
Pazzi Pizza
(
Eerste Looiersdwarsstraat 4
),
Dwaze Zaken
(
Prins Hendrikkade 50
), and for drinks
Brecht
(
Weteringschans 157
) for good German beers,
Roest
(
Czaar Peterstraat 213
) for it's outdoor fire pits, and
Skek
(Zeedijk 4), a nice hobbit loft).
What's next for you?
I hope to continue to work for myself. I've always seen it as an adventure - I continually take risks and make the most of the opportunities that come my way. Hopefully I will continue to work on new projects, and I hope to provide an internship opportunity for a graphic design student.
Thanks Ruben for this interview (and for the great logo)! Find out more about Ruben and his work on his
website.