Tell us briefly about your origins: who are you and what did you study?

Hi There, I am Aart van Asseldonk. After I graduated from ArtEZ in Arnhem as a product designer I founded Atelier van Asseldonk. I started my business in Mariaheide, the place where I grew up as a child.

Here we have an old farm that my father used as a workshop for his construction company. As time passed I slowly confiscated most of the space and transformed it into a workshop that suits my practices.

Later this year the farm is undergoing a large transformation to get it back in to a perfect state and ready for the future!

Where do you live? How is your house?

I bought a house in Eindhoven, the capital of Dutch Design in the Netherlands. I live here with my girlfriend and recently had the pleasure of welcoming a new person in the house, my beautiful daughter Luus.

The house was build in the 1930’s so the architecture has beautiful old elements to it. I stripped the whole interior and started rebuilding from there. By doing this I could create the perfect living space for me and my family, and also I could let my creativity run wild.

Every element is well thought of. From the kitchen to the bathroom, every detail is carefully designed and most of the times even produced here in the workshop.

 How is your typical day?

Normally after I woke up I go to my workshop in Mariaheide right away. There I spent my day researching for new items, getting my hands dirty in the workspace, or doing the necessary administration.

Currently we are working on a new collection that will be part of a big show that we are creating. With this show we aspire to travel to all the big design events around the world. For this show we want do a lot of collaborations so drinking coffee with my contacts is often a important part of my day. Next to the self initiated works we make, we also do a lot of projects for big clients. A project that we recently finished is the interior of an old building of Gerrit Rietveld.

Which are your sources of inspiration?

In the office of the workshop we have a lot of books. Often when we are doing a research for a new project or object I tend to the bookcase and start digging. When I open a book instead of opening google right away I find that I look more carefully and thereby discover more than just ‘pretty images’.

I learn about how things come to exist. I often combine elements form past times with elements that for me represent a future world. The combination between old and new has always fascinated me and that shows itself in the work I produce, and the storytelling that comes with it. Besides my book collection a cold beer with my friends also works to get fresh ideas for new objects!

How do you define your style?

My style is best defined by the craftsmanship that goes into my objects. My work is most of the times a combination of  references to past times with a future-oriented vision. Most of the time the objects that I make are practical pieces, but they always have a metaphorical layer underneath.

This does not necessarily show itself in the end result, but for me it is a way of thinking about the things that  I make and make them more whole. Often my work has a bold appearance but just as easy I tend a more refined look. This totally depends on the concept I am working on at that time.

Video link: The Allegory of the South (show DDW 2015)