About us
We took off in 2015 with a year of traveling the world with our 3 awesome wingmen, wasting time on the better things in life. From that day on we document our endeavours and transform our inspiration into stuff you might like to call your own one day. Explore our shop and indulge, or buy someone a gift - sometimes giving is better than getting.
Arjan - I always liked to design things. From when I can remember I was scribbling logos, furniture and houses on paper. In the mid-nineties I taught myself to script websites and never did anything with the education to become a draughtsman (a stepping stone to becoming an architect) I had completed. As a real autodidact I continued to dive into programming, to solve problems I came across, to bring ideas to life. So all of a sudden I am a digital designer who works 80% of the time as a developer: mostly on stuff my heart is not in.
Before we embarked on our worldtrip I knew I wanted a change: make physical stuff. Preferable, as the son of a carpenter, with my hands. So during our year off I picked up drawing again and when we got home I knew what I wanted to do: screen-print my own designs. So the autodidact in me got fired up again and I used the following months to build the tools and learn the craft. Meanwhile I worked on my designs endlessly, getting the right feel for each piece, drawing everything by hand to get that perfect imperfect look I was aiming for. I am really happy with the outcome and hope the love, attention and authenticity strikes a chord with you.
Lonneke - always liked travelling and languages and kept travel journals since first going abroad as a 9 year old, to the Greek island Kos. This love for recording was a fortunate thing, as the camera turned out to be broken at the airport upon leaving and my parents didn't buy a new one - sometimes words are even more telling than pictures.
While working for a touroperator, I soon discovered that travelling with no set plans makes for double the experience. After travelling through Indonesia for two months with my love, we were sold: this is where we thrive, this brings out the best in us. Even though we were years away from having children, it was clear that we'd want them to see the world like this too - all the goodness, dirt, resilience, poverty, beauty, all these different people, who are yet exactly like us. For us, travel should be raw, unfiltered, not polished, so we can experience the whole spectrum of what it means to be alive, not just the politically correct or socially desirable sides. Yes, that makes for awkward situations, that I definitely would avoid in my day-to-day life. For me, this is part of travelling. It makes me look at things with a fresh outlook and evokes inspiration.
My eyes always wander off to details. Maybe this is why I have no sense of direction at all: my world consists of many, many small parts and I have no clue how exactly they fit together. This comes in handy when I try to capture the new worlds around me, when I attempt to catch the uniqueness of a place. I really enjoy photographing the feel of a particular spot, connecting with that environment and those people through this medium. It allows me to believe that the world is a truly beautiful place, made up from so many tiny, gorgeous pieces.
Rui, Mas & Kik - And then there are the three boys, now 13, 11 & 9 years old: true travellers, flexible as can be, going with the flow naturally and the best companions we could wish for on this journey!
