Brainstorm
beets blueprint

You don’t need to turn your design into a blueprint-sized book to convince your client.

Your design doesn’t need pages and pages to impress your client. Focus your time on the parts that truly help your client and make you happy. It saves you time, energy, and money every single project.

Visibility
over ability

You don’t have to be in the top three to be a successful designer.

You can take another course to get even better at your craft, but will that really bring you your ideal clients? I believe that being easier to find will. And once you’re helping more clients, you’ll naturally get even better at what you do.

Unique
over universal

You don’t have to be for everyone to be magnetic.

When you try to be there for everyone, no one feels spoken to. It sounds strange, but you simply need to show a very specific audience what you’re brilliant at, so they click that button because they want to work with you and only you.

What do my friends know about me?

I’ve been going back and forth between the Netherlands and India since 2016.

I’ve been going back and forth between the Netherlands and India since 2016. By now, this colorful country has truly become my second home. Every day here teaches me a new lesson in perspective, and my senses are constantly inspired.

My guilty pleasure: the tompouce

My friends all know this the moment I set foot back in the Netherlands, they hand me one right away. I think the simplest HEMA tompouce is unbelievably delicious.

I’m extremely allergic to all furry and feathered animals.

Such a shame. I’d love to have a cat. They’re independent and wonderfully self-contained. If I ever come back as an animal, I hope it’s a cat.

Diggin' the Dancing Queen

At the very first piano notes of ABBA’s “Dancing Queen,” I’m already halfway up the table dancing actually, to any of their songs. I was eight when I saw them win the Eurovision Song Contest with “Waterloo,” and I’ve been a fan ever since.

You can wake me up for soup.

Doesn’t matter which kind. A good old-fashioned chicken soup is my favorite, but honestly, you could serve me a three-course meal with soup as the starter, main, and dessert, and I’d be perfectly happy.

Why would you want to work with me?

I started working for C&A when I was 18 and later joined IKEA. My very first client came to me almost by coincidence in the summer of 1999, through a friend who owned an advertising agency. The moment I stepped into the photo studio, I knew I had found my place. A few months later, I boldly quit my job at IKEA. Everyone told me not to do it. I had a big mortgage and high interest rates but I chose to take the leap anyway.

Finding clients two, three, and four took a bit more effort. Over the years, I’ve done an incredible variety of projects. In the beginning, mostly photo shoots, and later interior consultations for more than a thousand homes. I worked with both small and large brands such as Histor, LAB Colour the World, Landal GreenParks, Tica, and as art director of the vt wonen&design fair. TV programs (my debut was live with Carlo and Irene), magazines, and other media often filled my schedule. And that very first client from the summer of ’99 is still with me today Ambiant, now the largest flooring brand in the Netherlands.

Since my thirties, I’ve always felt a pull toward India. When I first visited on vacation, I instantly knew I could live there. That dream became reality in 2016 when Jasper’s job at KPN took us to Pune, and I’ve been going back and forth ever since, living between the best of both worlds India and the Betuwe. So when we connect, it will probably be over Zoom, but you’re always warmly welcome to join me in India for a delicious cup of masala chai.

If you’re looking for a coach, lucky you!

Coaches are popping up everywhere, so there’s plenty to choose from. But if you’re an interior designer who wants to build a serious income, teaming up with me is a smart move. I know exactly what you’re up against and how to fix it. Over the past 25 years, I’ve stepped into more pitfalls than I can count and nothing makes me happier than helping you avoid them.

get in touch with me

You don’t have to be better than your colleagues, as long as you’re different.

Own collection

There’s nothing I enjoy more than collaborating with fellow designers, brands, and suppliers. Especially when I can be a creative sparring partner for new collections. It all started in 2018 with Robert Schellekens from LAB Colour the World. We instantly clicked through our shared love of India, which led to a surprising and original color palette. That caught the eye of Marthijn van Woerden from Tégl, who saw those beautiful space-inspired shades as the perfect match for a tile collection. Soon after, I connected with Michiel Kroon to design rugs. If you think my ideas could inspire your next collection, I’d love to hear from you.

Vloerkledenwinkel

Rug store

I have deep admiration for the makers of rugs. The entire process is handmade from spinning the wool to dyeing, knotting, tufting, or weaving, and finally finishing. The pile is trimmed by hand with scissors to create an even surface, or cut at different lengths for a subtle 3D effect.

I’ve visited Bhadohi several times, near Varanasi, where the sacred Ganges River flows. It’s known as the rug capital of India. Before designing a collection for Vloerkledenwinkel, I wanted to understand the entire process and it gave me incredible insight and inspiration.

The collection I developed together with Michiel is bold and colorful, made for interior lovers with guts. A rug can easily hang on a wall (great for acoustics), but to me, it’s first and foremost a painting for your floor.

TÉGL

I’ve been working with Marthijn for many years. Originally, I used to fly to the tropical plant fair TPIE every January to give presentations to their clients in Fort Lauderdale. Later, when he and his brother founded Tégl an incredibly inspiring company in the world of tiles our paths crossed again.

We both loved the idea of creating a collection based on the existing spice colors. Easy enough with paint, but quite a different story when it comes to tile glaze. We traveled to Valencia several times, spending long days in the hot factory matching, testing, and reviewing colors.

Color depends on so many factors: temperature, glaze, pigment, position in the kiln, time in the kiln, and more. I wouldn’t call myself a perfectionist except when it comes to color. My eye catches the smallest difference, and it wasn’t right until it was truly right.

LAB

LAB COLOUR THE WORLD

LAB

I met Robert, founder of LAB Colour the World, at the vt wonen&design fair where I worked for many years as art director. Right away we clicked as entrepreneurs, always full of new ideas, minds constantly in motion, never allowing things to get dull when it comes to business. As we talked a beautiful idea was born.

LAB Colour the World has a foundation that supports water projects in India. Since I spend much of my time there, that connection felt natural too. Together we came up with colors inspired by the spice box, the essential tin every household keeps in the kitchen (yes, we have one too). It holds the spices used every day in those wonderfully fragrant curries. We didn’t stop at spices of course, we added their opposites too, cooling shades, neutrals, and of course a little extra spice.