Teaching students to break rules

I have always had a passion for creativity and people. This comes together in my lectureship: here I guide and coach students in their growth and development. Both creatively and personally, because in addition to the curriculum and the final target, I have an eye for the individual. The Social Studies study, which I also followed, comes in handy here. Equality and positivity are paramount to me, I am not the lecturer who stands above the students with a critical eye. I like rebellious students; I therefore ask them to break the rules.

Last year I supervised the senior year for the first time and then it is nice to see and be able to assess the creative development from the first year to the last. For me, it all comes full circle: I see students come in and after their final year they become my future colleagues. In that year, they often know much better what they want to do. The nice thing is that I see that they have grown and at the same time see fragments of the raw, idiosyncratic creativity of the beginning. They are also more experienced and even more eager to enter professional practice. In that respect, the study programme is already a good reflection of that practice; you really get a realistic picture of how the creative world operates. During my studies, I often grumbled about the emphasis on independence, but that turned out to be much needed in practice!

It starts with conceptual thinking

When I did the study, there were no differentiations in Styling and Art Direction yet. Actually, these can't exist without each other either, and I usually combine them in my work. It starts with conceptual thinking: if I am commissioned to create an image for a brand, for a fashion designer, campaign or editorial in a magazine for example, I always want to know what they want to communicate and radiate. Only then can I apply a deeper layer, lay the foundation. That is extremely important for the creative process and result. But this also applies to Styling; I also always want to know what story needs to be told so that I can add more details.

Signature with subtly hidden, dreamy touch

If I had to describe my signature: I am punctilious, I have an enormous eye for detail. And I love colour – that's really typical of my concepts. I also like to add a dreamy touch, which is often subtly hidden in the theme. Like the art direction and styling of the fashion show KNOTTINESS for Fashion Week. For this, I created a colourful, mysterious world with a hidden story from the (concept) idea of ​​challenging the visitors to seek real contact with each other instead of just doing a solo digital report on the show.

My most recent creative concept was born from the idea that I wanted to fill the gap for artists to sell their work: ATELIER Whisper Aloud ~ A curated stay! A museum stay in a living room atmosphere full of colourful art and design, which at the same time serves as inspiration for your own home. This is a nice textbook (academic) example of creative concept thinking and execution: overnight accommodation meets studio meets gallery.

All-round education

A strength of Artemis is that creative concept thinking, including execution, is the common thread in all courses. Whether it concerns image and space, trend forecasting or product and design. There are not many academies where these two sides are developed so vigorously and where the commercial side is also highlighted. This makes Artemis alumni really all-round and versatile, and this makes them more successful and creative.

Willemijn Bos graduated from Artemis in 2012, is a lecturer at the academy and an independent passionate concept thinker: bywillemijn.com [instagram] @Atelier_whisperaloud.