Tagged: India
South Indian steel
Iron rusts, and therefore ancient iron objects are more rare (and often less appreciated) than other metals such as bronze. Piling on an old jetty In search of information on the dawn of iron for my new book, I recently called the…
Read moreWork and play
I’m preparing a book on the most heavy material imaginable: iron. And ever since I’ve begun this project, wherever I have gone I’ve always come home with some feathers. It often makes me wonder what will follow later on, as I’ve never consciously…
Read moreWhat is serious?
My recent Great Sweep through my studio included going through my ‘Rajasthan‘ cupboard. It was good to unfold and rearrange a collection of Indian textiles – nothing exceptionally valuable but a testimony to change as a number of hand-blocked cotton pieces are not available anymore if…
Read moreRajasthan travel
During many years I have organised and accompanied such tours for friends. The time it took to prepare a balanced, informative and unforgettable journey made me recently stop doing so, but it was equally fun to dream in advance about sensational places and, when travelling at last, to share…
Read moreSelf-confidence
These past weeks I have often wondered about what makes people great, why they are often humble, and how badly we miss trustworthy models at the moment. Several recent press articles made me draw once again the conclusion that greatness resides in a subtle combination of humility and self-confidence.
Read moreBirth of the Visual Legacy Foundation
The contrast between my books appears sometimes to be confusing. There is a leading thread, however, as each one is the result of a largely visual coup de foudre. I didn’t plan to go to India, I was invited and once there, it struck me deep. I never thought I…
Read more‘Rajasthan’ in an armchair
Almost nine years after its launch, Rajasthan is still living its own life. It was by sheer chance that a friend found the book last week sitting comfortably in an armchair on the cover of a flyer from an interior decorator in Laren, the Netherlands. …
Read moreWhat is inspiration?
At the launch of Rajasthan in London in the Fall of 2003, a journalist asks me why, being Dutch, I have not made a book about Indonesia. Although the question is meant to tease me, it is fundamental and the journalist himself is surprised by its effect. What is the…
Read moreLooking back #5: Return to India with Rajasthan under my arm
After the launch of Rajasthan I returned to India to finally show my friends what I had been doing. The village of Rohet in the Jodhpur region and its pleasant fort had been my base for longer periods of time. I had even become affectionately known as ‘Pollimadam’ and…
Read moreHomage to Homai Vyarawalla
My Indian friend Nina Subramani gave me the Camera Chronicles of Homai Vyarawalla for Christmas last year. Homai Vyarawalla (9/7/1913 – 15/1/2012) was the first woman photojournalist in India, and many of the most famous pictures dating from the time…
Read moreLooking back #4: The launch of Rajasthan into the world…
There are some more ‘memories’ entries to come as an introduction to an up-to-date blog, but I’m getting there. Autumn 2003: Rajasthan is festively launched in Paris, Brussels, London and the Netherlands. The kind booksellers of the Lagerfeld 7L bookshop in Paris transform its interior for one party night, aligning…
Read moreLooking back #3: Rajasthan and making books
My most faithful travel companion is a small Moleskine ‘reporter’ notebook which, at home, is paired with a larger one that grows within a few months to bursting point with photos, sketches and cuttings. For years I used to bind my journals myself in different materials and those are particularly…
Read moreA moment of harvest in my studio
Many things have been kept out of the pages of this website in order to keep them simple. I have little patience with websites that need a road map. But hidden behind these slightly static pages is the image of work in progress, of periods of formation and research, and…
Read moreArt school again
The Artibus art academy in the Netherlands stood on its own in the ’90s because it firmly believed that one should not have to choose, at the start of art training, between drawing and painting on the one hand and sculpture-related subjects on the other. Their programme was founded on a…
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