Caroline Ellerbeck

An illustrator and publisher of ‘Kleursprookjes’ (Colour Fairy Tales) Caroline Ellerbeck lives with Gilles and her three children Luuk (9), Fien (5), Flores (2) on a ground floor apartment (from the nineteen twenties) in Rotterdam West. 

Seven years ago Caroline and Gilles bought this ground floor apartment in the New West part of Rotterdam. An apartment in this case doesn't mean one floor ... no there are three floors, and the back is bordering a surprisingly large garden. She has a nice view of her garden from her office located on the ground floor. Also Gilles works from home. He is a freelance writer and marketer, and mostly works in the cultural sector. This setup works well for them right now with three young children. This is why they also do a lot of work in the evenings. Caroline is very happy with the way things are going.

“During the week we prepare fast pasta meals, but in the weekend we like to cook and prepare elaborate meals, such as sushi. We make sure the kids are in bed early and we enjoy a nice meal together. The two of us spent a lot of time in the kitchen together anyway, while our kids play in the living room next door. We use the little window between the kitchen and the living room to keep an eye on them, especially the youngest one, as she still needs supervision. We actually never watch TV. We don’t even own one. We watch some shows via the Internet on our laptops (i.e. ‘Uitzending Gemist’ or ‘YouTube’). Our children are avid online users.” 

Caroline: I really love going shopping on my own. Visiting different bookshops, looking for inspiration.

Jessica Nielsen

{Photography: Marjon Hoogervorst ~ Words: Sandra Jacobs ~ Translation: Nanette Watson}

Jessica Nielsen has been living together for 4 years now with her boyfriend Eelco who is an architect in a cool apartment in the North of Rotterdam. Light dominates this rental apartment. They painted the concrete floor white themselves. They share a studio that is a stone’s throw away and they usually continue working on their laptops together at night while sprawled out on the large sofa in the living room.

When we are at home we also like to cook together; we are real pizza lovers. We own a red brick pizza oven by Ferrari in which you can bake a delicious pizza within 3 or 4 minutes. Once you have tasted these pizzas, you’ll never want anything else… Friends of ours regularly ask us when they can come over for pizza again;-). We got a secret recipe for pizza dough ;-) from an Italian cook. Our favourite pizza is Pizza Bianco (without tomato sauce) with mozzarella, smoked cheese ('scamorza'), rosemary and olives.

Buro Jet

{Photography: Marjon Hoogervorst ~ Words: Sandra Jacobs ~ Translation: Nanette Watson}

Jorine Oosterhoff and Egbert-Jan Lam are Buro Jet. Together with their daughter Fiep and 3 cats (Bras, Branie and Banjer) they live in Arnhem, in what is called a Janitor house from 1939 (national monument in the ‘Delft School’ style)

How would you describe your neighbourhood?

We have a lot of space here and lots of green. Sometimes there’s a woodpecker or a porcupine in our garden. It feels as if you’re in the middle of nature, whereas we are actually living in the centre of town. The light here is superb! And we are only 5 minutes biking away from the Veluwe national park. Our studio is located in the school building next door so we have everything nearby. Our home is our sanctuary. A place to play with Fiep. With the studio next door, we do enjoy closing the door at night and then not work anymore, which is possible. So we can just enjoy each other’s company. Egbert-Jan: I love to cook, mostly Italian and Asian. I even started a cooking battle with a few very good friends. Then we battle who can make the best risotto for example. I will take days to prepare THE best risotto with homemade chicken stock and so on. Jorine already gets stressed if there is more than one pot on the stove.

Snoutcups

Our products all came about because of our own fascination with nature. Our designs are also in our own house. Especially the Paper Laser Lights. Funny enough we never used the snout cups ourselves. We do give them away as presents at lot. An architect friend we know has a house with a very clean design, very ‘iPhone’ if you know what I mean. He has put two of those snout cups in the bathroom for his two boys. Every night after brushing their teeth they can have a snout cup moment in the mirror. Isn’t that great?

Collectors

Egbert-Jan: We really love collecting. We collect a lot via the internet, such as Marktplaats (Dutch online store for second hand stuff), we really love that store!;-) You could say I’m totally addicted to it at times. We also own a lot of stuff from other designers. A cupboard from Joost van Bleiswijk (his graduation project), a table from InekeHans (where I used to work) and ceramics from Lenneke Wispelwey. But also things we inherited, such as the table we got from Jorine’s mom that she owned during her student days. It is now in our house.

Lucas and Lucas

{Photography: Marjon Hoogervorst ~ Words: Sandra Jacobs ~ Translation: Nanette Watson}

Lucas and Lucas are Sander Lucas and Marijke Lucas-Geurts. They live with their 1.5 year old son Joris in Tilburg, the Netherlands. Type of house: working class house from the nineteen thirties

How would you describe your neighbourhood?

All houses around us here are old working class houses. Close to the city centre. We live close to the station, the large supermarket and the ‘TextielMuseum’ (Museum of Textiles). The city is redeveloping the area around the railways. In the old days, the railway area was also where the workshops of the railways were located. There is a lot of industrial heritage that is now getting rezoned. It will be an up and coming neighbourhood ;-)

What do you like to do most when you are at home?

When we are at home we do very little. Since our son was born, we have a strict regimen of getting up, taking Joris to daycare, work, get home (late) at night, cook and taking Joris to bed. So at the end of the day we are pretty much ‘done’. Certainly because, until recently, Marijke was getting home late as she was working in Amsterdam as a graphic designer for ELLE Decoration. We love to cook (Asian and Italian), eat nice food, and have a glass of wine with friends.

Marijke: sometimes we watch a movie or a nice documentary at home, or a tv-show such as ‘De Grote Verbouwing’ (the big renovation) or ‘24kitchen’. It wouldn’t surprise me if Joris becomes a cook or an architect later in life ;-). I breastfed him for 10 months and have often watched these kinds of shows during breastfeeding.

Mar.ly by Marly Gommans

{Photography: Marjon Hoogervorst ~ Words: Sandra Jacobs ~ Translation: Nanette Watson}

Founder of Mar.ly is Marly Gommans and she lives with Mark and their cat Ralph in Tilburg, the Netherlands. A link house in a charming old neighbourhood.

When you look out your window you see

We live in an old neighborhood that is being renovated. The neighborhood is very mixed, with lots of young families, as well as elderly people and students, close to the city (only 8 minutes on foot). I used to want to live in Amsterdam but that is simply unaffordable these days and now I actually prefer living in Tilburg as it is so centrally located in the Netherlands. Why Tilburg? Mark studied in Tilburg so it made sense for us to settle here and we’ve stayed on after Mark completed his studies. Historically, Tilburg has been quite an industrious town; hard working, friendly people who respect each other. Especially in a neighborhood such as ours this is very noticeable. Everyone is friendly and doing his or her own thing but still very much part of a close-knit community where no one really lives in isolation.

What do you like to do most when you are at home?

I like to watch art movies such as Les Amours Imaginaires! But this weekend we saw a Quentin Tarantino movie and I love that too, so I guess you could say I have broad interests ;-) There have been times when I could watch as many as 5 movies a week but on average about 3 or 4 for sure. I also like to mill around the house, organize things, DIY stuff. I can actually get pretty frightened by the idea that our house might actually be finished because we do not want to leave here yet. I was raised with the idea that when your house is finished, you move. I like to make things fit together in our home. It is different from designing for my work because that is really aimed at creating products. At home there is no rush to get things done and less pressure, so that gives me a nice and relaxed feeling. 

Do you take your work home with you?

I try not to do that and make my home really my home.  So I am very glad I have a work place outside of the house. The only work that I do at home is photo shopping. I am more relaxed at home and allows me to focus a bit more. I have two interns, so my day ‘at work’ is rather structured.

Do you use your designs in your own house?

Yes! The scratching pole ‘Cats in Style Scratch Post!’ of course, and the cat cushion and cat litter box and my bag ‘Woodbag’ is hanging on the coat rack in the hallway. The Dressed Wood cabinet XS is also in the hallway.