Interview with Marike Andeweg

Marike Andeweg, RHYTHM 7, 2023

V&V: Hello Marike! How are you and what are your upcoming projects?

MA: Hi! I am doing pretty well, thank you. Just finished the Big Art Bajes fair with my 3m2 Rhythm Extreme paper artwork. It was a wonderful way to introduce my new Rhythm series to an art-minded audience and catch up with my network at the same time. And as a hug bonus meeting new artists. Now that Big Art is finished, I will be focusing on how to make Rhythm from thin wooden veneer. The challenge I already discovered while making a small sample lies in the fact that veneer is very thin and obviously grained and therefor the cutting line tends to follow its own path, and not my ruler. This already showed me working with veneer will bring lots of aesthetic presents! Another project I finally have time for to give my attention is my ‘harvest-of-2023-stipa-gigantea-seed’ project. This spring I have harvested almost all of the seeds of my two Stipa Gigantea grasses that grow in our garden. Their seeds are so beautiful so I couldn’t help myself: I had to collect them.I am actually visiting a glass blower this week to see if we can combine glass with the seeds.

Marike Andeweg, close up LINES, 2023

V&V: Where does your inspiration come from?

MA:My head is full of ideas - most of the time - because I am very aware of and receiving lots of information of the world around me. Just look around and you can find inspiration in every day. In the most little, obvious things we easily overlook because we take them for granted. At times this is quite exhausting to be honest, so I still have to protect myself from the overload. Another source that really works for me is to read magazines like Cereal and Open House. The words are so carefully chosen that a word on its own already can evoke a feeling inside of me that starts to linger and is the seed of a new idea that will start to grow later.

V&V: You are the creative mind behind the design brand Not Only White. Can you tell us a bit more? How did it start?

MA: Not Only White started as a desire to create an architectural brand for customised design washbasins. My love for minimalism started when I was working as a product developer at Pastoe at the start of my professional career. That love never changed, although it has matured of the years. By founding my own brand, I could use my natural drive to create and connect into a design business.

V&V: Lately, you've shifted from the field of design to the realm of visual arts. Can you tell us a bit more? What's your creative process?

MA: Looking back, I was already experimenting with introducing more abstract elements and hints towards art within my washbasin designs without realizing it.Over the years I did notice that my customers experienced that their choice for a Not Only White-design was because they saw it as the eye-catcher in their bathroom; their piece of art. Which (still) is a huge compliment for me. Most recently I finally listened to my very strong urge to literally create with my hands and my need to translate the way I see the world around me into something tangible so it no longer only exists inside me. So here we are now, in conversation with each other about my first pieces of art! In a nutshell, my creative process is mainly trusting the creative process itself. My experience is that time will guide me, and it comes when it comes. I don’t need to force myself into anything. This doesn’t mean I am lazy, on the contrary. You know when you know, is the saying and I fully agree to that.

Marike Andeweg,RHYTHM N 4, 2023

V&V: For the occasion of BIG ART, you recently worked on a large-scale piece. How was to work on a such different format? Is this the beginning of a new path?

MA: I LOVED IT! At first I was a bit nervous to start with such a big length: a sheet of 2m length. But coming from a product design background I just made a practical plan how to cut, to rim, to fold and eventually to glue it. After I made the first big element I was immediately relaxed and knew I could make it. Working with such dimensions tastes for more. It is interesting to make a big work, yet people feel comfortable and not intimidated by it. I would like to explore this further within my Rhythm works.

V&V: Do you have a dream project?

MA: Oh, interesting question. Apart from being curious how it would be to work with fashion labels like Toteme and Loewe, I dream of creating this small, serene space in the middle of vibrant Amsterdam, Paris or New York, where one single object of (my) desire is being displayed. Passersby would stop for a moment and just watch. Perhaps they have the time to enter the space, wonder a bit, feel at ease. And then continue their day but from now with that small moment of what it meant for them in their memory. I already named this project my Gallery of Desire.