Dutch Designers With Long Names Visit NYC

You know when something is so easy for you to do, you never end up doing it? Such as exploring more of where you came from, or meeting up with someone who lives around the corner? Last week I finally got the chance to see Amsterdam based Rob van den Nieuwenhuizen (aka Drawswords) and Barbara Hennequin give a lecture at the Pratt Grad Studio.

• Almanak
• Drawswords
• Barbara Hennequin
• Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Rob and Barbara’s work is killer. Together they work at Almanac, a studio they founded in Amsterdam with a gallery downstairs and ping-pong table to boot. It kinda goes without saying that people in the Netherlands have the potential to be a pretty good designers. You’re born into a place where everything is considered and you have stunning posters decorating your daily bike ride to the office. What I love about their work and what makes it stand out to me is the sense of play, hacking and risk-taking. 

Take the book below for instance. 

Book designed and published in the aftermath of a one year AIR program. Artists Tom Tlalim (II/NL) Lieven De Boeck (BE), Frank Havermans (NL), Shinji Otani (JP) and Sachi Miyachi (JP) brought about new perspectives on the Amsterdam Zuidas area; an enormous urban project. The outcome was displayed in an exhibit; further considerations are highlighted in a publication.

Torn front (2) and back (1) covers, futhermore the first 64 pages are rainbow printed (grey-green-grey), 16 pages were printed using red and opaque ink and the book also contains 8 torn pages wrapped around different sections.All tearing was done by hand and each book is unique.

Barbara and Rob invited their friends around one night to drink beer and finish the design of the book. Which involved ripping the cover. How much does that say about clients in the Netherlands, that they’re so comfortable with designers they’re cool with the concept of destroying what they just paid for?

And don’t get me started on print techniques. Always the one to ask the inappropriate question, I asked them did anything ever go wrong. Rob said that when they were redesigning ITEMS Magazine they had to sign a contract with their printer as the combination of inks they requested had an unpredictable outcome. The color came out nowhere near what they expected, not that you or I would know.

 My favourite piece was a calendar they designed which communicated the seasons through inks. I very much had to restrain myself from stealing it. As it was for 2013 my only sadness is that if I had, nearly three months have already passed that I hadn’t gotten to love. I hope those two continue to play in their work, no doubt we’ll see it in the next Gestalten book ;)

Love Guns (a misleading title bordering on inappropriate to a post about Young Guns and loving what you do)

Guys, I’ve seen it. It exists. And not with a massive computer system attached to the Large Hadron Collider. What all the hipsters and the scientists and your Granny have been talking about, the Higs. And it was right at the Apple Store here in Amsterdam.

• Nessim Higson (YG5)
• ADC Young Guns 
• Apple Store
• Amsterdam

Of course I’m talking about Young Gun’s alum Nessim Higson, a creative director and designer from New Orleans. Creatives rejoice, Nessim exists and shared all the best advice he never received to what seemed to be the entire Sid Lee team, Jakub Foglar, Tim Boelaars and myself. Nessim recently launched 40 Days / 40 Projects, an update to his portfolio where he reveals a project a day for 40 days. I’d been following online but hearing the story in real life (like a good pitch) and getting the full reveal made it even more memorable. 

My first time at a Young Guns talk (thanks for showing us Euros some love) and going from lovely alums that I got to know in the States (<3 Bonnie, Emily, Mikey, Dan), the YGs feels more like a club than a competition. In that manner, Nessim had a lot to share. As someone who sleeps on average five hours a night, Nessim spoke about it not being all about talent, the importance of networking and pushing yourself. From his talk I didn’t think he meant this in a ‘successful’, get up the career ladder sort of way, more in a manner of having a chance at more opportunities.

..I’m going to talk about some of the best advice I never received. The best person to push you is you… 

The brief was to make the new Spiderman feel more Batman. Unfortunately these type experiments weren’t used in the campaign, however they’re all up for viewing on Nessim project site.

I spoke to Nessim afterwards about how he keeps the quality of his work so high–from motion graphics to web design–everything was badass. This is something I often think about, working in a number of areas I’m conscious that whatever measley skills I have can dilute down, rather than being concentrated in one area. To be honest if I was focused in one area I’d probably find something to worry about too, but I was dying to hear what Nessim’s secret is. Turns out Nessim’s presentation was 80%/70% his design skills (damn, guess that has something to do with the 5hrs sleep a night). However, he believes that working with others undoubtedly makes the work even better. It’s all about balance; which he tries out by going between Creative Director (currently at Sid Lee in Amsterdam) and “to say it was work is really not fair” Designer. 

Ness ended his talk with a shot of his daughter pointing to the lines,

Love what you do. Do what you love.

I am loving how often this line is coming up lately. I can’t tell a greater story–or a story as great–as Ben Chesnut does about how MailChimp’s accidental tagline became ‘Love What You Do’. Read the love story here or go as far as downloading the colouring book.

And here it is, proof. Loving what you do can be seen as likely to greatly affect human understanding of the universe, validate the unconfirmed and be a whole lotta fun.

Post with the most amount of ‘love’ ever.

insider: Wieden+Kennedy

Advertising agency Wieden Kennedy’s motto is, “the work comes first.” Which is obvious from their reputation and the industry accolades they receive each year. But, what has family got to do with it? Seemingly a whole lot.

• Wieden+Kennedy 
• Herengracht 258-266 
• 1016 BV Amsterdam
• www.wkamst.com

Due to a typical Amsterdam day that started with a thunderstorm early morning and cleared up to humid sunshine, I arrived at the office of Wieden+Kennedy wearing far too many layers. Cumbersome clothing aside, sunshine is far by the best weather  to see their glass office. I was ad-fangirl excited about having a look inside W+K and Account Exec turned PR Coordinator Andrea Dicu was kind enough to show me around and share their story.

When people talk about Wieden + Kennedy they often talk about the work – and rightly so. This was the least that Andrea and I spoke about.

First thing you see beyond the lobby is not work, but a wall filled with kooky framed photos of employees. Meaning also that before you see the employees, you see the employees (if you catch my drift). Over cappuccinos in their kitchen – which overlooks a garden shed converted to an art studio by CD Alvaro Sotomayor – Andrea filled me in on the W+K way. The Amsterdam office turned twenty this year (ten years junior to Portland) and has moved three times before settling the last five years on the well-known Herengracht. An office in Amsterdam? Just do it.

What I’ve really enjoyed in doing these insider visits is the surprising insights you learn, so excuse me if I use those words often. What surprised me about W+K is how the staff have acted differently to other Amsterdam advertising culture I’ve heard of. In a city where the airport is a fifteen minute train ride away for the next country stop in an ad career, employees at W+K…stay. Expats settle! Buy houses! Get married! Have kids!

People stick around for W+K, why go home when you have one here?

The family vibe is apparent when you walk around the office, I saw trophies casually strewn amongst filled book cases and remarked to Andrea how that was kind of refreshing to see. Seeing the appreciation of that she had to add a bathroom to the tour, in which you find the common place awards are stored. How’s that for putting things in perspective.

Another nice thing to see in 3D was The Kennedys set up. With an awesome neon-flashing-gif-filled website there was indeed a real sign in a workspace. For this, six young creatives are picked out of applicants (938 of them applied last year) to be here six months, on full throttle. They get the chance to work on local clients as well as boring ones like, eh… NIKE?  

With programs like The Kennedys, a building full with mixed experience and employees who work together outside of work (see Toby and Ignasi’s art installations) I got the feeling that maybe the work doesn’t come first, but the people.  

insider: Interbrand

Interbrand is one of the world’s largest brand consultancies. And Patrick Stal, well he’s 31, half German/half Dutch, and their youngest managing director. If you have branding loyalty, you’d love to talk to Patrick. And you might learn something, such as no matter how good a donkey looks, it will never be fast.

• Interbrand 
• Prof. W.H. Keesomlaan 4 
• 1183 DJ Amstelveen
• www.interbrand.com

To say I was nervous to speak to Patrick would be a slight understatement, regardless of that and armed with a notebook of questions I made my way to the Interbrand offices in Amstelveen. Admittedly my first time in this part of town, it was surprisingly the most nature I’d seen in a long while. I even sheltered under a tree while there was a brief shower. A tree!

Interbrand share a building with their Omnicom relative, DDB. This is immediately evident in the waiting lobby, where lions, pencils and VW advertising (oh my!) line the walls. I was excited to have a peek inside their doors, let alone to have some of Patrick’s time. And boy was it inspiring. Since joining the Amsterdam office in 2009 (which was then predominantly internationals), Patrick has made a mark (sorry, last branding pun, I swear) with his passion and drive. 

I’m going to start off and credit Patrick for having so much insight into Amsterdam and for sharing it with me. Amsterdam seems to house a branch of every big creative agency and was the place to set up shop for it’s liberal culture and talent pool. Now, rather than companies arriving for the talent, the talent comes here. How many design businesses are registered in Amsterdam alone? Oh, only about 3,000. 

So when people say the Dutch know their design, they know their design. This was particularly interesting in the case of clients in the branding area. With such an appreciation for good design it can be difficult to keep the scales balanced with strategy and is not without it’s faults. Patrick summed it up best.

…You create a logo for a car company which is a great looking donkey. The client loves it. “Yes, let’s go with that, it looks fantastic!” Unfortunately, after putting your good-looking donkey on your fancy car, nobody’s buying. They don’t get the feeling of how fast the car is, because donkeys (no matter how well designed) will never be fast. You know what’s fast? A jaguar… 

I mentioned to Patrick what I liked about Interbrand most is how absolutely freely they share their knowledge. On their website they have an entire section devoted to this. He told me that they always encourage sharing, and coincidentally, he had researched and found that Interbrand share five times more than other brand agencies.

I was reminded of that saying from school, “sharing is caring.” Nowadays, caring enough to share is becoming more and more evident.

Wolff Olins is an example, Wally of course had his Brand Book, however recently, WO are presenting their research under the Wolff Olins brand in Game Changers. All something to think about.

Which Interbrand Amsterdam clearly is. Despite having forty-two siblings in the wings, this office has a start-up atmosphere. With a mix of Dutch and internationals, they’re not just strategists and designers. It’s a staff of entrepreneurs. The change they’re making is fueled by passion. In Patrick’s case, he knew he didn’t want to sit behind a pile of reports, he wants to see change happen. And going by what he has accomplished, he must be doing something right.

Leaving the office I realised I hadn’t opened my notebook, perhaps insider into Interbrand is they share the answers before you even have to ask the questions. 

I must apologise for my cheesiness, that last line? Branding makes me goo goo. I’d like to say a huge thanks to Patrick and the great opportunity to look inside Interbrand. 

M83 when you’re 5’3”

Attending a concert in the Netherlands is not your typical gig. One major factor being the average height of attendees gets close to 6’. But it’s OK, if you ask nicely they’ll let you up front. 

Somebody needs to gets statistics going about how much work has been created by designers whilst listening to ‘Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming’. If you want to feel badass, you work to that album. After missing M83 the first time round in Amsterdam, I made sure to grab tickets to Paradiso on Thursday June 21st before they undoubtedly sold out. Apprehensive of a room full of hipsters, myself and my museologist friend Miriam made our way. 

Hats, beards and checkered shirts aside, Paradiso is THE place to see a gig in Amsterdam. I couldn’t believe what an intimate setting it was–and for twenty bucks! Berlin, eat your shorts. As two girls at the lower end of 5’, we struggled to see much as the gig kicked off. See photo below for reference, let it be noted I’m holding my iPhone up in the air too. 

What’s nice about the atmosphere in there is people obliging let us slip to the front. It involved a lot of tapping on shoulders, them looking around and then down at two girls who looked like they escaped from the album cover.

Besides Gonzalez, there was some stellar support: female vocalist Morgan Kibby (who co-wrote Intro, Midnight City and Reunion) owned the keyboard and finished up on the tambourine. Jordan Lawlor, the 20 year old multi-instrumentalist–aka music man–spent the night ricocheting around the stage.

But the show? Epic. Grandiose. Moving. Awe-inspiring. With eleven years in the music business under his belt, Anthony knows what to do. I’ve a feeling even those who aren’t fans would get goosebumps, it’s music that’s impossible to stand still to. Which is exactly why Rolling Stones credits M83’s breakthrough with a ‘universal’ sound.

Their encore felt like a live Tron clip.

Here’s a link to Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr’s remix of ‘Reunion’. And another piece for you, see below for a video of the sax solo. Around 10 seconds in I rather pervily (is that a word? Should it be?) albeit accidentally caught Anothony and Maggie having a nice moment.

Consistently Current: TrouwAmsterdam

• Wibautstraat 131 
• Amsterdam, Netherlands 
• trouwamsterdam.nl

Trouw is a daily newspaper in the Netherlands, founded in World War II by members of the Dutch Protestant resistance. The Nazis tried to prevent publication and imprisoned twenty of it’s couriers. Issuing an ultimatum to the editors of Trouw, the paper refused to give in and all of the captured couriers were executed. 

TrouwAmsterdam, is located at Wibautstraat, the former printing warehouse of Trouw. But that’s where their connection to the paper ends. Now the space is used as a restaurant and venue. I mention the history of Trouw because the place is almost metaphorically a newspaper–it is consistently current. It has a Berlin-esque vibe. Admittedly, I don’t know too much about that city, but I imagine this is where Amsterdam differs. The vibrant ‘glam’ club culture can be found here where every building is full of history.

Schedule of events for the night, probably one of the last printed pieces we’ll see from the Stedelijk in their old house style.

On Thursday I went to DUPLICATE IT!, the last night of the Stedelijk and TrouwAmsterdam collaboration. Nights like this seem dime a dozen in Amsterdam, especially at Trouw. To be honest, you almost take it for granted that there’ll be something cool on.

This evening–despite the bright club lights and house DJs–was deceivingly wholesome.

Run by the Blikopeners of the Stedelijk (young people with part-time jobs in the museum, ages 15-19) there were a energetic bunch of teens on stage introducing bands remixing and playing cover songs. Throughout other areas of the venue you could see people filming movies or getting involved with a large artwork, referencing the acknowledgment of Stedelijk of the “I could do that” attitude found often in visitors in museums. 

A large room was eerily filled with six xerox machines, each accompanied by a stack of Parra art for you to manipulate. And so subtly and casually Dutch, the place was filled with contemporary art by well known names such as Marc Bijl, Paul McCarthy and Mike Kelley.