Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Sources of inspiration: New York Yay! Series // fabric // postcards // home decor

I was a dreamer at 15. I wanted to go and see the world and luckily my father supported the idea of studying abroad for a year. Just before my 16th birthday I took off on my first trip to the United States. Where I crisscrossed the country. We took a long walk to the Golden Gate Bridge. Ate a one foot high sandwich in Salt lake city. Yes that is to be considered huge in Holland… We crashed at some awesome peoples home in Atlanta and we went to see New York. It was the first trip that made me realize I wanted to see the world.



Although I never went back until last year this country is my first taste of traveling. Letting go of what you know. Go with the flow and pick up the different energy while moving from place to place. Enjoy simple every day things and go back home appreciating what you take for granted.

This year, after receiving Shutterstocks Grant Prize I decided to go back to New York. Working for a company that invited me to come and see the new Empire State Building office, it was all work no play of course.

I love the buzzing streets of New York, where your eye gets drawn to the high architecture and people are in a constant state of hurry, but also enjoy life in little moments by themselves in a park or coffee shop. The city surprised me: I always have this sense of restlessness within me, but when I visited New York, I felt this sense of easygoing peace and calm, like I was home. It's also visually mind-blowing. Street art and high-end designer shops go hand in hand. NYC is the ultimate destination for a designer like me, where constant movement is inescapable, there's room for both culture and business, and, if you set your mind to it, everything seems possible. A multicultural melting pot, which I love.



I love traveling alone and getting lost in places I have never been before. I stumbled upon an expo of graduation students, met some interesting young artists with amazing refreshing work. Goosebumps people! Another stroll from my loft to the high line brought me through the romantic streets of the West Village with it's beautiful brown stones with the typical soundtrack of New York in the back: spring sparrows. An old lady walked by and told me luck would be coming my way... It had already found me.

After I came back from this trip I have been making some new US and New York themes. Some for fabric, some for my pug loving friends back in Brooklyn and a new series for iphone cases and postcards. I still have to create so many things though. So yes, I call them my New York Yay series.