We are super happy with this full page feature of our Patera Magna in this week's Volkskrant Magazine!

Bert is a kiln.
And a rather large one, able to fire 1 Patera Media and 2 Patera Magna sets in one go.
We moved him in over summer, after a very successful Object Rotterdam left us with a lot of orders for the Poma/Olera series.

We got Bert second-hand from a lovely man who got it from a school where it was used ages ago. Since Bert was hardly ever used, he was just taking up space and needed to go. 
These things are built to last, and as you can imagine, it was no easy feat to move this monster of a machine. But we (Thomas, mainly) managed to get it into the workshop without breaking our (his) back(s).

First thing we needed to sort out was oven stones: in order to efficiently stack in Bert, we had to get new square stones and support.

We sourced them online and once the new set-up was in place, we excitedly started up the kiln for a first firing.
​Which resulted in....  a blown fuse.

And thus started the quest of finding out what was wrong...
All the time Bert was just standing there, unused, while Thomas was frantically firing Patera Magna and Patera Media in our smaller kiln and breaking his head about what could be the problem.

After a while, we got in touch with the original manufacturer of the kiln, who was happy to come check out the oven and see what could be the problem. 
It cost us a pretty penny to have him come over here and see our Beast Bert with his own eyes, but the verdict was clear: the oven was in good condition, no need to change any of the heating wires just yet.
The problem was with the connection to the electricity grid: we needed to amp up the amperes.

Easier said than done.
We enlisted help of our indispensible electricity guy Jan, who got into the technicality of things.
Eventually we spent about the same amount of money on new electricity wires and the connection with its very own brand new electricity meter as we did on the oven in the first place, but we got it working!! ​ 

Unfortunately it seemed like we got Bert working a bit too well...
The first glaze firing we set up took a long time to reach the maximum temperature.
At least, that's what we thought by looking at the thermometer of the kiln itself.
When we opened up the doors, the whole load came out like burned cookies...
Turned out the internal thermometer meter was slightly off and the firing temperature had been too high.

Luckily we found a way to manually check the actual temperature inside the kiln with special cones.
And after tweaking the firing programme a little bit with those cones to guide the process, we seem to finally have it all under control.

Baker Bert is now up for business!
Now all we need to do is feed his appetite for ceramics, and Thomas is working hard to make sure we can fire the kiln a couple of times each week, speeding up the production process from to 4-5 Patera per week (up from 2 a week).

That means that we can re-calculate the lead times for all outstanding orders :-D
We'll be in touch with a new estimated lead time for each order soon.
Can't wait that long to hear when your Patera is ready? 
Pop us an e-mail with your order-number or -date and we can let you know when we expect to have your fruit and vegetable bowl ready for pick up / shipment.

For many designers, especially recent graduates, sustainability is a key inspirations. And so it should!
As creators, we are at the beginning of a new production chain, and have a responsibility to think about what we create and add to a world already saturated with stuff.
​
​Designers can approach sustainability in different ways:
-By designing products that help you create a more sustainable lifestyle;
-Making reparable and circular products that save resources now and in the future;
-Creating (and using) new, sustainable and/or biodegradable materials that can be used as alternative for plastics and other toxic materials;
-Coming up with solutions for waste and cleaning up areas of the world;
-Or by approaching the macro level of things and design innovative solutions to create more sustainable societies across the world.

CRE8 is an Amsterdam based social enterprise with People, Planet, Profit right at the heart of their business model.

By being smart about their production methods, they can manufacture all their designs right in the city of Amsterdam, avoiding shipping products around the world.
Cre8 also keeps their carbon footprint modest by using local and/or recycled materials and exclusively use green energy for production.

By making most of their products on demand and using every last piece of material in their designs, there is hardly any trash to speak of.
And because of the personalized nature of many designs, these will be cherished for years to come.

Personally i am most charmed by CRE8's multicolored name-puzzles that are available in several color combination and start from €22,-.

Studio Hamerhaai makes Dutch Design from 'waste'.
The statement is as simple as that.

The studio became well known with their 'Rijkswachters', made from crates that were used to transport and store famous art pieces during the refurbishment of the Dutch Rijksmuseum.

But Niki and Boudewijn have more to offer than the ever expanding line of cute robots.
Check it out on their website.
​
Prices start at €24,50 ​

As we always do during these fairs: we forget to take pictures.
So here we are, the Dutch Design Week being a beautiful memory, and hardly any pictures to show for it...
But boy did we have a great time!

Let me start at the beginning: 
In the light of all things, we really had no idea what to expect from this first live Dutch Design Week after Covid (at least we hope it is).
Would people actually show up? And what would the athmosphere be like?
Nobody knew.
During set-up, everyone seemed to be cautiously excited.

But as soon as the fair kicked-off on Saturday, their was a tangible vibe of optimism and curiosity that would last the whole week.
Like riding a wave of Designer happiness.

We chose to create our own House of Thol world within a glass house at the Piet Hein Eek event space.
Our choice turned out to be challenging, as from day 1 we noticed the threshold that needed to be crossed to enter our House of Thol world was high -both literally and figuratively- and it took effort to get people to come in. 
​
Luckily, we developed 'luring in'-skills in a few days, and ended up telling the story of our Poma/Olera series pretty much non-stop.

I am so glad we hired help for the week.
Without Pim and Chiel, we would not have been able to make it through.
Thank you guys!!

All in all, Dutch Design Week 2021 was great!
We made valuable connections, met interesting people and did quite alright when it comes to sales.

Also, it was lovely to be out showcasing our work again and experience the positive post-Covid vibe.

For everyone who visited the exhibition in Eindhoven: thank you for you visit, lovely to see you / meet you there!
(thank you for the picture, Angela!)

For everyone who did not have a chance to come by: we will do better with the photographs the next time ;-)

Check out this beautiful piece on acclaimed Italian design website 'La casa in ordine'.

For obvious reasons the piece is in Italian, which might pose a challenge, but i invite you to take a look anyway, as editor Roberta del Vaglio chose a wonderful selection of photographs.

Click on the screenshot or <here> to visit the La casa in ordine website and see the full piece.

Without the images, the original answers to the english interview can be found <here>.

Dutch dustainable blog 'Het Kan Wel' ('It Can Be Done') is all about solutions and low-threshold behavioral change that makes the world a more sustainable place.

Instead of focussing on the long road still ahead, 'Het Kan Wel' chooses to approach the sustainable challenge in a positive way and focus on all the things that already can be done to make the world a bit greener.

I have been following the blog for a while via Facebook, and am super happy Iris van Asselt visited our exhibition and wrote a piece about our Circular ReCabinet series. 
Thank you for sharing Iris!

​<Read the full (Dutch) article here> 

<For more about the ReCabinet series, click here>

So many beautiful innovative and sustainable materials are being developed at the moment. 
It is a whole new design department.
We see gorgeous materials in exhibitions, shows, magazines and newspaper articles.

However, we seldomly see them being used in products that are sold in stores. And that's a shame.
No matter how sustainable a material is, if it does not transcend the conceptual fase, its practical impact is minimal.

So we came up with a plan:
Let's dive into all materials out there and develop a library in which we measure their effective sustainability on multiple levels (is it durable, renewable, circular, energy-efficient, local etc) and specifically look into their realistic implementation (can it be mass-produced, is it affordable, can it be used in an efficient way?).

In other words: can we make the world a little more sustainable by using those new innovative materials in an actual practical product? 

We sent our plan to the Dutch Creative Industries Fund in the context of the Open Call Building Talent, designed specifically to match established designers and -agencies with upcoming design talents that have been working in the field for a maximum of 4 years.
​
The Creative Industries Fund generously provides a grant of €6250,- for both the young talent as well as the established partner, so we can really take our time to dive into the research.

​​Now that our plan has made it through the first round, we hope it attracts the attention of a talented designer who loves materials, research and hands-on experimentation as much as we do.

Are you a young talented designer with a love for materials, or do you know of anyone who would love to take the time to dive into this project with us?
Apply via the Dutch Industries Fund! (we are project #33)

Deadline to send in your application is November 8th 2021.
Please note: we do not have a say in the initial match making, so be thorough and specific in your application and bring your a-game.

Find more information at the website of the Creative Industries Fund. 

With a wonderful but modest Milan Design Week last September (click), the Dutch Design Week that is about to kick off in Eindhoven is rightfully The Largest European Design Event of 2021.

We are super happy to be back at the Designers Exhibition at Piet Hein Eek and to be setting up shop in one of the greenhouses of the Event space. - Come meet us there!

Piet Hein Eek is open all days, and there is no need for an official DDW entrance-bracelet to visit.
That being said, i highly recommend visiting the whole of the DDW, so go and get that ticket anyway!

House of Thol // Dutch Design for Easy Green Living
16-24 October 2021
Designers Exhibition @Piet Hein Eek - Eventspace
Halvemaanstraat 30
5651 BP Eindhoven
Open daily 10:00 - 20:00 (last Sunday until 18:00)

NB The Dutch Design Week exhibitions are considered transfer locations, and do not require a Covid QR-code. 
You will be requested to show your QR-code upon entering one of the bars or restaurants near the exhibitions.

We are over the moon with this beautiful full page article in the 'Living & Interior' annex of Today's AD and its regional newspapers (Brabants Dagblad, Eindhovens Dagblad, Tubantia, BN De Stem, De Stentor & de Gelderlander).

The text is in Dutch (obviously), and it would take too long to translate in full. 
Here's a super quick recap: the article is about how as House of Thol we design solutions for our own problems, the research that went into developing our Poma/Olera series, how the Patera Magna works and how it will help you to avoid food waste. 

For all Dutch readers: open a PDF of the full page via the link below.

Thank you for a wonderful article Annet de Groot and AD!

This morning, even before we had the kids ready for breakfast, my sweet aunt Els already sent me an e-mail:
"Hey! You're in the Volkskrant!"
We immediately activated our family What's App group, and the article was quickly found and photographed.

Well... it was hard to miss!
The Milan overview with our design prominently featured can be found on page 3 of the cultural annex.
We are super happy with the piece, i mean: check out that large photograph!

I spoke with journalist Jeroen Junte while we were in Milan, and gave him the full Patera Magna story in the quickest way possible (he is a busy man ;-)).
Luckily, he remembered our work, and the article shows he grasped the concept perfectly.

Below you'll find the Dutch article, zoomed in on the piece about our work, next to it a rough English translation.

Thank you for the mention Jeroen Junte, see you next time! :-D

"The Dutch designduo House of Thol designed a food bowl made of terracotta that cools itself through a thin layer of water on the bottom, which allows the porous ceramic to 'sweat' and cool down.

An avocado can ripen in one of the dark removable compartments, while an apple can be in the sunlight.
(edit: actually, apples are best stored in the dark. Oranges and all other citrus fruits are quite alright in the sunlight)

A stone hard pear can be stored right next to an overripe banana that emits ethylene, a gas that accelerates the ripening proces.
​
With a little instinct ('fingerspitzengefühl') a fruit bowl can be composed in such a way nothing will end up in the bin anymore."

Last week, the winners of the Benelux Enterprise Awards were announced, and we are happy and extremely proud to be named 'Most Sustainable Home Decor Business' in the Netherlands.

What we love about this award, is that it recognizes both the collection and portfolio we are building, as well as our creative entrepreneurship and drive to grow our business. 
It strengthens us in our feeling of choosing the right path.

And what exquisite timing!
With the world steadily opening up again after what has been a tough period for everyone, this is a perfect kickstarter for the fresh design season.

We will take this Most Sustainable Award with us as a Post-Covid recovery boost and continue on our journey towards becoming a sustainable design brand that helps create greener lives and homes around the globe.

Thank you for recognizing our hard work EU Business News!

The last time we were exhibiting at Piet Hein Eek during the Dutch Design Week was October 2017.
We were super happy with the location and fully expected to be back the next year. 

Alas, the plans changed: in 2018 we were part of the Driving Dutch Design Expo at Strijp S, in 2019 we showcased the first prototypes of our Poma/Olera series in the ABN AMRO Gamechangers pavilion, and in 2020.... well, let's just forget about 2020, shall we?

We are living in 2021 now and are more than ready to get back in the game at our favorite DDW location: Piet Hein Eek.

True to our brand of greenery lovers, we reserved one of the greenhouses located inside the Eventspace to create our own House of Thol world.

More will follow, but for now, save the date: October 16-24
Although our DDW event states differently, Piet Hein Eek is open from 10:00 - 20:00 all days except Sunday the 24th, when the exhibition closes at 18:00. 

Keeping my fingers crossed for a sunny week in autumn and hope to see you there!

Check out our event on DDW.nl 

It took until crossing the Italian border for me to finally believe it would actually happen: House of Thol at The Dutch pavilion / Masterly Milano during this special Super Salone in September.

Setting foot in Palazzo Turati with our work situated in the most exquisitely decorated 'Sale Nobili' of the palace was amazing, even with two boisterous boys to keep in check and needing time to get used to the mandatory facemask again.

We quickly got accustomed to the decor and facemasks and as soon as Thomas and i finished the set-up, i jumped straight into exhibition mode. For over a week, i was part of the boardrooms' furniture from 11:00 till 20:00, presenting our products to design-lovers from Italy and the rest of the world.​  

In their 5th year at the Salone, the Masterly organization managed to attract attention of almost every large media outlet. ​During the week, Nicole Uniquole, 'Ms Masterly', would whirlwind through the exhibition to make sure everything would remain top-notch for her many high-end contacts. And tireless press tiger Giuseppina Flor was impressively fast and thorough with her press tours.

​There were times i felt like a broken record, telling the same story behind our Patera Magna to a gazillion different people. But with nothing but positive responses it was easy to keep the energy up and tell an enthusiastic story each and every time.

Luckily i got to spend my days in the palazzo in the great company of Fransje Gimbrère, Selma Hamstra, Geir Nustad and (for a couple of days only, unfortunately) Rive Roshan.
What also kept my spirit up tremendously, was the amazing weather we experienced the whole week: nothing but blue skies and a lovely 28 degrees celsius. 

The presence of our new French friend Judith, tasked to keep an eye on the room, made an enormous difference.
​With her ability to speak French and Italian (next to English), she often translated my story for Italian or French visitors who found it a lot easier to be spoken to in their native language.

​As always, it was a lot of fun to connect with other designers and creative entrepreneurs showcasing their work, and we were super happy with the lovely floral facemasks we received as a gift from the sweet Twan & Cole of MondiArt.

While i was in the Palazzo, Thomas spent his days with the boys, homeschooling them and exploring the city or visiting Lake Como. He even took them to the Mediterranean beach for two days and treated me to pictures of palm trees and sunshine.

I worried our boys, being used to space and nature, would not be suited for life in a big city. But they handled themselves admirably, never complained about the facemasks and even almost managed to stick to the middle of the sidewalk next to the busy roads.
They developed a love for city parks and spent many hours there, seeking treasures and blowing off steam in the playgrounds.

With the kids in tow, we did not get to visit parties or hang out in the bar after exhibition hours. But with the long hours in the Palazzo, i don't think i would have survived the week if it hadn't been for our early family nights.

​Although the exhibition was still tainted by Covid, with mandatory facemasks, green passes to enter + a cap on the number of people allowed in the palace, everybody was mostly happy we were there and the design world was opening up again.

Looking forward to the next show....
See you at Piet Hein Eek during the DDW!
(this time we will be allowed to sell during the fair ;-))​  

We are quite happy with the House of Thol catalogues we made for our show in Milan and the upcoming Dutch Design Week.

Instead of A5, we went for a smaller A6 size. The size of a postcard.
We chose a landscape orientation over the usual portrait direction to make it easier to open full pages in this smaller size.
Easy to take with you, and with more designs on less paper, the new House of Thol catalogue is a more sustainable option.

Won't be able to make it to Milan or the Dutch Design Week this year, or simply want to forego the use of paper completely?

Download the catalogue via the links below.
Choose the low-res version (0,5MB) for a smaller file size, or if you like crisp photographs, go for the hi-res option (13MB). 

The Patera Magna made it onto Wonen360!

Check out the full feature <here>

We just sent out our latest newsletter in both English as well as Dutch. 
Click on the images below to read them online!

Don't want to miss any House of Thol news and/or green living tips and tricks in the future? Sign up now!

With the upcoming Salone del Mobile we'll all be in Milan next week. Driving by car, we'll leave on Tuesday August 31st and are planning to arrive back at the headquarters on September 12th.

Thomas and I will be pretty busy while we're in Milan, but will try to check our e-mail regularly.
However, do not expect an immediate answer. If things are not super pressing, we'll probably get back to you in the week of September 13th.

​Can't wait to hear from us?
Reaching out via What's app usually gets the quickest response. 

​All orders in the webshop will be shipped upon our return on September 13th.

This has been almost two years in the making, and with two weeks to go before we are due to arrive in Milano, I'm still having difficulty picturing us back near the Duomo after such a long time.

Yet, the venue is booked, appartment has been arranged, the car is getting a pre-travel check-up and new catalogues were printed.
With such little time to go, we are now stressing out over last minute presentation improvements and indispensible things we should definitely not forget to put on transport in time.

Although we might not meet the international crowd we were hoping for when we booked our spot two years ago, we are looking forward to being part of a new dawn and the design world opening up again.

For a jubilant 5th time, Masterly showcases a rich mixture of design, art, photography and craftsmanship in the extravagantly decorated Palazzo Francesco Turati.

Come visit the palazzo and immerse yourself in fresh Dutch Design and exquisite artistry by a varied bunch of Designers and artisans. 
We are looking forward to sharing the decorated boardroom with Rive/Roshan, Studio Fransje Gimbrère and glass artisans Studio Selma Hamstra and Geir Nustad.
And that is just one room in the Palazzo, check out the Masterly website for all participants.

We'll be showcasing Waterworks, the new Flower Constellations, Helios growth disks, the circular ReCabinet and of course our Poma/Olera series. 
Are you visiting the Salone and come by the Dutch Pavilion in the city centre?
Let us know when you are there so we are sure not to miss you!

Masterly Dutch Pavilion @ Palazzo Francesco Turati
Via Meravigli 7, Milano

Opening hours 5-10 September
Sun 5 + Mon 6: 11:00 - 20:00
Tue 7: 11:00 - 17:00 (VIP Event in the evening)
Wed 8 + Thu 9: 11:00 - 20:00
Fri 10: 11:00 - 16:00

NB Press preview: Fri 3 + Sat 4 September, 15:00 - 19:00
<Register for a Press Preview appointment: press@masterly.nu>

On this dreary summers' day, we are over the moon to be able to announce that the Patera Magna made it to the longlist of the 2021 Dezeen Awards in the category of Sustainable design!

From the Dezeen e-mail we received: "From over 4,700 entries from 87 countries to Dezeen Awards this year, your project is one of the 308 design projects that is in the running for awards in the 12 different design project categories."

A panel of leading industry figures with big names like Petra Blaisse,  Richard Hutten, Karim Rashid, Jasper Conran, Karin Fong and many, many others (click here), will now review all designs and create a shortlist for each category.
The shorlists will be revealed from 6 to 10 September (during the Salone del Mobile), which will be followed by the Dezeen Awards 2021 Public vote. Winners will be anounced in November.

Patera Magna is on the longlist for Sustainable Design next to amazing projects from all over the world (check out the full longlist).
Right now we are just super happy to have made it to the top 7% of all entries. Fingers crossed for more!

<Check out our official Dezeen longlist page here>

About a year ago, we had the lovely Ernie Enkelaar and Linda van der Ham over at our rural House of Thol headquarters.

We had been frantically cleaning the house, getting it photo-ready and didn't really know what to expect. Luckily the friendly and warm Linda and Ernie coached us through the day and shot fantastic images.

The interview by Monique van der Pauw took place over Zoom (of course), but we felt at ease with her and Monique was able to catch our way of living and working in text perfectly.

Since we were at Object Rotterdam last week (more about Object here), we have been a bit slow to respond.
Needless to say we are over the moon with this publication and quite proud about the 12-page (!) spread in this months' Libelle Living.

I've tried to catch the publication in the photographs that accompany this blog post and make them as readable as possible.
Yet of course the pictures do not quite touch on the real experience of the magazine and the paper it is printed on.

Luckily this Libelle Living edition is still available in stores this month. Don't just get it for this article, there's loads of gorgeous content to get you in that summer mood!
No time to run to the store? <Order a copy online here>

Thank you Libelle, Ernie, Linda and Monique for this beautiful article.
A perfect way to kick off our summer!

Check out the full article below, click on the images to enlarge.

<For other publications, click here>