“DE POLDER”

Almost a year after we first met its founder John, we are proud to share our collaboration with Amsterdam-based garment brand de dam foundation, for which we also invited our friend, and earlier collaborator, Lennard Kok. In the project, we examined the Dutch invention of the polder and translated it into garments, drawings and film. The most visible results are a trench coat and a cap. Both quiet. Both exact. Both built to stand in the wind without complaint.

John’s work is rooted in Dutch cultural heritage. It informs his references and his designs, which carry that influence into the third millennium and into a slowly evolving wardrobe. Understated, made to the highest standards, often produced in his country of birth South Korea, always shaped by a recognisable oversized unisex aesthetic. We wanted to add a perspective on “our own” The Netherlands that differed from his, both critical and curious, forcing ourselves to rediscover something in a country we thought we knew. It did not take long. We found what we were looking for in the artificial hydrological entity that were invented in The Netherlands: the polder. Land pulled from the water and kept alive by machines and patience. A space where survival and design share the same ground.

The Eemnes polder, partly inspired by the song of poet/comedian Hans Dorrestijn about that particular place, with its flat horizons and long silences, became the starting point for our collaboration, which we eventually aptly named “De Polder”. Time slows there. The kilometers stretch. The air carries a stillness that can unsettle or soothe. Hans Dorrestijn described it as a place that tests patience before it reveals its beauty. That same tension between desolation and quiet grace became the core of the project.

The coat is unmistakably a de dam foundation work of art. Crafted in South Korea, from an extraordinary dark khaki Japanese cotton gabardine with a subtle red hue woven into it. The silhouette is oversized and anchored by a signature high-neck collar for extra protection against Dutch rain. The six-panel cap follows the same principle. Medium-weight double-ply cotton. Clean shape. Nothing unnecessary. Inside the coat, an oversized label holds a single hand-drawn image by Lennard Kok, a figure in deep shadow walking (below sea level) through the polder. Inside the cap, a smaller drawing waits like a quiet secret beneath the surface.

The campaign was shot in the Eemnes polder itself. Belgian actor Mistral Guidotti steps into the role of the lone walker, making his way across the reclaimed land. The film by Milan van Dril, created in close collaboration with us, extends the atmosphere of Lennard’s drawing into motion. Joachim photographed the series, capturing the calm severity of the place. Music by De Rivier keeps the momentum, a haunting guitar-driven score that seems to push the walker forward.

“De Polder” is about endurance and observation. About seeing the subtle poetry of a landscape that tests patience. Garment, drawing, film and music converge into a lived experience. The Dutch polder becomes both subject and stage, precise and quiet

After launching the project at JUKI in Amsterdam last weekend, the pieces are also part of the de dam foundation pop-up store, that will run until december 8 at Prinsengracht 234, Amsterdam. Go visit!

And finally, we are also planning a small event during Paris Fashion Week at the end of January, when de dam foundation will have its showroom there. Stay tuned!

The trench coat and cap are also available to order online here >
We also created a little zine for the project which is availble online here >