When I was in my early twenties, I studied to be a fashion designer. I thought I had a lot of good ideas, but I had a hard time getting the materials for my ideas, as I was often years ahead of the trend. Timing is everything in design, so being that far ahead doesn't give you points in that industry.
When I was studying economics at CBS in my late twenties, I had entrepreneurship as an elective. Here I wrote a big assignment in which I invented a new company and brand called “Chameleon Radio”. It was about the fact that I was sure that in the future people would listen to radio and music by making their own playlists and putting together their own programs as podcasts. The challenge was just that the technology hadn’t been invented yet. There were no smartphones yet, and it was far too complicated to control from a computer, so my teacher didn’t really believe in my fantastic business idea.
When I was going to write my thesis at CBS, I wanted to write about sustainability and ecology in the clothing industry. I dreamed of wearing smart clothes that were also a little better for the environment. I couldn't understand that the only ones fighting for that cause were a few very small brands, where you also got to look very organic and could only choose beige linen if you wanted to do something good for the environment. However, I believed that the larger clothing brands had to be able to create something fashionable that also had a lower impact on the environment and that consumers were ready to pay for it. Unfortunately, I had to give up my thesis topic because no large clothing companies wanted to collaborate with me. It was not an area that the industry wanted to talk about in 2005. Fortunately, a lot has happened since then.
I have always dreamed of becoming a trend researcher. Seeing the bigger trends has always fascinated me, but I think it is probably very good that I have become an artist, where timing is not quite as important, as the expression has to last for many years.
I still have the challenge with my art sometimes though. I am inspired by biology, and in both 2018 and 19 I painted paintings where viruses were part of the story. In 2020 when the pandemic started to fill everything I stopped. It felt wrong and now suddenly clichéd, and I couldn't even imagine painting shapes inspired by viruses in my paintings in 2020... the timing thing is just not really my strong suit.