Interview by:

New Norm Magazine

Photography by:

July Adrichem 

​Portrait by:

Nanda Hagenaars

Country:

Amsterdam, Netherlands

Social:

www.julyadrichem.com

https://www.instagram.com/julyadrichem/

I’m an Artist with an Interior Styling and Graphic design background.

My passion for colour, material, and creating shapes was growing more and more while working on projects at Studio Piet Boon® for two years.

I have always been a person who loved to create things by hand and I’m definitely a dreamer. My work is a piece of my soul; I create what I feel.

I can be occupied for hours with the process of creating shapes. All of my work is build on my senses. My hands and eyes are my guides.

I get inspired by textures, shapes, and colour. I watch, observe, and translate the details I want to use in new work. I can be inspired by Architecture, Fashion, Photography, Street Art, and craftsmanship and I’m always interested in new materials. I love the process of testing and get to know a material to be able to adjust it in new works. The current medium I work with is plaster and cotton fabric. Art pieces I made from that material are the Art Bowl series and the Art Relief series and there will be definitely more to follow.

Reflect

Embracing slower living

1. Where are you from / call home?

July: I grew up close to nature, in a small village in the north of the Netherlands. From my old bedroom, I could see the trees, the beautiful forest. I really loved that and it felt like total freedom for me as a kid. Lucky for me my parents still live in that house and I live close by, so I often go to the seaside and wander into nature. I still love to be surrounded by the sea and the forest. That’s what I call home.

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2. What are some simple pleasures that you’ve rediscovered during the coronavirus pandemic?

J:  Because we all need to stay home more, I have found myself making more (much needed) space in my working studio. Cleaning things up. This gave me more mental space as well. When I had my studio in Amsterdam, my time and energy were more consumed by traveling to my studio and I often lost my focus faster during the day.

Now I have more clarity in my mind and the creative flow is often more present. I can get really enthusiastic when this happens and find myself running to my notebook drawing my ideas, sketching it to visualize. Creative ideas are popping up in my head more frequently than before. I also challenge myself to create new stuff, such as new structures and mixing new colours, especially the colour blue, which is my favorite.

I know there are so many options for me to explore structures, shapes, and colours. I find myself doing more research - having more time - to bring my ideas to life. This slowing down creates more freedom for me.

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3. How have you and your creative process changed?

J: A lot of things al well organized in the Netherlands, but just like in other country’s, the care system is under a huge amount of pressure, and the economy is collapsing, so lots of small (and larger) companies are hit by this crisis. On the positive side people are getting more creative, finding new ways to connect and helping each other. That’s something beautiful. So perhaps this has or will change our way of life. So many people are trying to make the best of their situation and finding creative solutions to keep their work and personal life going. I can’t say yet if I can see big changes, other than the fact we have to keep our distance from each other for a long unknown time. The weird thing is, this distance can bring our loved ones closer to each other, being more connected. I think we can only see real and permanent changes in our lifestyle when this crisis is in the past.

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4. What are some of the things that have changed in your country as a result of the pandemic? What is the new normal?

J: I think this is different for everyone. But in general the ‘new normal’ literally is keeping a distance from each other for the greater good. We have to get used to this but I can tell from the people in my environment, it is hard to keep this distance. We are used to hugging each other and go out together. On the positive side new ideas are born from this situation. The development of new technology is growing even faster and we are getting more used to digital connections. And while we are all slowing down, nature is recovering and continues to grow.

Reflect

Travel from home

5. What was your favourite destination and why?

​J: I once traveled through Indonesia with my husband and we instantly fell in love with this country. My husband has a small part of his roots in Java. We really wanted to see and experience the culture and life. We loved it both and want to go back to see more of the islands and beautiful culture and nature. I also love the Greece Islands, the way of living, the island life. I’d love to see more parts of Italy though. I do have to say we probably could have more favorite destinations, but we haven’t seen 80% (I think) of the world yet!

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6. What are some of your most memorable moments during the trip?

​J: We traveled from west to east Java and the countryside was really beautiful. The whole trip was memorable, but seeing the tea plantations, climbing a volcano on Java, cycling through small villages. Eating fresh food from the gardens. It was all memorable.