Lookbook: Tjep. Through the Lens

Frank Tjep­ke­ma (born 1970) is a Dutch design­er based in Ams­ter­dam. He works in inte­ri­or design, archi­tec­ture, prod­uct design and jew­el­ry. After grow­ing up in Gene­va, Brus­sels and New York, Tjep­ke­ma set­tled in the Nether­lands where he grad­u­at­ed cum laude from the Design Acad­e­my in Eind­hoven in 1996 and obtained a master’s degree from the San­berg Insti­tu­ut in Ams­ter­dam in 1998. Tjepkema’s grad­u­a­tion project on arti­fi­cial nature drew imme­di­ate atten­tion and was select­ed for the Droog Design collection.

In 2001, Tjep­ke­ma start­ed Tjep. The Stu­dio is aimed at work­ing with a broad range of clients to cre­ate out­stand­ing design projects infused with ​“Tjep. Soul.” Here are his ​“10 Com­mand­ments”:

1. Thou shalt not mak­est bor­ing designs.

2. Thou shalt let any­thing and every­thing rel­e­vant trig­ger thy thoughts.

3. Thou shalt embrace the pos­si­bil­i­ties offered by the dig­i­tal rev­o­lu­tion. Thou shalt embrace the pos­si­bil­i­ties offered by any revolution.

4. By all means thy focus shalt remain crafts­man­ship and impec­ca­ble qual­i­ty in every project and product.

5. All the while thou shalt remem­ber not to con­form to sys­tems, dog­mas or pre­con­cep­tions, not even thy own ones.

6. Thou shalt not con­form to what won­der­ing souls call the market.

7. Thou shalt not con­form to trends, thou wilt serve thy broth­ers and sis­ters by liv­ing thy own trend.

8. Thou art not to be demo­ti­vat­ed by what is referred to as the crisis.

9. Every time, O mor­tal, thou shalt deliv­er more than is required, or thy soul shan’t be vinomadefied.

10. Reminder: thou shalt not mak­est bor­ing designs.

In par­al­lel to lead­ing the design stu­dio, Frank Tjep­ke­ma pro­vokes audi­ences world­wide through his engag­ing art and exhi­bi­tion pieces, such as the Reces­sion Chair, Bling Bling and Zwerm Eind­hoven. He explains, ​“These pieces can have a cer­tain irony yet are cre­at­ed with love for the sub­ject.” Tjepkema’s work can be found in gal­leries and in the per­ma­nent col­lec­tions of muse­ums worldwide.

Join Wolf-Gor­don CCO Mary­beth Shaw for a con­ver­sa­tion with Tjep­ke­ma on IG Live, Thurs­day, Octo­ber 15^th at 12 pm EST.