WHY DID I APPLY
Even though a few people recommended this master to me when it first started, I didn’t feel it was the right time and honestly I was a bit put off by the idea of "fashion". I’m not a fashion designer, so why would a fashion master be good for me?
But then I read Pascal Gatzen’s interview in de Volkskrant, just at the point in my life where I felt I wanted to move into a new direction. During the Open day, listening to everyone’s stories, I couldn’t stop nodding because it resonated so well with me.
But then I read Pascal Gatzen’s interview in de Volkskrant, just at the point in my life where I felt I wanted to move into a new direction. During the Open day, listening to everyone’s stories, I couldn’t stop nodding because it resonated so well with me.
I read up on the program’s curriculum and vision, and it was like reading my own motivations. It combines all the things I loved and liked already. Like building communities, self expression, working with, for and alongside people and not just projecting, diving into a new world, looking way beyond just a garment or object, finding joy in connecting, etc.
And it also adds things I have been trying to find. For example learning how to be a compassionate person in all that you do, not just in the designs you make, having the time and space to explore, investigate and deeply go into your topic, working as a group of individuals that help each other and do their own things.
It’s not one thing that made me apply, more of a gut-feeling; the right thing at the right time.
WHAT CAN I CONTRIBUTE
The 'obvious' answer is my educational background at Design Academy Eindhoven. I’ve focused on all kinds of design outside fashion design. I learned basic skills in various fields, from woodworking to painting and from websites to writing. However, I see some parallels too, especially with the department I studied at (Man and Leisure). The focus there was more on connecting with people, taking part of their daily lives and maybe ending up with a physical product, but often enough with something completely different.
But I think the most value I can add, is in my way of thinking and looking at the world.
I’m both a dreamer and a pragmatic realist. When I start to think about something, my brain starts a huge web of all connecting things and thoughts and ideas, seeing overlaps between seemingly opposite things. But then I also always have a need to bring it back again, turn this web into something that’s easier to grasp and understand. Something that makes sense and has somehow, some kind of use. I always see the big big connections and logics and relations, and at the same time the very tiny details and constructions.
I’m both a dreamer and a pragmatic realist. When I start to think about something, my brain starts a huge web of all connecting things and thoughts and ideas, seeing overlaps between seemingly opposite things. But then I also always have a need to bring it back again, turn this web into something that’s easier to grasp and understand. Something that makes sense and has somehow, some kind of use. I always see the big big connections and logics and relations, and at the same time the very tiny details and constructions.
As for my own personal 'drive' and place in this program; I’m always curious, I’m asking questions and I try to find connections and beauty in everything. I’m driven by my emotions; whether it is complete amazement and enthusiasm or anger and frustration. I love to discover, to be amazed and surprised and I love it even more to get amazed and surprised with, and by, others.