A one-woman studio.
From first coffee to final handover.
I run a one-woman studio in Amsterdam. Architect-trained brain, four years of client-facing materials work, a stylist's eye — held by the same hands, for the same project, from first coffee to final handover.
The rare combination that makes the studio possible — three competencies, daily-practised, held by the same person.
A five-year Master in Architecture. Spatial thinking, structure, composition, the seriousness of the discipline. The architectural brain is the foundation everything else rests on.
Four years sitting across the table from real clients — translating feeling into specification, holding the room when contractor and architect disagree, closing without drama.
A deep eye for the finished room. Materials fluency from years of premium specification work, furniture and textile instinct from the retail floor before that, taste sharpened on a thousand showroom afternoons.
Held separately, three jobs. Held together — by the same person, for the same project — a studio.
A premium interior has four conversations happening at once — with the architect, the builder, the designer's eye, and the client. Most freelancers speak one of those languages well. The studio is built around speaking all four, because that is what an editor of the whole project needs.
Reads and contributes to plans, sections and technical details. Understands sight lines, structural constraints, load paths, how a drawing changes when a wall moves. A moodboard that is already feasible — never just pretty. From the first sketch onward, every spatial idea is tested against what the building actually allows.
Four years inside Cosentino — Dekton, Silestone, sintered stone, edge profiles, tolerances, lead times. Knows what bends and what cracks, what arrives on a Tuesday and what needs eight weeks. Specifications written so the contractor does not have to phone with questions.
Taste, finish, narrative. A fabric that ages well with the family. Brass that patinates beautifully. Oak that warms a north-facing room. Style held continuously from concept to handover by the same eye — not handed over to a stylist at the end.
Listens for what they cannot yet name. Translates feeling into specification. Holds the room when contractor and architect disagree at 14:30 on a Wednesday. Four years of premium showroom work — the conversation skills the studio depends on most, and the ones almost no architect is trained for.
One studio. Four languages. No translation loss between them.
Three weeks. One trust-building first conversation, one feasible moodboard, one honest direction. The clearest way to start working together — and the foundation everything else is built on.
Most Concept Phases continue into a full project together — see the service line below.
Three ways to work together — chosen to fit the kind of project, the budget, and the size of the leap.
Private clients are the higher margin. Studios are the deeper relationship. Both doors stay open.
Until the first projects are photographed, the studio speaks through atmosphere — the materials, tones and textures that anchor the work.
Three principles, applied continuously from the first conversation to the final handover.
Every project starts with a long, unhurried first conversation. Not a survey, not a brief — a listening. The way a family says "morning light," the room they walk into first on a tour of their own home, the words they cannot yet find for what they want. The studio's first job is to hear what the client cannot yet name. Everything that follows depends on this.
No moodboard leaves the studio without being pressure-tested against the building. Structural limits, sight lines, contractor availability, real lead times, the honest budget. Decisions made early on plan, not late on site. By the time the client sees the first render, three quiet feasibility checks have already happened behind it.
From the first coffee to the keys in the lock, one nervous system carries the project. The architect's drawing, the contractor's joint, the stylist's fabric — all approved by the same eye. There are no handovers, because there is no one to hand to. The taste the client fell in love with on day one survives every micro-decision through day three hundred.
The three principles are how a vision survives a hundred translations — instead of being lost in them.
Trained as an architect, sharpened on four years of premium materials work, Studio Vanja is a one-woman practice in the canal-belt city — designing, specifying and finishing private interiors and small commercial spaces, end-to-end.
The work is residential, retail and small hospitality. The aesthetic is warm-minimal: lime plaster, oak, travertine, the quiet luxury of restraint. The promise is simple — one trusted person, from the brief to the keys.
If you are renovating a home in Amsterdam, fitting out a boutique, or running a studio that needs a freelance lead — write a short note. A reply usually arrives within two working days.
Begin a conversation