Dutch Design - Day 20 - Interview Daan Roosegaarde + Leiden "What's in Waddingxveen?"

We had an adventure trying to get on location for our first interview. Daan Roosegaarde's studio is in Waddingxveen which is a very small town in the rhetorical in the middle of nowhere.

His studio was really cool as it was a production warehouse as opposed to an office studio. The interview went pretty well and he gave us really conceptual answers that provoke us to think about the ideas we apply to our design work.

Short coffee break - Kletskoppenkoffie

My cultural film team with Justin, Elan, Kenneth, Rachael, and I went to Leiden to visit the family that Elan stayed with a bit. Rita and her husband Bart welcomed us into their beautiful home. We interviewed Rita to dig a bit deeper into Dutch culture and about her values. Afterwards, we helped with preparing and cooking dinner which was a very humbling experience. I feel a more heightened sense of connectedness when I am able to eat a meal in someone's home because it is such an intense personal space, but when we are also preparing and cooking the food together, it goes beyond that to an  even higher level of cultural and emotional exchange. Cooking is such an intimate occasion of sharing in food, life, and values.

Bart and Rita are teachers at a high school (Bart is also the principal) and the school just finished renovations, they took us on an up-close tour of the new school interior. It was another humbling experience as they were sharing their life and work to us. I am very thankful for the experience for meeting such wonderful people.