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…
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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…
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No time to write long blog posts: I am in the process of giving birth to a book! But my eye continues to travel and this is what I have collected rcently. The brick walls of a small countryside church on Walcheren, in the south-west of the Netherlands:…
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These 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 moreThe colour red, in stark contrast with last week’s grey-and-whites, has unexpectedly led me this week to an inspiring series of lectures by scientist Richard Feynman. It began with pictures of what looked like a flow of lava but appears to be a rare natural spring phenomenon…
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 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 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 moreA rare sight in The Netherlands : half hidden behind a farmhouse, a crumbling hay barn. This country is generally so clean and organised that most people here would be shocked by my enthusiasm, of course, and this shed is certainly becoming dangerous to use. But my heart made a…
Read moreOne of my favourite places for photography to do with iron is a bulk terminal situated near the Dutch coast. I’ve had the chance to be there in different seasons and to watch the unexpected amount of wildlife it harbours. It is especially impressive in the month of June when…
Read moreIron 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 moreCrossing the road on my daily walk this morning, I noticed that the asphalt had been repaired in a surprisingly playful way and on such a scale that it could not be a coincidence. The intriguing designs created by the roadworkers reminded me of…
Read moreThis summer I see rusty colours wherever I go. It is the theme of my daily (pre)occupation. Large steel tubes for a North Sea wind turbine Recently, a short stay on the beach… Fishing gear on a…
Read moreI’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 moreA moment of pause to pick up this journal after a month has, once again, passed too quickly. I’m listening to Benjamin Biolay’s music compilation ‘Rose Kennedy’ which sounds very French and summery and fits a Sunday afternoon of making order around me. Changing the scenery in my studio is…
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