In the night of August 3, 1914, German troops invaded Belgium, bringing an end to the first era of motor racing that had started in 1894. An epoch of ‘horseless carriages’ powered by petrol, kerosene, steam or electricity. Experimental cars balancing on thin and flimsy tyres, lacking suspension, stopping power or protection against the elements. […]

Last Sunday I was at the People’s Climate March, in Amsterdam. I really enjoyed the songs, the insights, the jokes, and it was fantastic to see so many people committed for a better climate. I’m committed as well, although I don’t bring banners. Saving the world should be fun, otherwise it’s not going to happen. Calling […]

I’m not religious. I don’t go to clubs. I don’t like patriotism and I don’t like people who are lazy or inconsiderate. I don’t smoke and I think watching television is a waste of time. Yet of all things, most often I need to explain why I don’t eat meat. There’s a stigma on vegetarianism, as if – […]

I’ve done two holidays alone. I always wanted to go on a cycling holiday, but I couldn’t find anyone who wanted to come with me.. In 2009 I got on my bike alone, after which I cycled a thousand kilometers in five days, to the middle of France (Dijon, the mustard city). I noticed so […]

Whether spoken out or written down, I love words to a great deal. Put in form like the 1843’s tale The Ugly Duckling, the video-game Heavy Rain or the movie Zodiac, words tell us so much. And stories entice me. I love reading about the Black Dahlia murder, the life of Vasily Zaytsev or the […]

This is a produced concept and execution for Greenpeace at the festival of Lowlands. Greenpeace wanted an activation that was both nice to compete in, as well as nice to watch. As they were campaigning with “Save the Arctic”, we turned Lake Lowlands into icebergs with oil rigs, which visitors had to ‘steal’. They repeated […]

Together with a Jonas Kamber, I ran Lookslikegooddesign, which later moved to LLGD.NET. Jonas did most in the founding years, I from 2012 to 2014. I’d select designs from submissions but also the likes of Behance, crop them onto the right size and have three posts per day, catering to around 15.000 visitors per day, or […]

Are junior talent programmes a dump? Directly after the surprise announcement of Daniil Kvyat landing a Toro Rosso seat for 2014, my Twitter feed was filled with remarks about the young Russian; good, bad and others just stating the facts. Will Buxton GP2 and GP3 commentator, tweeted; ‘First reaction? Yet another Red Bull decision that […]

If not for the essential difference that it is a lot smarter, strategic lawn would be a lot like normal lawn mowing. With strategic lawn moving, instead of mindlessly mowing the closest patch of grass available, you would pause for a moment to look over the about-to-be-cut lawn to analyse your battlefield. Think about the […]

Microsoft bought Nokia for $7.2 billion and Skype for $8.5 billion. Google spent on $3.2 billion on Nest and $12.5 billion on Motorola. Facebook splashed $1 billion on Instagram, $2 billion on Oculus and $19 billion on Whatsapp.  Brands like Starbucks, Red Bull and Oreo have well beyond 35 million followers on Facebook each, a […]

Animal Farm-eqsue, the book tells about the little savage society on a deserted island, now occupied by boys. Golding captures the human inability for peace strikingly well. If this is youth fiction, it’s at the far end of it, but it explores human nature so well, the desert island being a metaphor for an experiment […]