Amsterdam designer Ruben de Haas opens his own store in Amsterdam.
During Dutch Design Week last year, he successfully presented the Eilamp, a lamp made from real eggs, at Piet Hein Eek. The Eilamp was quickly picked up by national and international media. ‘I even had a missed call from Umberto if I wanted to come on the talk show,’ says Ruben, who is still busy with the final preparations of the shop.
Besides the Eilamp, for which De Haas has meanwhile also developed a matching luminaire – the EggboxLAMP – there is a range of designs in the shop that will make you happy. Similarly, there is the ClayBan: a pair of sunglasses made of clay. It has been hanging in the shop window for the past few weeks and has made local residents curious. ‘We had first written ‘no Nutella shop here’ on the window. There were so many reactions to this. People thought it was very funny. They didn’t even notice that we had misspelt Nutella,’ says Ruben.
There is also the ‘Ruben shirt’, with ‘ruben’ embroidered on the chest, this is done by hand by Ruben himself. And for anyone not named Ruben, he has collaborated to design another shirt as well; this one has the text ‘not ruben’ on the chest. There are chairs made from pallets found on the street, disposable paper cups that turn out to be made of porcelain after all, made by Gonny. And the Tramrails candlestick, made from old Amsterdam tram rails, by Rutger. There is also Madelief’s ‘not a gun bag’. So in addition to his own collection, Ruben also displays a number of ‘not-by-ruben’ products by other Dutch designers in the shop.
In the evenings, Ruben works as a rubbish collector, sweeping Dam Square, the Albert Cuyp or Leidseplein. ‘It’s very rewarding work and also nice to put myself in a completely different world. The art and design world has been where I find myself for years. It is a world that sometimes seems quite distant from the rest of society. Trash puts me in touch with people from all walks of life. For instance, there is ‘Smiley’, a man who won the jackpot of 2.2 million a few years ago and still comes to work smiling every day after 34 years in city cleaning. And I spoke to Roberto, a Surinamese man who when he became traffic controller gave me all his work clothes. And when I did the course for the sweeper I spoke to Rosa, a girl from The Hague who had been doing this work on the side since she was a student and liked it so much then that she continued with it. It’s nice to clear your head after a day’s work in the studio and clean the city.’
The new design shop is called the ruben store, and it is an ode to creativity and imagination. There is so much on the street, just there for the taking, and even everyday materials can be used to make beautiful things. We are all creative, only many people feel they are not. I regularly hear that people look at the world differently after seeing my products. The Eilamp gave more than 100,000 people a smile at last year’s DDW. Simply made from an egg. It can be that simple.
The Ruben store opened on 31 August with an event featuring music by Dutch and American artists. The shop will be open weekly from Thursday to Sunday from 10:00 to 18:00 until the end of November.
ruben store
Admiraal de Ruijterweg 3
Amsterdam
Photography: miksfiles
