EDIT.
by Merel van den Berg
Merel van den Berg is a creative director in fashion, design and art. She is currently active as the art director for the bi-annual magazine The Gentlewoman, and works as the design director for KASSL EDITIONS. She is obsessed with print, images and clothes. In her free time she loves cooking and going for walks in nature. Merel is based in Rotterdam where she lives with her partner Jelle and their 3-year-old daughter Loes.
Item
“I have gathered many KASSL coats over the years but keep returning to my Original rubber black and wear it so much. I’ve always felt attracted to garments that feel like a prototype, a distilled form. The collar looks like it has simply been cut with scissors, and the buttons attached with keyrings have a lovely DIY appeal. I also really enjoy the rubber, how immaculate and architectural it looks when worn. It feels both utility and sort of fetish and really elevates any outfit. Recently my brother in law, who is a GP and lives in a small provincial village in the east of Holland, purchased this coat as well, and has been reporting about people looking at him with both concern and admiration!”
Original below rubber black
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Drink
“I love the mild, savory and sweet taste of Genmaicha tea, a.k.a. ‘roasted brown rice tea’. I especially enjoy drinking it during time spent working at the studio. It puts me in the right headspace.”
Boots
“I’ve recently moved into a new studio in Rotterdam, near a big green area. I’m always practising adding more movement and nature to my daily routine to structure a working day, and have been going for walks around the lake – which takes exactly one hour – as often as I can. I love the repetition of going on one particular route, witnessing the seasonal and weather differences each time. The tall Tretorn boots are perfect for this especially during the more gloomy and wet months.”
jkn,m
Artwork
“In my wildest dreams I have a paper drop by Wolfgang Tillmans’ hanging on my wall, from his ongoing series depicting photo papers that are folded onto itself. I love how they sit somewhere between documentation and the abstract, how they are photographs of sheets of paper but also of light. Magical.
I also love realist painter Domenico Gnoli for his obsessive depictions of everyday objects and garments, the scale and the crops.”
Bag
“My boyfriend questioned whether it was wise to get another fits-everything bag (or ‘rock’ as he calls it), but this really is the one big bag to end all big bags. I love taking this when I stay over at friends or family. It’s very lightweight when empty and easily foldable. The bright green, graphic outline makes the black canvas almost look navy. Now I just need to come up with a system that puts an end to the endless rummaging!”
Tote canvas black / oil green
Music
“Music is a driving force in my life, and I enjoy many different genres. Listening to music can feel similar to wearing clothes, in the way that it can set you up for something you want to go towards. At the moment, with the days being so short and feeling a bit quiet, I’m really into new age music again. Something instrumental and meditative with a meandering quality, like Laraaji’s Ambient 3: Day of Radience. I have a soft spot for the sound of harp and in this case, the zither. As a child I was already mesmerised with the sound of these type of instruments. When I mentioned this to my parents they put me up for violin lessons ‘because they have strings too’. Needless to say I never became a violinist.”
