OUGD602 - Amsterdam

Our trip to Amsterdam was incredibly constructive and informative, as well as gaining experience navigating a foreign country and organising meetings with professionals, we learnt something new everyday from each professional we visited. 

On the Monday, we travel to Amsterdam and arrived in the evening. This was the first time I had independently travelled abroad and it put a confidence in me to be more ambitious with going abroad.

After settling in Monday evening, Tuesday morning we visited Thomas at Letterpress Amsterdam. I found this visit incredibly insightful and learnt a lot about his journey into print and his experience in newspaper presses and how much he had travelled working in places such as London and Paris. I enjoyed learning that he had explored many areas of the industry over the years as I am keen to explore as many parts of the industry as I can in my career.

On Wednesday we went to see Grafisch Werkcentrum Amsterdam. Although Corine, who I had organised the visit with didn't make it in until later, they were very welcoming and we ended up speaking to Zack Birkho. It was fascinating to hear about his journey into print and interesting to hear about his experience from the Eastern Block. He was originally an architect, who's passion for art and freedom of expression lead him to print, his distaste in contemporary architecture made him move but it meant him finding his passion for print.

The team there were so welcoming they even let us use their space and print. Corine did arrive later during the day, but we were so excited to print that we didn't mind.

The visit to 72&Sunny Agency on Thursday was a wonderful change of scene. The space felt truly creative and was a contrast from traditional studios, as their work base is far more digitally based. It made me feel a little jealous, as this is a space I would love to work in, in Amsterdam.

On Friday morning before flying back in the afternoon, we picked up prints from GWA.