You recognize the sensation when the 12 months is nearly over and you’re feeling like you have not finished sufficient? I felt that on the finish of 2023. 2023 has been a 12 months of reflection and evolution.
The second half of 2022 and all of 2023 had been a time of each private and enterprise transformation. For those who stay consciously, as I do, you recognise patterns that largely decide how you reside your life and the way you do enterprise. It’s good to turn out to be conscious of them. Typically I’ve to hit the brakes to see if I’m nonetheless heading in the right direction and make changes. It was the primary time in 7 years that I felt I wanted to alter course drastically. It is the 7-year itch possibly… And typically you brake too late and crash into one thing. That was what occurred to me in the summertime of 2022. It wasn’t full burnout, however I used to be effectively on my manner. As a result of I used to be nonetheless recovering, I took it fairly straightforward for the primary half of 2023 and turned extra inward. I began a six-month enterprise coaching which I accomplished in December, effectively accomplished…. there are nonetheless some modules I am engaged on. However it has given me a lot focus and vitality that I’m significantly wanting ahead to this new 12 months!
Apart from, 2023 was additionally a difficult time globally, and also you discover that
within the design world as effectively. Whereas my self-initiated tasks and
ensuing gross sales did higher than ever, commissions lagged a bit behind.
What I discovered
Proudly owning a small enterprise is all about change, studying as a lot as you’ll be able to and rising your ardour. For me, that meant getting again to what I like. It means saying goodbye to the Residing Color undertaking and collaboration after engaged on it for 7 years with nice pleasure and fervour. I stay dedicated to an eco-conscious and artistically nuanced method to color. As an alternative, I’ll assist designers and types use color in a sustainable manner – extra particulars on this initiative will likely be shared quickly right here on this weblog and in my publication.
What I completed
Within the spirit of celebrating the 12 months passed by, right here are some things I’ve achieved together with your help:
- I launched my Chromarama Riso prints, that are very effectively acquired and for which I even received the 2023 DNA Paris Design Award. After a number of earlier nominations, I now have my first design award!
- I additionally exhibited my work once more at particular locations similar to OBJECT Rotterdam, in wine bar Côte du Cool, North Sea Jazz Pageant, hair salon Het Haarpand and in the course of the first version of Design Passage The Hague
- I designed my first customized rug for a non-public shopper
- I used to be in a position to perform two extra very good commissions that got here out of the Residing Color undertaking: dyeing a working package for Olympic athlete Molly Seidel on behalf of PUMA Working and designing curtains for the brand new scenography of Arcam Amsterdam.
- Nice press publications, similar to a two-page unfold with an interview and overview of my work in VT Wonen and a photograph collection in Eigen Huis en Interieur.
- I used to be additionally included within the books “Kleerkastvasten” and “Goede Gespreksstof”, which supplies younger folks perception into the previous, current and way forward for the Dutch textile business.
- And I even wrote a chapter on “Sensible Color” for Elsevier Publishers’ e-book “Sensible Garments and Wearable Expertise“.
- As you recognize, I can’t produce a lot of my work myself as a result of I discover too many strategies and supplies fascinating. However I do all the time get pleasure from studying extra about sure strategies by doing it myself, for instance, I’ve learnt tufting and the best way to thread the warp of a 4-shaft loom.
- And final however not least, I did a residency in mouth-blown and hand-formed glass in Sweden.
Reflecting on this record, I can nonetheless look again with satisfaction on a unprecedented 12 months, and the sensation that I did not do sufficient is not any extra. Maybe the best productiveness befell behind the scenes, however I planted beneficial seeds for the long run.
What’s subsequent
- First up is OBJECT Rotterdam, the place I’ll launch “Comfortable / Stable” a tantalising exploration of color and dynamic interaction of textiles and glass.
- I’ve a primary level of sale outdoors my very own on-line store and artwork gallery
Priveekollektie, for my Chromarama tapestries and Riso prints, within the
inspiring inside design store De Klare Lijn in Leiden. - In February I’ll begin the undertaking Blended Fibers in collaboration with Sonia Górecka, the place collectively we discover the best way to design and visualise woven textiles in a 3D world.
- Within the coming 12 months, I can even decide up running a blog once more on a extra constant schedule. I can truthfully say that it is all the time value sharing ideas and inspiration with you within the hope that you’ll profit from them too.
- In March I’ll exhibit on the materials truthful Materials District in Utrecht the place I can even give a lecture about my work.
- Later this 12 months I’ll launch a brand new physique of labor impressed by my travels by way of my beloved Japan. And I hope that my plans for a residency interval in Japan can even come to fruition.
- And naturally, I hope for nice commissions and collaborations with progressive manufacturers, inside designers and designers who share my love for color.
Right here’s to an exquisite and peaceable new 12 months! Thanks a lot for studying!