Photo: Ruben Reehorst
What can you tell us about yourself ?
We are interior architects, we deal with spatial interventions within existing structures – with the goal of creating added value for our clients. Precisely therein lies our existence – the contribution to commercial success, attraction, interaction and/or enjoyment.
By operating with a very clear focus, we try to transcend the fog in which our profession often parades. By doing this we can fully explore the creative side of our profession, with innovative and not everyday design, interdisciplinary concepts and especially a very contemporary approach.
What would you consider your distinctive achievement?
We do not only think from within the business case of our client, we co-create this business case – and for that we must become multi-disciplinary – forget just the interior concept, it’s the whole perception of the store, the cafe or the hotel – we need the input from the director/founder, but also from the people behind him or her; communications, logistics, website, social media, facility management, housekeeping, maintenance, and so on…. everybody has an opinion and everybody must be heard. Then we figure out the concept – who are they? What makes this client distinctive? And how are we going to communicate this in the design?
What we are especially proud of in the end, is that our interior concept becomes the identity of the business. Everybody within this company thinks and acts alike.
What are you looking forward to?
Our work connects a lot of functional disciplines (commercial, marketing, law, insurance etc…), and you need to understand them to co-create something bigger. The art works in the same way in the more creative part of the job – artists inspire us, and help us to make the most out of it. We think that our achievements lay in the fact that we want to work together with a lot of great artists. Everybody is an entrepreneur these days, so our company can hire the people it needs, at exactely the right moment. So, we are especially looking forward to meeting, working with and learning from these artists.
Which advise will you give to other professionals?
We like to work together with other entrepreneurs because our product becomes better this way. We like to share our knowledge, and at the same time learn from yours. We like to grow, become a reknown bureau in this area, but we know we can’t do this by ourselves, not anymore. It’s the acceptance of our own limits and the participation of this vast network of creatives that make us better, sharper and with more firepower. Our advise would be, stick with your craft, and make use of your colleagues.
What are the challenges that we need to overcome to make cultural entrepreneurship more accessible?
Stop calling it cultural, and look at it from a commercial point-of-view: what is it you do that could be valuable to your clients? Remember that the best brands and companies are looking for great ideas constantly, they need us, and we need them – act like it.
Thanks Inter/Alter!
