My favourite and neighbourhood bookstore. With a good selection of books and a balanced selection of magazines. If possible I buy my books here. I want to support small business. 

At the Damrak on the daily journey between home and studio, my eye is continually drawn to the emblem that has functioned as a façade ornament on the corner of the Beurs van Berlage for more than a hundred years. In combination with the past function of the building - trade centre - and in relation to the present financial crisis, the timeless maxim gains extra significance: ‘Dis-pe-reert niet’ (‘Do not des-pair’).

To get out of the hustle of the city, my husband and I love to bike down to Amsterdam's Forest to see the goat farm, or picnic in the sun.  There are also little spots to swim :)

A few years ago I had a conversation with a staff member from Uytenhaak Architects about concealed texts in Amsterdam, relating to my own work ‘stoned forever’, which is integrated in brickwork in the Olympic Quarter. He said that there is a text in Morse code incorporated into the Droogbak (1989), a residential building by Uytenhaak: ‘Deze muur staat er niet’ (‘This wall isn’t here’). It is located close to the railway line. Rudy Uytenhaak later told me that this was his last opportunity to protest against the acoustic fence that had to be constructed for bureaucratic reasons.

Replacing a broken kitsch plate with a new kitsch plate in the ever so pretentious Negen Straatjes (Nine Streets).