the wanderings of an american girl practicing design in the netherlands & making use of europe's many budget airlines
Total Identity was not always called by that name, but was created by a group of Dutch designers in 1963 as Total Design. Among those designers was the great designer Wim Crouwel. The designers at Total Identity all seem honored to be continuing with the work that he started 45 years ago. His photograph and works are scattered throughout the office and about two weeks ago, my friend and coworker David took me up to the archives to see some original negatives and sketches. His designs are logos that I see around Amsterdam everyday, still as timeless as the day they were created. David and I “ooo” and “ahhh” over the beautiful simplicity of the work, Crouwel’s notes and measurements scribbled in the margins. These scraps of paper are all collected in a binder - neatly documented and accessible to anyone at Total. Other, more valuable pieces, are locked away in a secret place somewhere. According to my colleague Tom, who is in charge of archiving, Crouwel’s work has a tendency to mysteriously disappear. Too curious to resist, I ask innocently,
“So Tom, tell me, where do you store all those originals?”
Laughing, he shakes his head, “Nice try.”
I owe it all to David (mentioned above) who casually mentioned that he was going to see Justice in Ghent, Belgium while we were walking back to work from the supermarket one day.
We first began to realize that we had underestimated the scale of this party on the train ride to Ghent. The train was jam-packed with party people. Crazy outfits, bottles upon bottles of beer and liquor, people screaming and yelling and whistling and singing, hanging out of the train to smoke cigarettes whenever it stopped for a few minutes. Speaking French, English, Dutch, often a mix of all three, these kids were the first indication of what we were getting ourselves into.
ilovetechno is a party unlike one I had ever been to—at least 40 DJs on five different stages, and 35,000 people from all over the world.
The anticipation for Justice was explosive. Linking arms to make a chain, my friends and I snaked through the crowd towards the stage until we could get no further. People as far as we could see in front of and behind us were grooving to the beats of DJ Mehdi (RIP 2011). People I had never seen before would walk up to cheers me with their beer or water, or to pat me on the back with a huge grin on their face, saying “Nooit meer naar huis!” At first I just gave a confused nod, until my Dutch friends translated the phrase as “Never going home!” After that, I said it back with a huge smile and more sincerity than anyone could have imagined.
Then the big moment came and Justice took the stage. When they finally played the song we had all been waiting for and I stood with my university friends, my Dutch friends, and thousands of other ilovetechno goers screaming, “WE. ARE. YOUR FRIENDS. you’ll never be alone again!”
One of the first and best things to happen to me in Amsterdam was to meet Mr. Raoul Syrier and I can honestly say my time here in Holland wouldn’t have been the same without him. He brought so many new and great things into my life: Belgian beer cafes, falafel, and of course, an increasingly frequent new means of transportation (I sit on the back of his bike and hold on tight, he peddles). Not only has he welcomed me into the Dutch lifestyle, but he has been there for me at times when home seemed much further than an ocean away. He was the one who stayed up all night with me to watch the US election results, and even woke me up when I had nodded off so that I could watch Barack Obama’s historic Grant Park speech live at 5 am. And he’s the one who took me out to celebrate Thanksgiving in a new international way, after a long day of work spent missing my friends and family and all the yummy food back home.
Raoul is one of the smartest and most interesting boys I’ve ever known. With an undergraduate degree in journalism and a masters degree in international politics, he can hold an intelligent conservation about any place in the world. He recently returned from a seven month long backpacking trip in Southeast Asia and I love nothing more than hearing his stories about the countries he visited. With craziness exploding in both Mumbai and Bangkok this week, I feel like I’m able to get a better perspective of the situations in India and Thailand through him. He now works for an organization called Fairfood, which tries to encourage companies and consumers to use only sustainable products. When I sent my mom a column he wrote for a local newspaper, I think she was right in her response that people like Raoul will change the world.
“And to all those watching tonight from beyond our shores….
(like me, watching at 5:30 AM central european time)
“From parliaments and palaces to those who are huddled around radios in the forgotten corners of our world - our stories are singular, but our destiny is shared, and a new dawn of American leadership is at hand. To those who would tear this world down - we will defeat you. To those who seek peace and security - we support you. And to all those who have wondered if Americas beacon still burns as bright - tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from our the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity, and unyielding hope.”
