Drawing.
Always and everywhere,
yes,
also on the table.
Reading and playing outside.
Endless summers.
Winters with natural ice and skating until dark.
Television on Wednesday afternoons.
So exciting.
That’s what I wanted to do when I grew up.

The Frisian lakes were replaced by the IJsselmeer.
Drawing became a final exam subject.
Dutch laid the foundation for
my love of poetry and language.
And music entered.
At the Gerrit rietveld academy,
I learned everything about looking.
About typography.
The power of images
And the combination.
A love for life,
fitting like a glove.
From a novice student in an unfamiliar field,
I graduated as a passionate designer.
Wanting more.
Television, film,
more dimensions.

I took internships –
to become broader educated.
At a publishing house and printing company
and the Toonder Animation Studios.
An incredible project landed.
120 bumpers for children’s television.
A black-and white up-tempo hand-drawn style created.
And there I was,
after finishing this project,
somewhat bewildered
on the stage of the HAFF
holding the ‘Best film and television leader’ award
in my hands.

The illustrations for a forty choir men
read-aloud stories
for preschoolers on Sesame Street
marked the beginning of decades
of collaboration with Herman van Veen.
A mutual appreciation for typography
we share.
His poetry and song lyrics,
theatre and music,
doing good and stand for what you believe in
opened up my world.
Which exceeded into 12 graphic poetry pieces
exhibited at the Herman van Veen Art Center.

Books had conquered their place
in my being.
A medium that fits my way of working.
Each page and spread,
like a white canvas.
A space where time is lost
and the story to tell emerges.
Intuition leads the way.

What started as one book,
evolved into two,
three books with princess Irene.
Her ‘being’,
her vision of life,
nature and society inspire
me to this day.
Being able to contribute and build
on her founded Nature College
as a core team member,
is next to writing poetry,
and more drawing again these days,
still part of my daily practice these days.

Meanwhile,
the world and my work field were changing rapidly.
Personal life changed too.
A lovely son joined life.
Summers at the lake became summers at the sea.
My passion grew towards revealing stories.
Authentic stories that had become hidden,
invisible.
Design appeared to be my medium
of artistic choice.

Looking at beautiful images,
films, sports,
compelling stories
is deeply engrained.
Always looking,
every day,
almost every moment.

My imagination and intuition,
combined with a playful a
nd poetic view of the world,
are my tools.

Books and web identities
are my core.
Yes, a maker of those I am.
Getting your story revealed,
a deep love there.

Both serve my personality.
Being the one in the back,
the more silent one.
Noticing,
underlying patterns.
Noticing,
when your eyes spark.

What my spark sparks?
You.
There has to be something.
Preferably an immediate click.
Yes that indescribable thing.
The feeling of safety.
Of freedom.
A space where ideas can bounce.

Together with that
the story,
your story,
has to add value.
To a good cause.
An underdog.
Social importance.
It has to strive for doing better.
It has to touch somewhere
on the legacy we’re leaving behind.
Care for our planet.
Care for our children.
Care for not losing our creativity.
Art,
theatre,
music.

Between who you were
and who you can become
lies your story,
gone invisible to yourself.
I believe that change comes from within
—
not by creating something new,
but by remembering what has always been there.

What is possible for you
is what my eyes see.