For a client I'm on the hunt for black-and-white accessories, to make a nice blend of her feminin modern-country taste and his more masculine preference for design. Black-and-white works quite well in those cases, especially when there's some kind of organic images mixed in it. I'm thinking of designing a wallpaper for the bedroom, that can be printed by Wonderwand.

For the living room, or the bedroom even, pillows and rugs will look nice. I found some really nice ones designed by a young design team from Australia, Pony Rider, who also have a webshop. I might even choose to use the wall dot, but I think a wall-to-wall covering of a leafprint will also look nice.

hotel De Goudfazant

Yesterday we spent a nice evening with friends in Hotel de Goudfazant. That may sound a bit strange, but eventhough the name suggests it, it is not a hotel. It is a restaurant, one of the nicest in Amsterdam. It is quite remote, way up in the northern part, but worth the trip. Even though the weather was a bit dull, we still enjoyed the view of the city on the other side of the canal. And the lovely food, the inspiring interior and the friendly staff, of course.

Jan

Jan is an old fashioned, masculine and typically Dutch name for a boy, and that makes it so funny that a small, feminine, elegant shop like this is called the same. It is one of my favourite shops in Amsterdam, it is in the Utrechtsestraat, and I go there mostly when I do a styling job for the finishing touches, like a nice bowl, a beautiful bag or a lovely toy. And I almost never leave the shop without buying something for myself. Which is not as bad as it sounds, because the prices are reasonable as well. Maybe that explains the name, because we're known for our money handling skills...

twins

Eddo Hartmann is a Dutch photographer who does projects all over the world - he even took pictures in a Russian fake space ship that they use to test future astronauts (and photographers) on their abilities to function in zero or double gravity, a cooperation with artist Bradley Pitts.

His images are mostly of strong, impressive, empty environments with strong lines and big horizons, like White Sands.
Currently he is working on a very special project called An unsuspected visit to a very familiar place. A touching and beautiful series of a house, with a very special story. It will be published in a book, for which he is now very busy looking for funds. (If you happen to have a a sack of money lying around: this is the perfect destination.)

And since yesterday we're the proud owners of three beautiful images made by him of our two lovely little girls. It was the gift that he gave us when they were born, and finally in May they were old enough to do the shoot. He used this technique once before for Volkskrant Magazine (art direction by Heike Gülker). Our twins have completely different characters, even though they are identical twins. And he captured it exactly, and that is a gift by itself. Thank you!

over to phase two

Now that the first steps are taken in the assignments that I'm working on, I'm doing some research on furniture, wall papers, tiles and kitchens. The big work, so to say, to later on fill it all in with accessories and smaller furniture. On my search I discovered a beautiful furniture brand, Seven Salotti. Italian, naturally. Clean, stylish and comfortable at the same time. The images themselves are inspiring as well; I love the dark grey-blue on the walls of the first and the last image. Nice chair as well, of course, the Sella. The couch in the last image is called Nap, quite appropriate, because it looks like a big, comfortable bed with a fresh, crips linnen. Myy favourite is the one in the middle: Naviglio. And I think it will look beautiful in the living room of one of my clients. Tomorrow we're going to have a look at it in the shop in Amsterdam that sells the brand: Mardonio - Home.

finishing up phase one

This week I'm finishing a lot of 'phases one' of most of my assignments (that's why there's not as many posts as usual). I measured up some rooms with the carpenter Douglas van Vugt, for new cabinets that I designed for a beautiful old house. Tomorrow I (hopefully) will be finalising the drawings of the house with a new kitchen, first floor and attick, so the contractor Cor from Tools can make his calculations. And today I made the (semi-)final selections of a colour scheme of another beautiful house that was designed in 1921 by architect F.A. Warners.

I made the mood boards last week, and also the first selection of the colours that we will use. Today we went to the house to check the selected colours in the house itself. Because you always have to check if the colours that you select actually fit with the light and athmosphere of the house.

I selected a lot of colours from The Little Greene Paint Company and Farrow & Ball, because they have such beautiful, intense colours and because of their good quality. The price is worth it, and you cover much more square metres with one can than with one of a cheaper brand. I usually buy these paints at De Ru, a paint and wallpaper company that is specialised in the better paint brands. I always have to brace myself a bit before I enter the store, because sometimes they can be a bit patronising, with that typical Amsterdam attitude, but they really know a lot about paint.

Christian Borstlap

Dutch art director Christian Borstlap used to work for advertising agency KesselsKramer, where he made a lot of (award winning) campaigns that most of Dutch people know.

He invented Artis de Partis, a sock puppet that has a lot of adventures in Artis, the Amsterdam Zoo. So the zoo became even more famous, and every child (great and small) wants to own the puppet.

He also made a beautiful campaign 'For the Birds', again for KesselsKramer, who would like us to know as many birdnames as we know sneaker names. The illustrations are made by Stuart White.

He also made a film for Clutchy Hopkins, the mysterious funk artist.

And the good news is: he's started his own business, so he's no longer working solely for KesselsKramer. Welcome to the freelancers' league! Now you have all the time for your beautiful random paintings. (just kidding, he's probably covered in assignments)

T

While waiting for my prints to be printed at the copy shop, I'm taking a break at T, a sweet little teaplace in the Roeterstraat. Big shame I didn't bring my camera, there's a lot of nice things to see here. But my phone will do.

dream away-photography

Photographer Karen Rosetzsky was born in Denmark, but moved to the Netherlands when she fell in love with (and later on got married to) a Dutch guy. Lucky for us, because now we can enjoy her beautiful images to dream away on. They remind me of warm, romatic holidays. They are romantic and femine, but always with a nice edge.

toilet drawings

Yesterday I finally remembered to take pictures of our toilet while the sun was shining. "Why?", you may wonder. Because recently Olga Scholten made some beautiful, funny little drawings in a corner near the ceiling, because I designed a closet for her.

Olga Scholten is a graphic designer based in Amsterdam, and works for several companies like Het Zuiderzeemuseum and Het Concertgebouw. She also make really funny animations, if you have a moment to spare, check her website and play.

Two years ago she was invited by Dave Eggers to be a part of his exhibition at Apexart 'Lots of Things Like This' in New York, and now she's organising an exhibition like that herself with drawings by different artists from all over the world, to open sometime next year.

She also published a book with lovely, poetic and funny (and also sometimes sad) drawings, that you can order through her website.

And she made some cute little drawings with edible ink for some cupcakes for the book Happiness is a Cupcake, that I made with Sanne Dirkzwager.
Happiness is a cupcake set
Stephanie Rammeloo & Dirkzwager, S.

Julie Cockburn

Today I was working on a colour scheme for a beautiful house that a new client bought. I started with collecting images for a mood board, and I refound this beautiful image of a nice, cool and sleek toilet, in an Elle Decor from a year or two ago. The atmosphere would fit nicely in the house, which is already breathtakingly beautiful. But what caught my eye especially was a lovely artwork on the wall by Julie Cockburn. 

Julie Cockburn makes touchingly beautiful sculptures and paintings created out of printed image, or books, and other objects she found. Like Plasticine Flowers, from a still life painting, or An Attempt to Copy a Drawing I Made When I was 5 (like the title explains: a drawing she copied, in embroidery). Or, the one that made me curious about the artist, a sculpture of pages of a book, the Keats Flower book. More recent work you can find with Re-Title.

Sur Place

 One night you do this and another night you do that. Yesterday we went to the opening of Sur Plus, in Mediamatic in Amsterdam. 

It is always inspiring to get an insight of how some people live and their passions and now we could explore the world of the fixed gear subculture (a lot of couriers). Our neighbours DUS architects  (who are always good for inspiring projects) built a big indoor track, so you can cycle past the portraits made by riders that had really cool accidents (at least, it looks like they feel that way), documentaries, rare fixed gear bikes, wall paintings and installations.

loft

It is nice to see how things come together. I still remember the first time that I discovered products by Aveda. More than twenty years ago, when I bought a jar of bath salt in a little shop in Antwerp. The scent was heavenly and I wanted more! Unfortunately it took a while before Aveda was sold in the Netherlands. And, a whole different story (hang in there): few years ago I thought: why can't you buy empty bottles that you can refill with water, instead of buying those plastic bottles that you throw away when you've finished the water? Now you can buy beautiful re-usable bottles at Aveda, and the money goes to Join the Pipe that wants to build the longest pipeline in the world, so clean water will be available for everybody. And, to make the story complete, my friend Nathalie has taken over an Aveda lifestyle salon Loft in Bussum with two friends.  Now I can visit her, buy a beautiful bottle AND buy my favourite products in one go. Congratulations and good luck!