Despite the ever-growing demand for Vlieger & Vandam products, their manufacturing process remains resolutely lo-tech. “We bought a really old hat-making press which heats the aluminium mould, and then he presses the negative with a pedal. We use moulded wool felt, making it wet, like hat-makers, then we wet the felt and press it,” says Carolien. In perfect synchronicity they enthuse, “we love using felt, it’s not a complicated material… It’s very adaptable and we like the range of colours available”.

Daschund Snow White, Autumn / Winter 2008-2009

The fluency with which they finish each others’ sentences and seem to nod in agreement when either one of them speaks, sparks the question: what if Carolien’s creative vision is vastly out of sync with Hein’s – or vice versa?

Carolien replies, “it doesn’t happen a lot, but if it happens then we understand why the other one wants to have it like that. I can’t think of any incidents though… We always agree, it’s never ‘damnit, I want to have it like this.'” Hein seamlessly adds, “we just start making drawings and talking about things, it goes in a certain direction. If she really likes an idea, then she just keep on talking about it until I’m convinced – or the other way around. But for all the bags so far, we are both doing the designing.”

And the fringe benefits of being married at work?

“We love living and working together, it’s great that we get to share all the design fun and the struggle building up our brand. Sometimes when the struggle is hard we can concentrate together on making the best decisions and when things are exactly going as we want, or when unexpected chances are appearing we can enjoy it together”, says Hein. He adds, “our collection is mostly based on our own experiences in daily life or on things we see or read. Because our lives are so much intertwined with our business, the collection is very personal and close to us.”

Amazingly, the two of them still run the empire entirely by themselves doing everything from creation, production and distribution to press, promotion and sales. So – multi-talented. multi-tasking, multi-linguist, hyper-intelligent, super-human people-pleaser if you’re reading this: Vlieger & Vandam are hiring in 2008!

Vlieger & Vandam
Address: 60 Betje Wolffstraat, 3027 RN Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Tel: +31 (0)10 467 7699
http://www.vliegervandam.com