Zee van geluk

I came to the idea of celebrating the era of the golden age by showing the audience both heritage and modern-day wealth. So the audience would, in a way, could see where all this wealth in the current day traces back to. Heritage is a very personal topic for me as an individual, I believe strongly that you must always respect and reflect on your heritage.

I chose to show this respect by involving key figures from the golden age in my designs. Figures that meant a great deal in the progression and the uprising of the kingdom during the golden age. These figures would be the foundation of all the designs. Furthermore I had to also involve the modern-day aspect of the designs. This is where I wanted to add some sort of a comedic aspect to the designs, since the golden age is a quite a ‘serious’ topic. As a result I’ve added current-day forms of wealth to the figures, as if they were enjoying the seeds they’ve planted in the 17th which have now become full-grown trees. These forms of wealth were expressed visually in three types that we see and enjoy today - fashion, technology and (food) consumption

This whole theme I named ‘Zee van geluk’ which means ‘sea of prosperity’. It references the sea because most of the wealth from the golden age came through overseas colonialism and trade. Naval exploration played crucial port in the growth of the kingdom