Free Work | atelierspruitenburg

Additional Work

Some work wears my label with pride but the project is to small to add a whole page to it. Those project will get the attention on this page because it shows my adaptability and also my represents my way of thinking about product development.

Most of the products I develop to sale them directly at the webshop which the Capture The Flag brand provides me. If the items are still for sale just hit the button below the gallery and it will redirect you to the webshop.

Chris 'The Butcher' Board

When suddenly I became homeless and family didn't provide a place to stay, just one message to a friend was enough to have a sleeping place for the night. While his wife was pregnant from their second child they provided me for two days so I could arrange all kind of stuff. In the evening they really listened to my story and helped me sort things out. They gave trust, love and warmth when most needed, and did it without any doubts.

To get this friend a really personal present for his birthday and a big thank you to him and his family I wanted to do something special.

So when he was young he worked parttime as a butcher and twenty years later still wears the nickname ‘Butcher’ with pride. And infected with the BBQ virus we already had some special evenings at his place. So what could be more awesome than cutting a piece of meat of his kamado-barbecue, on his personalized cutting board. As said it was done and now he is still displaying it proudly on a dressoir. But I hope we soon can get a nice picture of it with a nice piece slow cooked/grilled meat.

The ChangingChalkboard Frame

When I found this frame it was painted gold and not in that good of a state anymore. For that reason I decided to make it a bit more modern and repaint it. When I sprayed the base paint on it I felt that something was happening to the list. The elements, that first were overlooked because of the bad condition, started to get back the attention again. To eventually get it more depth I irregularly spay-painted some silver over, by sanding it lightly after it got a more faded end-result.

First putted the framework empty on the wall and let the wall be the painting for it. In this way the frame was also artwork on its own. But over time and moving out I wanted to do something different with it, because just hanging it to a black wall was not complementary to it.

Eventually I measured the hole, got a piece of wood and painted it schoolboard black. In this way I am able to renew the chalking artwork over time and at the same time train lettering skills while sharing the results over here

Personal Newborn Card for Hanna

While in the middle of a lock down due to the corona-virus, my sister came to visit me to announce a new generation of family was on it’s way. And with the question if I was willing to design the birth card, together with my younger brother Daan.

For inspiration our sister gave us she liked her roadtrip in Canada whisch geve inspiration to her, so we went back to our youth and searched for books that was read to us. Soon we landed upon the book ‘Welterusten Kleine Beer’ (Goodnight Little Bear) by Martin Waddell. It is about Little Bear that can’t sleep because of the darkness in their cave. While older bear tries every light he has to get little bear comfortable and fall into sleep. The reason we chose this, is because we first saw a lot of people leaving us in life before we got to to see a next generation grow up. And this story of Little Bear, is a little bit about fear for the darkness and the elderly trying to give comfort an hope for the future.

After analysing the drawings we started to make the first sketches to get a good composition. While Daan would do the bears and parts of the background that mostly needed drawing I would focus mostly on the parts we wanted water color techniques for.

Making a good start we had time to make ideas for so called ‘easter-eggs’ or other symbolic meanings into the card. In the end it is what makes this card quite unique in comparison to the more formal cards. As the stone is the foundation on which the bears stand on we put a love-tag on it. The other two are to be found in the stars, First one is the constellation in the stars that forms little bear, as it is about a newborn. And there are on the front three bigger stars which stand for the people that passed away; our father Hans, our special uncle Jan and our ‘grandma’ Rens Spruitenburg always wished to be a star in the sky when she would pass away.

Personal Newborn Card for Lauren

My second niece was announced in a hard perod of my personal life. Hanna being born after we all had tough periods in our life we always hoped the tide was turned for all of us. But unluckily not for me as I became homeless, due to the fact I never had the opportunity to rent a house with tennant-rights, despite signing up for social housing over ten years ago I was rejected by the system. And with a housing crisis going on the monthly pay is going into numbers almost nobady can make on their own.
It lead for me to a more depressed phase. For this reason I wasn't really able to get myself involved in new projects as I wasn’t able to commit to anything. Because no place to live means no place to work as beside for my laptop, all my tools were in a storage box and I wouldn’t see that tide turning soon.

As Sara wanted the cards somehow connected to each-other, whether it was literal or symbolic, Daan would work on it. But wthout education of the Adobe package he soon found himself struggling and they ended up asking if I was able to connect the work. When I went to a more quiet social shelter I felt a bit better and some relieve over me that I was still able to help get a card for my second neice. It meant Daan only needed to draw a new bear next to the other three and I would change some small elements of the card which would connect my nieces, but also showed a bit of a different zeitgeist as since my first niece was born the sun started to shine a little bit more in our lives. The reason this time we chose for a rising sun. Eventually my niece Lauren was born and I luckily could enjoy the moment a bit more compared to when they announced to be pregnant of her.

Personal Pizza Plates for Family Möllers

Working in the industry I work in you’re always seeking for improvement of sustainability. Having a consumer society it shows in the products that lead to filled up landfills and the question how we can change this always arises where the product is created. To me there is only one answer how to let people leave this consumer mindset and hold on to something and that’s emotional attachment. It is why people cherish something from their loved ones for years, but are also able to dump something when only worn once. It is the reason when I made these two pizza plates for Family Möllers as they would get a new kitchen, to laser engrave a personal made print in it. So they hopefully will cherish it and gets used when I come to cook with them

When at home you’ll most of the time find Catinga caring for other people than herself,. She always takes the weight on her shoulders and help you carry yours when needed, it shows the wonderful loving person she is. As they will reviving the house with and especially the kitchen gets a lot more luxurious, she will enjoy her time in there probably a lot more. And this makes that she’ll able to cook more of her authentic recipes she learned from her mother and/or grandmother. Above it all this means that at the family Möllers a lot of motherly love will go through their stomach.

Chris was working in his younger years at the local supermarket of the village. In the weekends and holidays he was supervising the butchery division. As it was before I knew Chris I only got to know this as the people of a generation before me all calls him ‘Slager’, which translates to butcher.

Although pursuing another career his love for a good cut of meat is still his passion. And he especially likes to cook dinner on his kamado-barbecue. When we make pizza he’s always in control of the fire in it and in the winter he takes charge of the fireplace.

At the bottom there is a small inside joke announcing that he survived the adventure of the ansjovis. Because when they got to make pizza themselves and he wanted some ansjovis at it he couldn’t find it anywhere in the village after searching almost every supermarkt. And when he and Catinga told me the story he actually still got a bit irritated because of it. At least it was a great story and in hindsight he laughs with us about it. And that is also why I made these plate to have some nice evenings together in which we share good stories.

Holding the little Pepijn in my arms, was the first time I got to hold a child in my arms of which I remember. It makes that Pepijn always has been special to me, as it was a kind of a magic moment to hold such a little creature. During the years I’ve seen him growing up and it is a youngster with a great appetite. Especially when you geve him a plate of pasta or sushi he can let it disappear in just minutes. It’s why the well known sentence of actor Frederico Fellini; “Life is like a combination of pasta and magic” fits well for Pepijn. The compostion and some details of the drawing find its inspiration in the brands Mutti and San Pellegrino, as this Italian drink comes the closest to Pepijn’s favourite Fanta Lemon.

Manouk is the youngest of the family living in their hous at the Aak in Oude Wetering. She always likes to be around people and as I see her growing up she always likes when I stay for diner. She is as lovely as her mom, and is a real caretaker. When I eat with them she always takes care of some entertainment for the guests, whether it is gymnastic, dancing or defying her dad. Maybe it is because Manouk hasn’t the same appetite as her older brother. Most of the time they’re waiting for her to finish her plate so they get to her favourite course the desert.

It is the reason why I chose the Italian sentence: “Manouk finish your dinner, than you will get icecream” as it is a sentence Chris repeats all the time.