Interview - Decor desginers Daan & Joris

Soon the eleventh edition of Soenda Outdoor will take place. The Soenda team has been working incredibly hard to create an unforgettable festival experience. We’d love to give you a glimpse of the work and preparations that are currently underway to create that spectacular day on May 18th.

In this second interview, Joris and Daan will tell how the Soenda style comes alive at the Festival and what we can expect as it comes to festival design. So buckle up and get ready for ‘The Road to Soenda’.

Upcoming Soenda will be the eleventh outdoor festival edition. How many editions have you guys worked  for Soenda?

Joris: I’m a part of Soenda since the beginning. I’m together with Jasper, the creator of Soenda. Daan and I are doing the art direction for the festival. The engineering and the shaping of the festival what you are visiting in the end. Daan is the architect and is taking care of the designs, I try to focus on the main Soenda concept. The great thing about us working together is that we have the same vision on how certain things should look.

Daan: this will be my fifth edition. I’m an architect, most of the time I work on festival designs. For Soenda I designed the mainstage, chill area and ‘Het Paviljoen’. I started doing tasks for Soenda as a volunteer, like attach reed mats to fences. Pretty basic. Eventually, I ended up in the steady building team.

How did voluntary work end up being a paid job?

Daan: one day I approached Joris with an idea and a drawing I created.

Joris: he showed me a sketch that was really awesome! I thought ‘wow, why didn’t you show me this before?’.

Did you use the drawing?

Joris: yes we did. We build the piece and it really pleased us. That’s how we gradually started to work more and more with each other.  

Since when have you been working on the terrain where Soenda is currently taking place, Ruigenhoek Groenekan in Utrecht?

Joris: I think since 2011. The current terrain lies between some strokes of water and there are some bunkers, but most of all, it is very flat and extensive. We are lacking trees or bushes on the terrain, so this means we have to create some atmosphere ourselves. This is asking a lot from us. If you look at other festivals, the location is part of the ambiance of the party. You just place some stage parts with a rush mat against it, and it still is dope because of the location of the festival. We don’t have a bamboo forest to create intimacy.

How do you solve this?

Joris:  we have to guarantee that intimacy ourselves. The last couple of years we’ve created an arena out of shipping containers, that already feels way more compact and cozy than standing on a flat field. Some other aspect we have to take into account is sound. This year we found another method to handle this.

How does the process flow from beginning to end? Does it start with a sketch?

Daan: it starts with Pinterest?

Joris: In the beginning when I start using Pinterest, I looked at other festivals. I don’t do that anymore. Now I’m trying to look at it from an architecture point of view.  When I found something, I usually just shout something to Daan, show him an image or a doodle. Above all miracles, he always understands what I mean. Then he starts working his magic and makes sure we have something that we can really use.

Daan, what do you do with Joris his doodle?

Daan: after we looked at it with together, I take it home and see what I can make of it with the programs I use. In the first instance, I don’t take the budget into account.

Joris: we always need to check our ideas with Jasper, co-founder of Soenda and brother, for the budget and with Nathan, our technical producer, for the technical design.

Daan: and then the cutting starts. I take the sketches home again and make different variations of the design. Bit by bit it is getting better. Meanwhile, I check if the design still fits the Soenda vision.

Joris: sometimes Kees (cabinet maker) makes a scale model out of wood. Coming up with something nice is pretty easy, coming up with something really is a challenge. That’s asking a lot of our creativity. 

How do you check if the design is a realistic one?

Daan: we always make 3D models, and they never really differ from the real models. And I don’t want it to differ, I have to know what I’m building. If not, there will be some surprises, and surprises do cost money.

 Joris: the first time a new object is on the festival terrain is always very exciting. You never know beforehand how it looks at the final location. 

Daan: I always experience the decor in hindsight. At the day itself, I’m usually always busy with anything else than the decor. And before you know it, we are breaking everything down the day after.

Soenda has a pretty recognizable style, how would you describe it?

Joris: in the beginning, we didn’t have a style at all. We just did whatever came to mind and what we think was fun. Everything is now so professionalized and we’ve got a clearer vision about our identity. Soenda really has an architectonic design. We’d like to describe the style as ‘wood architecture’. We use the straight lines, the architectonic, graphical and patterns from Techno. I think that I what makes the match with Daan so great. And then the natural, warm and earthiness from the wood material in the green environment work really well. That combination is very interesting.

Daan: it has something cozy and something cleans, that blend makes the Soenda style.

If the decor is finished you have to do the buildup, how do you take that into account?

Daan: when I have the final design I will make sure it is easy and fast to build up. Transport is also a thingy. It really is a challenge because there are lots of aspects to take into account. It should already be like, some kind of kit when it is in the working place, in that way it will cost minimal time to build upon the terrain itself. Building the whole thing up already takes seven days in total. And before I arrive to help with that, they are already working on preparing the terrain.

Sounds like a lot of work! What can we expect this year when it comes to the decor?

Daan: there will be a big restyle of the mainstage. Something totally new. We use a lot of wood and will not use shipping containers.

Joris:  when it comes to sustainability the shipping containers are not the best choice. This asks a lot of transportation. The new mainstage design is a very technical design. I think we used the possibilities regarding the audio and visual boundaries pretty well. We used it in a clever way and we think this will really have a cool effect.

Joris: it would be a shame if we would produce something and throw it away after using it once.  We use modular systems that we can use again and again. This is more sustainable and better for the environment. If you are economically sustainable it is most of the time also better for the environment.

Quickies

What creation are you most proud of?

Daan: ‘Het Paviljoen’ that we introduced last year

Joris: me too, but that creation is mostly Daan.

What artist did you last listen to?

Joris: Bob Marley. My son really enjoys that. He falls asleep when I’m carrying around with Bob Marley singing in the background.

Daan: Coen Scheepens.

All-time favorite artist?

Joris: for years I was a big fan of a particular set of Shinedoe. I used to talk about it all the time. Jeff Mills and Robert Hood are also very good.

Daan: Metallica and PJ Harvey.

What is your favorite music genre?

Daan: Disco.

Joris: depends on my mood. So I don’t really have one favorite music genre.  

What is the nicest thing about Soenda?

Joris: designing and coming up with how everything should be like.

Daan: same here.