Renny Ramakers

Job description: I created my job myself. I am creative director of Droog and also the general manager.

Current projects: We just opened a store in New York, and now we’re concentrating on our project in Milan. And there’s also Droog lab, which has always been the core of our business. We reorganized it about half a year ago, and we are going to base ourselves on global urgencies and work on this in a local context. Our first project will be in Dubai, and we will work on identity.

First step on a project: It is always thinking of a concept, of a brief. It starts with themes and brainstorms, and then inviting designers who might fit in with the concept.

Last step on a project: Sometimes in some projects, there is definitely a last step. But I like projects that can continue, and not continue, in the same way.

How do you break a creative block? If I want to get ideas, I find them. When I have to find an idea for any project, the way I look at things is concentrated on finding this idea. In such periods, what I’m reading, what I’m seeing, and the people I’m meeting are more focused on the project. If you’re thinking about a problem you have to solve, a solution is always there, because you are so focused on it. Things you usually neglect suddenly become important.

Why do you do what you do? I am trained as an art historian, and when I finished my studies I said to myself, OK, that was history. I studied history because I was curious about history. The moment I knew I had an overview of what happened in history, I felt the drive to make history myself and to push developments.

Education: I studied at the University of Leiden.

Mentor: I don’t have special mentors. Of course I admire some people, but there is nobody that I would copy. For me, I admire some people for their work, others for their ideas.

World-saving mission: I think if there is less ego in the world, the world would be a much better place.

Dream team: A group of people who have capacities I don’t have.

Office chair: Very normal, basic office chair. Here in my office there is only old stuff. We appointed an artist to paint everything here. There’s no design. You cannot find design products in our office, but it’s extremely beautiful because this artist has painted all the old stuff.

Office sound track: I once listened to music, and I have an iPod, but I had to turn it off all the time because there was the telephone and meetings.

Most useful tool: My computer

Bookmarks: The news is constantly on my screen at home.

Best place to think: In my bathtub or on the train

Current read: The biography of Sergei Diaghilev, a key figure in the Russian art scene at the beginning of the 20th century

Something old: Yesterday

Something new: Tomorrow

Favorite space: An alpine meadow

Guilty pleasure: Three glasses of wine, instead of two glasses of wine, per day

Underrated: Women

Overrated: Men

Learned the hard way: Money—it’s a crime.