UNDER THE RAFTERS
ANDRÉ WAS LOOKING FOR A SAFE-SPACE, AND FOUND REFUGE ON THE TOP FLOOR OF A RATHER DERELICT CANAL HOUSE. HIDDEN FROM VIEW THIS LOFTY APARTMENT HAS RECENTLY UNDERGONE A SECOND REFURBISHMENT WITH WABI-SABI TOUCHES, WITH STUNNING RESULTS.
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“In my early twenties, I broke up with my first love and was so devastated by it that I wanted to change my life completely. I decided to move from the small university town of Leiden, where I had lived in a student apartment the size of a shoebox, to the ‘big’ city of Amsterdam and just leave everything behind. All I wanted to do was start a new life. I dialled the number of the first real estate agent I could find and the guy who picked up the phone said he had a house for sale that had already been on the market for two years and he wanted to get rid of it. I didn’t know Amsterdam very well, so I had no idea of what I would later be confronted with. The house was on the canals and it was huge – 400 square metres on 3 floors. Birds were flying through huge holes in the roof, there was no electricity, no water, the walls were broken and all the glass in the windows was shattered. Former squatters had infused all three floors with a True Detective-like spookiness, empty bottles of booze everywhere, candles and strange objects in circular and graphic patterns. I bought the house and had no idea what it would take to turn it into something I could live in. This naivety, actually, was the real treasure: I just got straight to work. It took four full years, every night, every weekend, every hour, together with my father and brother. Reconstructing the house also reconstructed the family and the relationship I had with my father and brother. Just before buying the house, our family was confronted with the devastating loss of close family members. By means of this reconstruction, our sadness, anger and frustration were transformed – we actually built something together. A lot of love went into it. The house turned into a space that felt like home: safe, warm, and silent – yet in the middle of the city. This house has always been my safe-space. It has a vibrant silence that invites deep contemplation. Over and over again this house inspires me to rebuild myself, to recreate who I am and what I do. The house is like a silent muse, it gives me space to explore and evolve. The house has been here for more than four centuries and I’m just passing through it. Its pure wisdom is in being patient and knowing all that we really need to become our true selves is space!”
photography Kasia Gatkowska interior design Studio Bakker
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THE FIREPLACE WAS
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NATURAL MATERIALS CREATE A WARM
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VOLO TE EUMET PA CONSEQUAE VELES REM FUGIAM
This spread A freestanding cupboard doubles as a room divider and houses a neat little desk
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SERENITY REIGNS SUPREME IN THE BEDROOM
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