Ilse Jansen
I am the daughter of an artistic mother and antique seeker father, who gave me my ability to see and my passion for beautiful things.
Just after finishing high school in Nijmegen (NL), I moved to Gent (B), to study Communication Management (advertising and PR) and wrote my paper about 'The use of Art in Advertising'. This is no coincidence at all - my mother wrote something similar for her Textile education. During my Master studies Communication Science, I was an Erasmus student in Århus (DK), where I met a Norwegian and moved to Oslo. In Oslo, I wrote my thesis about 'The Effect of one Advertising' at TNS Gallup. This led to a job as Marketing Researcher. A friendly colleague sketched Málaga in Spain in the most vivid tones, and so I went there for half a year, in order to learn Spanish and to indulge myself in wonderful Andalucia.
A head-hunter's call from Oslo to work at Ringnes (now Carlsberg), proved to be too good to resist and I returned to Norway. I worked there with several soft drinks, and was responsible for the complete marketing mix. One of the drinks, Mozell, had a clear art strategy. I worked with the famous Norwegian painter Odd Nedrum, ten up-and-coming artists, and the sculptor Nico Widerberg, along with Stenersenmuseet and the Astrup Fearnley Museum. I noticed that commercial thinking was not that common for artists. My goal was always to achieve a win-win situation. This meant we could use their creative thinking and they could reach a big audience by using our platforms, such as TV and labels. For all of us, it was a fruitful cooperation.
After some years, I decided to travel the world and came back to Norway to earn back the money I spent. I became Nordic Marketing Manager for Möller's Tran - cod liver oil. Very healthy (omega-3 and vitamin D) and very Scandinavian. I always say: if you can sell cod liver oil, you can sell everything! Here as well, I worked closely together with design agencies. But, I wanted to move back to the Netherlands and decided to leave Norway for good.
Another trip around the world ended in the Netherlands where I worked for D.E. Masterblenders 1753 as International Innovation Manager Tea. I quit, and moved to Berlin to work at an advertising agency for Tourism. Obviously, all my travels made me a professional tourist... I was responsible for VisitBritain and Flanders and improved my German considerably. Berlin is the coolest and most interesting city I visited for years. After a number of years, it was time to start for myself.
I worked as an interim International Product Manager Tea at D.E. Masterblenders 1753, where we worked with sustainability and a complete new design for the tea range. Afterwards, I travelled to the Philippines, Singapore and Taiwan, and fell in love with Taiwanese (packaging) design. For SABMiller I worked at the Global Marketing team for Grolsch beer as an interim Asset Manager, where design project management is an important part of the job. I went over to the Dutch Marketing Department and - among others things - redesigned Stender (alcohol-free beer) and worked on the assets for Kornuit. You might say that I can run design projects...
After some time for myself, I decided to follow my heart. I always wanted to work with Design and combining my other interests: travelling, talking with people and finding gems in every meaning of the word. Sustainability and conscious living are normal parts of my life and I believe it is the only way forward for the future. So I will focus on this when working with designers, producers and products.
This resulted in working a year as Marketing Manager Benelux for Interface (carpet tiles and LVT - a very sustainable company) where I, among others, organized events for architects and end users, to launch new carpet design and promote our sustainability views.
During my travels and visits of design fairs, I meet lots of people and get to know many design brands. With my different background and my ability to see new opportunities for matching people and brands, I search for the win-win situation for all parties conerned. I believe that's the only way to have a sustainable relationship.
In loving memory of Bep Jansen - de Reuver (1947 - 2008), who always inspired me to follow my dreams and would be over the moon if she knew that I finally started this company.