Travelling by train

Every monday to thursday I take the train to Amsterdam. I love travelling by train, eventhough I can call standing the whole journey hardly romantic... I once bought this booklet, which is a timetable slash travel brochure. Eventhough the title says 'cheap journeys' the prices suggest otherwise. Back then travelling by train wasn't cheap at all!
I fact, two of my favourite things are combined in this book; information design (time tables) and the train!

Clutter in my cupboard

A few items in my small collection

Show me the money

When the euro came our local currency disappeared. Holland definitely had the best designed paper money, the 'gulden'.
I don't have the Dutch paper money anymore but I stumbled upon these from Italy and Poland when I was going through my vintage collection. The Polish currency is the Zloty and the Lire used to be the Italian currency.

Prehistoric chicken

This little collage is one of the first ones I made.

Dress-up baby

This is Mila's birth announcement which I designed more than 7 years ago. Corné took her picture the morning after she was born. She looks so fragile! Unfortunately I deleted the digital version, so all I'm left with are the printed cards. Nowadays it feels like something is missing when the digital version no longer excists. Times have changed!

Thanks for coming

I used to make these little gifts for the children who were at a Lewis' of Mila's birthday. Nowadays I don't get around to doing that anymore. Besides, I always forgot to give them at the end of the party. So we were stuck with about 15 of those little gifts...

Cross stitching

I love a good piece of embroidery. Besides from the occasional assignment when I was 6 or 7 I've never done it. But my mother likes to cross stitch. She made this piece for Mila, right after she was born. The other design was a pattern I made for an ex-colleague. She was very much into cross stitching so that was the concept for her goodbye gift.

Size doesn't matter

All of the cards above a quite small. The two together are the birth announcements of both my brothers (dating back to '61 and '62). The other one is probably a bit older. It was my grandfather's business card. He was a police-inspector.

Magenta again

Corné took a great picture of Mila when she turned 4. I used it to make the invitations. Magenta is a colour I really like to use...

Danni's friends

Im getting really experienced in making these friendbooks. I've made 4 of them so far; 2 for Mila, 1 for Lewis and 1 for Danni, Mila's friend. I order them from Blurb, quite expensive but definitely the best print quality.
If anyone is interested I can make one especially for you, just e-mail me!

Wall to wall

I took this picture in Gent, Belgium, great facade typography.

Play with your food

I love Joost Elffers and Saxton Freymanns' book 'Play with your food'!

The Sandeman secret

I bought this cardboard ad at a local thriftshop. It's about the size of an A4 paper. The text as well as the silhouette is embossed.
I've always loved this poster, not just because of the simplicity of the design but also for the simple reason that I see my familyname in the brandname.

Finally, presenting...

... the birthday calendar I made with a few of my collages. I didn't get around to making the pictures so it took me a while to post this one.

Colourstudies

In the first year at Art-college one of the assignments I remember was doing colourstudies. I discovered those studies years later in a box and decided to frame 'blue'. Even though one piece is missing I cannot bring myself to throw it out.

Fireworks

So soon after new years eve the streets in our neighbourhood are filled with the remains of the fireworks. I do not enjoy the loud bangs but I can appreciate the design! These are just a few I picked up in our street.

Pillowtalk

Years ago - when my pregnancy hormones were jumping up and down - I was very much into felt. Everything that didn't get away from me soon enough got decorated with a felt-application. This pillow is one of better results.

Another trip down memory-game-lane

This is the memorygame I used to play at home. It was a very extensive version and had a lot of cards I used to hate to look at. Of course I don't show those ones here. But take a closer look at the box... The game is by Otto Maier Verlag.

You!

When my niece got married they asked me to design the wedding announcement. I had lots of different ideas to show them. This is a selection of the designs I made for them. To yellow and blue one is the one they picked.

Lewis' first room

Lewis didn't get the chance to get to know his first room, 10 weeks after he was born we moved...

Engaged to be married

My grandparents on my mother's side. The card is quite small, about 8 cm wide. How formal is that?

Pills and powders

These paper boxes look almost too beautiful to match their purpose. They're boxes to carry medicine in, pills and powders. So different from the paper bags the pharmacies use nowadays! I googled the pharmacist's name, but I got no results.

Good old memory

During the wintertime we snuggle up and play a lot of games with the kids. One of their favourites is memory. I love these old drawings!

Turning 75

Last year my father turned 75 and my mother wanted to surprise him with a party. I made the invitiations and used old postcards for the design. My father originates from Breskens, a small town with a fishing port. My father collects old postcards from that town so this design was truly inspired by him!

Make a wish

About a year ago we visited the Musée du président Jacques Chirac in Sarran, France and I came across this piece of persistence. In Asia, it is commonly said that folding 1000 paper origami cranes makes a person's wish come true. An ancient Japanese legend promises that anyone who folds a thousand origami cranes will be granted a wish by a crane, such as long life or recovery from illness or injury. The crane in Japan is one of the mystical or holy creatures and is said to live for a thousand years. The other picture I found on the internet, it shows how The Thousand Origami Cranes has become a symbol of world peace. Great isn't it?
My new year's resolution should be to fold a thousand of these birds...

By the way, the museum is worth a visit if you're ever in the neighbourhood.