A guide for artists and parents in Rotterdam

I moved to Rotterdam when I was 26, fresh out of an industrial design degree at the Design Academy Eindhoven. I immediately signed up for antikraak plan. Kraken means to squat, e antikraak it’s a policy where the city rents empty properties cheaply so that people don’t occupy them. It’s crazy, thinking about it now, but I was offered a 200m2 house for 150 euros a month. It was a total dump – we had no hot water so had a gym membership just to shower – but it was an adventure. Back then, the city had not been ennobled. I spent two weeks renovating the house, then I opened my studio. It meant I didn’t have to compromise on the type of design I was making, allowing me to experiment with cast resins and glass.

That entrepreneurial spirit still energizes Rotterdam. The city is oriented around the port, so there are many old industrial buildings that can be transformed. There has been a shortage of nice places to eat and drink for years; now there are a lot of things popping up. There’s a big music scene, lots of architects, and I feel there’s a buzz in design as well.

Today I live in the Coolhaven neighborhood, where coal was once brought into the port. It was a bit of a dead end back in 2016 when my boyfriend and I bought our house, a former paper warehouse that we remodeled, but fun things are popping up now. Next to our house is a natural wine shop called Raisin the Bar, which looks like someone’s cute living room. Then, there is Explained, which is a café and shop of photographer Sophia van den Hoek. It sells many local delicacies, such as the best soy sauce you’ve ever tasted, which is made in Rotterdam.

The city is now a patchwork of crazy architecture

The city was bombed so extensively during WWII that it is now a patchwork of crazy architecture. I really like the Maastunnel, which goes under the Nieuwe Maas – the two buildings at either end are really nice. You can only see them by water taxi, which, apart from cycling, is the cheapest and fastest way to get around. But the way you move through the tunnel is interesting – it’s a double tunnel, so you have cars and then another tunnel for bikes. Ride your bike down the escalator, cycle under the river and back up the escalator.

We stayed in many hotels in the city, because my boyfriend and I were betting and the loser had to pay one night. There is the SS Rotterdam, a cruise ship that once connected Rotterdam with New York, now a permanent hotel full of nostalgia. Another favorite is Hotel Ameminimal and Japanese-inspired.

Don’t miss the brewery Bierhandel De Pijp. It is a Rotterdam institution that has been around since 1898 and was part of the Dutch resistance. You feel like you are in a frat house except the food is really good. We go there for a date night, then we go to a movie at Sino, which is a cozy cinema one street over showing indie films. I also like to eat Ox, a fantastic Malaysian-Chinese restaurant that is really hard to find, in a basement hidden behind a nondescript black door. For a treat, go to Heroina restaurant with an epic tasting menu that really should have a Michelin star.

Having my son has changed the way I see the city: now I notice playgrounds a lot more. But I also appreciate the volume of public art, because the artwork becomes a kind of playground. My favorite is a beautiful sculpture by Franz West of long colored metal structures lying in the grass. And there’s a large sculpture by Paul McCarthy of a garden gnome holding a butt plug.

One of my pieces is in the Boijmans Van Beuningen Warehouse, housed in a large mirrored ball of a building, which is nice to explore as it’s essentially a giant glass container so you can see the backs of the paintings. I often consult a website called Hollywood, a map of works of art, gardens, buildings and viewing platforms throughout the Netherlands. There is a James Turrell installation on the beach, about 30 minutes by car from Rotterdam, for example, that nobody knows about. This is one of my favorite things about the city, that we are close to the beach. I like to go to Rockanje and take a walk in the dunes. Take it at sunset and it’s magical.