I was on my way back to S.
Korea, dreading the thought of returning to work in another company that was
anything but innovative, far from collaborative, and consisted of endless
meetings with no real results or conclusions. I wasn't looking forward to that
lifestyle in the slightest, but it still beat what was available in the US. I
thought a two week trip to Amsterdam would help get me ready for a grueling few
more years in Seoul, but what I didn't expect is that I would never get on the
last leg of my journey, and would eventually make the bold decision to start a
new life in Amsterdam.
Any individual person is
capable of doing extraordinary things, but we are all a product of our
environment. Being creatively stifled is something I came to accept while working
in companies. Passion for the user's experience and focusing on people through
creative design is something that should not be overlooked by any company. Yet,
it was also something that I wasn't really able to find. Something I knew to be
crucial to a successful business but that no one ever talked about. I knew
there was a better way of doing business; a more direct and honest way where
people worked passionately to create something useful, focusing on the user's
experience and the customer perspective rather than viewing the market from the
inside out, or even worrying about the bottom line. I didn't want to sit in
another useless meeting or pretend to be busy at my desk like the other
employees. I didn't want to talk about doing things anymore. I wanted to really
do something, something that was worth doing.
Although this strong feeling
of frustration was ever-present in my mind, I also didn't see any direction for
it to change or improve. I didn't see any way around the bureaucracy, convoluted
systems, and red tape that appeared wherever I traveled. If it wasn't visa
rules that defy common sense then it was a lack of support from the government
for what I believe are the primary needs of humans; a world class education and
very affordable healthcare.
I arrived in Amsterdam on May
14th, 2012. The weather was incredible and I was lucky to see so much sunshine
with a last-minute booking and zero planning. After all, I was supposed to be
going back to Korea just two weeks later and figured the friends I was staying
with would tell me the best places to go. After seeing the rain that followed,
I knew that the sunshine is truly appreciated by people here, shown by the
masses in any park on a nice day. I happen to like rain though, so the stormy
days were a positive in my eyes.
After the jet lag subsided and
I had time to see the town, I connected with Amsterdam on a whole different
level. I spent the past 3 years in Seoul, 1 year before that in Tokyo, and 7
months thrown between studying Muay Thai in Phuket, surfing in Bali, and
traveling everywhere in-between. I knew what all the Asian metropolis cities
felt like to live in and what I liked about each. There was something much
different about Amsterdam though; the energy, creativity, culture, and the
canals, I just couldn't say goodbye to all of it. I was seeing a completely
different and incredible concept in city design. Don't expand for cars, expand
for bikes. A single decision like this has a tremendous effect on peoples'
lives and changes the entire way that they interact socially. These are the
grand concepts that I knew to exist but had never seen in action.
I kept thinking that I should
be looking for jobs in Amsterdam, even if it meant rolling kebabs on the
corner. I started checking out all the sites that a "jobs in Amsterdam" Google search returns, then applied for any that I felt I had a
chance of getting. None of the positions really sounded that interesting, so I
can't say that I spent much time on the cover letters.
Through some twisted series of
web pages, ad links, and job forums, I eventually StumbledUpon an article about
Mike Lee, the "mayor" of Appsterdam. I had read about him in tech
articles before, but after hearing of his new community, everything changed.
I had actually found someone
who looked at the US in the same way I did, not just with blind patriotism. More
than that, he had a grand vision of something that was for the general benefit
of mankind, and he was crazy enough to think he could do it. Mike was my first
inspiration and without his initiative, I am sure I wouldn't have had the opportunity
to stay, nor the confidence to start my own project. I sent an email to the
Appsterdam team and, for the first time in a long time, wrote a completely
sincere application letter about what I wanted in a work environment. To my
surprise, I actually got a response, and within just a few hours of me sending
the mail.
Paul Darcey is the
administrative side to Appsterdam, and his extensive work as a business
consultant lets him see problems before they ever become a problem. Mike Lee is
the visionary, and Paul facilitates that vision, avoiding the many political and
business hurdles in between. He seemed interested in my letter (which was a bit
long winded) and asked to meet in VondelPark for a coffee. We talked tech for
over two hours, and I enjoyed finding someone who understands the market as
good, if not much better than I do. Someone who I could actually learn
something new and useful from; it was exactly the type of community I was
seeking. Paul told me about "BounceSpace", a co-working location
based on "Seats-2-Meet". He said I should stop by the next morning
and "hang out and see what happens". He also referenced a Calvin
& Hobbs cartoon that basically said "If it’s about being in the right
place at the right time, I guess I’ll just find the right place and wait
around for the right time." I liked that idea.
I showed up without any
expectation, was impressed with the location and view of the Rijksmuseum, and
started chatting with the people around me, many of which had come in at random
like myself. It was the first time I even heard the words "co-working
space" or "Seats-2-Meet", but I soon came to realize the value
of what they were building. Jorn Van Lieshout, the entrepreneur behind
BounceSpace, said "people don't pay for the co-working space with cash,
they pay in 'social capital'; the experience, knowledge, and contacts that they
can bring to the group'." The space had just been launched a month or so
earlier, and had only opened after remodeling just a couple weeks before I
arrived. The WiFi was a bit unstable, and a lot of decorating and designing
needed to happen. I wanted to work on it all.
I offered my help without any
offer of being paid for my services. I simply wanted to be a part of, and work
between, both the concept that Mike Lee with his Appsterdam community, and
Jorn's co-working space were building towards. They both had a similar vision,
to take how we work into the future. It isn't about lawyers and lawsuits. Its
not even about competition. Its about co-working, collaboration, user-centric
thinking, and working together towards the common good. No matter how cheesy
that sounds, it truly is the future of business and technology, and is
revolutionizing the way companies think about working. I wanted to be right in
the middle of it.
Sometimes old ideas come back
again. Dreams like to fight to get out. They infuse people with passion and
cause us to risk it all just for a chance of seeing our dreams turned into
reality. Old dreams that were once left on the wayside seem to make a comeback
when the right situation arises. It is, after all, completely about being in
the right place, at the right time. As I looked at this incredible space, the
people that flocked to it, and the ideas that surrounded it, my own old dreams
started to develop in my sub conscience again. I was suddenly hit with the
strongest sense of what I wanted to do, and how I was going to do it. I wanted
to get passionate artists together with the goal of creating a new generation
of art. A BauHaus for the modern age. The ArtFABRIEK was born.
I started with a simple
craigslist rant of what I wanted to accomplish. After much interest from all
kinds of multi-disciplined artists, I decided scheduling a meetup at our
perfect location was the next logical step. I created a simple page with a
BauHaus typography logo, and the "FABRIEK: Urban Art Production
Project" group found its meager start.
http://www.meetup.com/Fabriek-Urban-Art-Production-Project/
I tried to learn as much as I
could about the city. I talked to as many people as possible about where they
lived in the city, how long they had lived here, what they liked about it, what
they didn't like about it, and I sometimes mentioned my art production idea if
it felt appropriate. If I was on foot, bike, tram, or train, I was trying to
connect with the people of the city. Watching how they moved and communicated,
how they laughed, and what foods they liked. I wanted to absorb a new culture
that was entirely different from anything I had previously seen in Asia. I met
more incredibly interesting people in the first week in Amsterdam than I have
in the past 10 years combined. The city seemed easy to access socially, picking
up valuable contacts' business cards within just a few days. The idea started
to build, and the contacts I was making seemed very interconnected somehow. I
met an oil abstract oil painter on the train from Brussels, a Taiwanese
architect in a leather bag store, a jewelry designer at the Apple store, and
many other diverse sets of talent through my craigslist posting. Out of all the
ideas I have tried in the past, this one was by far not only the most exciting,
but seemed to come together with hardly any effort from myself. We are
about to have our second meeting tonight and currently have around 15 extremely
talented and passionate artists, many with over 20 years experience and nearly
all who have strong teaching credentials.
So where am I going from here,
and what advice can I leave for the next guy who discovers this amazing city
the way I have? Well, I can say that the journey is a unique one for each
person, and will most likely happen by accident, like most great memories. Life
isn't something you can plan, but something that happens. I won’t say that the
Netherlands is without bureaucracy, red tape, and convoluted systems, but its
culture and atmosphere is what got me to stay. Every country has its bad
points, its weaknesses, and its frustrations for its people. It’s really just
about finding a place that you can accept for its bad qualities because the
good ones are so overwhelmingly valuable to the type of life you want to lead.
It’s about finding where your dreams can be fostered into a reality, and where
they can be shared and added to by others with similar dreams.
I have learned much through
the past two months, and the entire process has been a complete 180 turn from
my work life in Asia. I see now that connecting with other open-minded and
passionate people, excited for the opportunity to create something useful, and
working together to accomplish a singular goal is something nearly unstoppable,
something almost magical. People to feed and build off of each other's energy
will always drastically increase the possibility of success rather than going
at it alone. In fact, it will turn out better, be more fun, and most likely
more profitable than you could ever anticipate.
As I stand now I feel I am
just beginning my new life. I have very little money, am working long days into
the early morning, and am hoping that things are really going as well as they
seem to be. This kind of situation used to make me nervous, but I am now fully
living the life I want, and I am excited about the possibilities. I've found
the right place, and definitely the right people. Now it’s just about working
hard while I wait for the right time. I think the right time is around the
corner :)
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