As I was driving back from Enschede the other day I thought to myself: I would have never dreamt of this when I first embarked on this adventure! I have been to so many new places, had so many new experiences and met so many interesting people, how rich my life is! And that’s what it’s all about. Even though I don’t yet live in a Tiny House, I find that more and more I lead my life according to the philosophy. Experiences trump possessions. That’s what lives on, what stays with you. You will never think ‘that enormous smart TV, what a wonderful thing, wouldn’t have wanted to miss that for the world!’ No, it’s the memories of special encounters, of wonderful places, scents, colours, emotions that stay with you. Not that designer outfit (although I know you can enjoy that too). For example, a walk in nature, like the Landgoed Twickel near Enschede. It’s stunning there; can’t I not put my house there? ;)
But how did I end up in Enschede? I was there for the Inspiration Evening ‘Small purse – little houses’, hosted by Centre for Architecture Twente; I had been invited as guest speaker. It was a really great night. The film ‘Tiny’ was shown, Lena and Laurens van der Wal did a presentation on the background of the Tiny House movement, and the Tiny House design competition was introduced. I gave a presentation on how I am realising my dream of living in a Tiny House and explained a bit about the philosophy behind the Tiny House movement. I also mentioned a few people in the Netherlands who are either already building or have serious plans to do so. The turnout was amazing, and amongst the many interested people were Henk Eshuis who writes the blog ‘TinyHouseHenk’ and Dimka Wentzel of Tiny-House.nl who had brought along his Tiny 1.0. Fantastic initiative, Centre for Architecture Twente!
The weekend before we had travelled to Groningen with the Tiny House Netherlands ‘squad’ (Lena, Laurens, Vincent and I; Koen was unfortunately unable to attend) for a tour of North Holland. Two full days of small homes and meeting their special owners. What a treat! Soon there will be a detailed account of our trip on www.tinyhousenederland.nl.
And there will be more fun Tiny House activities coming up!
7 October, Alkmaar
The Alkmaar library are organising really cool, sustainable activities under the motto ‘Living sustainably in Alkmaar’. On October 7th the theme is Modern Living and that will be partly about Tiny Houses! Niels Koning and I will be leading a discussion with the participants as part of the program, around the topic of Tiny Houses.
13 October, Amsterdam
In Pakhuis de Zwijger there have been very interesting, sustainability things happening for quite a while, and on 13 October there is an evening dedicated to Tiny Houses. Trainee Lot writes: “here we will ask ourselves what the future of living should be, what the motivation is to live small and how to realise living in a Tiny House. The concept of Tiny Houses isn’t just based on living in a small space, but also involves a more conscious way of living with a minimal impact on the environment”. Unfortunately, I am unable to attend, but perhaps you can? It sounds to me like a really interesting evening!
It’s clear to see that there is a lot of activity around Tiny Houses in the Netherlands. Friday, 9th October Lena, Laurens and Vincent will come to my house for dinner and another design session for my house. Because my house has to be finalised at some point, and we made a plan while in Groningen. I would really like to move into my house in April/May 2016, so there is work to be done! I will, of course, keep you all posted!
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