Living Iron is in production. My bookbinder’s heart is excited: ten years after A Resistible Force I am going from the printing press to the binder’s workshop. The scale and speed of industrial book manufacture cannot be compared to…
Read more
One of my most trusted sources of inspiration: a walk in the park. Today it was even more special with the golden light accompanying the end of a balmy autumn day. The trees are getting old. After a recent storm a centuries-old beech almost fell apart and needed surgery.
Read more
Two years have passed since my last blog post. Two years filled with books and some unexpected hurdles on the way. Meanwhile LIVING IRON, about the rich diversity of iron and the visual appeal of rust, has continued to grow and is now reaching completion. …
Read more
Could it be that ‘it’ was in the air? That we walk around with themes that unconsciously develop in our head until they are ‘ripe’ to be triggered? This morning my eye was caught in the garden by extraordinary cobwebs in the dewy morning sunshine. They looked like solid…
Read moreToday I realised once more how any walk clears my head and how little one needs to feel fed. I went out with my faithful companion, the eye of my mobile phone, and before I knew it I had spent almost an hour just watching the bark of a few trees from close…
Read moreThese days I’m reading about the use of iron in early architecture, especially since a group of researchers has found a way to reveal the DNA of ancient pieces of iron, so to speak, in fact a digital identity, by analysing their inner, grainy structure. This has given…
Read more‘The more diverse the life of the mind, the better the chances are that your inspiration will be protected’ writes Rainer Maria Rilke to Elisabeth Ephrussi in The Hare with the Amber Eyes. I think about this as I return from…
Read moreWhat is the difference between a line – and certainly characters – drawn by hand and in print? How come that in the first case there is an unmistakable warmth which is hard to fake in print even if a collection of typeface imitates classical handwriting to perfection, specially adapted…
Read moreThe theme of imagination and play has not left me in the past weeks, as illustrated by hospital drawings, among others, which seem to have worried some of my friends recently. Sitting with the family around a Christmas fireplace, we discuss once…
Read moreFollowing my previous blog post, one of my other favourite artists is Roland Roure. He may be less famous than Alexander Calder, but he is equally fond of wire, ‘junk’ and, most important: play. His artwork touches us because its source is genuine. He plays out of…
Read moreWillpower does far more for us than to support achievements other people expect from us. We need it to listen to our deepest voice without being distracted. Making space for ourselves needs confidence and determination. Alan Watts describes its essence in his essay on…
Read moreHidden from view inside a park not too far from my home is a large building site. Contrary to most construction sites around us these days the entrance gate is never closed and, apart from the builders, hardly anybody ever comes there anyway. From a distance I watch the building…
Read moreAt the Venice Biennale of 1995, the entire Danish pavilion was occupied by only one artist, John Olsen. The space was light in its Scandinavian simplicity, yet the exhibition felt like a dense, intimate world. During my visit I was the only visitor, which added to the intensity of the…
Read moreWe’re often being taught to expand, to research new things, to think big. But what about remaining true, at least for a while, to the small scale? The painter Giorgio Morandi found repeated inspiration (and fame) in a collection of bottles and pots. © Giorgio…
Read moreOur points of interest are not always aligned with everybody else’s taste and we sometimes tend to hide our dreams for fear of negative comments and discouragement. Years may pass before we feel confident enough to truly express ourselves. It is important to recognise our dreams, if only to encourage…
Read more