“What art does — maybe what it does most completely — is tell us, make us feel that what we think we know, we don’t. There are whole worlds around us that we’ve never glimpsed.” Greil Marcus — Friday August 8th — —

The idea is to die young as late as possible. — Ashley Montagu — Friday August 8th — —

I love listening. It is one of the only spaces where you can be still and moved at the same time. — Nayyirah Waheed — Friday August 8th — —

Freunde von Freunden Workplaces

We have a long history (and friendship) with German interview-magazine Freunde von Freunden, and therefore finding Joachim’s interview online this morning almost feels like coming full circle. After first writing about Freunde von Freunden as early as 2011 and for instance creating the Another Someting x FvF mixtape in 2012; it is clear to say that it is a very special honor to be part of the Freunde von Freunden Workplaces profiles. On a sunny Saturday some weeks ago, Felicitas Olschewski and photographer Jordi Huisman visited the new studio at the edge of Amsterdam’s city center in the historical Nieuwmarkt area – almost feeling like a little village within the village of Amsterdam – in which we find ourselves in a beautiful spot right at the mouth of what becomes the Herengracht canal. The conversation starts at the beginning of Joachim’s career, dropping out of art school, the love for collecting, favorite projects that were created over the years and finally the exciting projects that lay ahead.

On the favorite projects:

My favorite projects are probably Tenue de Nîmes and Journal de Nîmes, precisely because of that: because we managed to establish a whole world around these products. But whatever new project or product I work on, they inspire me anew every time. I have the same excitement and dedication for each one as if it was my first project. That keeps me alive.

And the exciting things that lay ahead:

Two dream projects: One is for a watch brand and the other is a new brand of sunglasses. It’s a long road – finding the right factory, prototyping and so on – but we’re slowly getting there. As you can imagine, creating watches is obviously so much more work than producing a T-shirt brand. But it’s a luxury to build something from scratch. And the best thing is: it’s the kind of products I would like to have myself.

Photography by Jordi Huisman.

For the full story and more on the past and the future of Joachim, visit Freunde von Freunden Workplaces here.