The magic of the lab
The lab
This is the place where it all comes together: two old shipping containers converted into a studio using sustainable and recycled materials. Green energy supplies light and warmth. With a great cup of coffee and some fantastic music playing, it’s an amazing spot!
Marcel
Weenink
As a young boy, I always wanted to do everything myself—create and invent. “Can do it myself” I would often express this passionately to my parents. Growing up in the Zaanstreek, the old, sometimes abandoned factory buildings became my playground, sparking my fascination with industrial objects. My first job as a teenager was cleaning the laboratory at the Gerkens cocoa factory in Wormer. It was there that I first encountered the magic of the lab, with its beautiful glassware, test tubes, and bottles.
Years later, after studying at the Utrecht art academy (HKU), that sense of magic unexpectedly returned. For my company buro075 I rented a studio in "Het Lab," the former Duyvis laboratory in Koog aan de Zaan. It was a beautiful and inspiring space complete with an authentic lab workbench, large windows. There I found old laboratory glassware left behind. I knew then — I wanted to do something with it, to create and design.