For a client I'm on the hunt for black-and-white accessories, to make a nice blend of her feminin modern-country taste and his more masculine preference for design. Black-and-white works quite well in those cases, especially when there's some kind of organic images mixed in it. I'm thinking of designing a wallpaper for the bedroom, that can be printed by Wonderwand.

For the living room, or the bedroom even, pillows and rugs will look nice. I found some really nice ones designed by a young design team from Australia, Pony Rider, who also have a webshop. I might even choose to use the wall dot, but I think a wall-to-wall covering of a leafprint will also look nice.

hotel De Goudfazant

Yesterday we spent a nice evening with friends in Hotel de Goudfazant. That may sound a bit strange, but eventhough the name suggests it, it is not a hotel. It is a restaurant, one of the nicest in Amsterdam. It is quite remote, way up in the northern part, but worth the trip. Even though the weather was a bit dull, we still enjoyed the view of the city on the other side of the canal. And the lovely food, the inspiring interior and the friendly staff, of course.

Jan

Jan is an old fashioned, masculine and typically Dutch name for a boy, and that makes it so funny that a small, feminine, elegant shop like this is called the same. It is one of my favourite shops in Amsterdam, it is in the Utrechtsestraat, and I go there mostly when I do a styling job for the finishing touches, like a nice bowl, a beautiful bag or a lovely toy. And I almost never leave the shop without buying something for myself. Which is not as bad as it sounds, because the prices are reasonable as well. Maybe that explains the name, because we're known for our money handling skills...

twins

Eddo Hartmann is a Dutch photographer who does projects all over the world - he even took pictures in a Russian fake space ship that they use to test future astronauts (and photographers) on their abilities to function in zero or double gravity, a cooperation with artist Bradley Pitts.

His images are mostly of strong, impressive, empty environments with strong lines and big horizons, like White Sands.
Currently he is working on a very special project called An unsuspected visit to a very familiar place. A touching and beautiful series of a house, with a very special story. It will be published in a book, for which he is now very busy looking for funds. (If you happen to have a a sack of money lying around: this is the perfect destination.)

And since yesterday we're the proud owners of three beautiful images made by him of our two lovely little girls. It was the gift that he gave us when they were born, and finally in May they were old enough to do the shoot. He used this technique once before for Volkskrant Magazine (art direction by Heike Gülker). Our twins have completely different characters, even though they are identical twins. And he captured it exactly, and that is a gift by itself. Thank you!