Jan de Haas began Studio Hergebruik as a hobby four years ago.  He knew a few designers and artists who were working with recycled materials and wanted to create a platform for them to sell their products as well as to develop their creations further.

De Haas had just retired from a highly charged  job as business consultant and project manager and had time, and some money, on his hands.

“I started this shop as a complete amateur. I did not know anything about art and design or how to run a shop,” he says.

Studio Hergebruik began in a small location, but after a year De Haas found a large space in a building ideally located between Hofplein and the bustling shopping streets of Rotterdam city centre.  The building is earmarked for demolition and is part of the Dutch anti-kraak (anti-squatting) scheme through which landlords rent out their property at low prices to ensure that they are occupied by ‘legal’ tenants until they decide what to do with the property. 

Over four years, De Haas has created a substantial network without resorting to extensive advertising or marketing. Word of mouth is working for them with artists, designers and companies contacting them rather than the other way around.

“We started with five designers and we now have over seventy different designers in our network,” says De Haas. He shrugs his shoulders and grins. “It just happened.”

Certainly, De Haas’ retirement plans seem to have fallen by the wayside. His initial idea of starting a project that he could maintain through working a couple of days a week has turned into a full-time six-days-a-week schedule.

“I think I will continue like this for a year or so before starting to withdraw myself little by little,” says De Haas, who, besides the artists’ network, has several staff members who assist him in running his studio and shop.

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