Jurianne Matter’s products offer “time to use your hands” even before they become something “to display at home.” Paper bouquets and trees, boats carrying wishes. Rather than the finished object taking center stage, it feels as if the act of making itself gently clarifies the contours of everyday life.
Jurianne’s Path
Jurianne studied interior design in Amsterdam and built her experience as a stylist at IKEA. In 2008, she launched her own design studio under her name, “Jurianne Matter.” Her minimal yet poetic home accessories have been stocked by museum shops and interior stores in more than 30 countries, and she is said to still be traveling around the world.
Her work is not limited to her own brand. She moves across contexts such as pattern design, package design, and styling, and also collaborates with companies. Her activities span a wide range—for example, designing garden tools for ARTIS, the Netherlands’ oldest zoo (Royal Zoo) in Amsterdam, as well as creating bag designs and gift wrap designs and providing styling for children’s brands.
Morning Walks, and Nature’s Color Palette
Nature sits at the spine of her making. For years, she has kept the habit of a morning walk—pulling on her hiking shoes with the sunrise and stepping into the nature reserve just behind her home. As the weather, her mood, and the seasons change from day to day, she takes in the plants and animals she meets along the way, building a color palette in her mind as she walks. A spiderweb dressed in morning dew. The in-between hues of night and morning emerging through fog. Birds flying in formation. She speaks of beauty in nature as something like nourishment.
Designing Quietness That Doesn’t Take Over a Room
That “nourishment” is translated into the presence of her products. The lines never insist too strongly. The range of colors—and their intensity—is held back, so the pieces don’t steal the scene when placed in a space. That is why they seem to settle in wherever you put them, and can look as though they have been there for a long time.
Some people even feel they suit a Japanese-style room as well, and perhaps that comes from this careful design of quietness. Even in the works she has provided for our shop, you can sense it: motifs such as bean pods, flower spikes, birds, and butterflies are composed with cut-paper-like planes and gentle breathing room. The colors are bright, yet never noisy. As you look, it can feel as though only the trace of a passing breeze remains—lightening the air of the room, almost without you noticing.
Collaboration work with our store
Why the Wishing Boat Was Born
Another essential part of Jurianne’s story is the “wishing boat.” During a period when several losses overlapped, her family once had the experience of setting a boat afloat, carrying their thoughts for someone dear. Behind that moment, she says, was the pain of losing her best friend and her friend’s mother to a tsunami.
As an anniversary of their passing approached, the family talked about how they might offer their feelings. Then the youngest child said, “A tsunami is water… so maybe we could use a boat.” Jurianne wrote short messages along the curve of the boat’s rail and gently entrusted their thoughts to it, letting it drift down the river. It was not something meant to be shown to others, but a small ritual for carrying what they felt.
She has spoken of how, from that experience, she came to feel, “This needs to be shared with the world.” What matters here is that the boat did not begin as a “product idea.” It began as a way to carry feelings that could not be put into words. Rather than an object made simply to decorate, it enters daily life as a quiet act—something that softly touches milestones and memory. That is why her products can seem to hold a trace of silent prayer.
What “Beautiful” Means to Her
When she speaks of something as “beautiful,” it doesn’t end with appearance. Is the material environmentally considered? Is it made with care? Can anyone enjoy it and bring it into form without anxiety? She is said to release only what she can truly agree is “beautiful”—taking in the time spent making, the space where it will be displayed, and even its impact on the future.
Jurianne once came across a line in a book: “If you want to read a certain book, you must write it yourself.” When I heard this, it might sound a little grand, but my own heart trembled.
Alongside her words—“a love for beautiful things, making beautiful things, and the fact that they don’t necessarily have to be practical”—it has had a powerful influence on how I think about the work I do now.
A Kindness Built Into Being Able to Make It
Her DIY kits feel kind because the path to completion is designed. Even if you want to make flowers yourself, it doesn’t mean you want to design everything from zero. The folds are already there; assemble it, and a form appears. What you find is not difficulty, but a sense of accomplishment.
The experience of “I made this myself” changes the texture of daily life. It slips quietly into the gaps between busy moments, and gently tunes the rhythm of living—just a little.
A Small Prompt to Pause
Modern life is saturated with information, and it’s easy to be swept along by speed. That is exactly why reclaiming time to make can matter. Her products are not only for decorating a room. In the flow of everyday days, they quietly stay close as a small prompt—inviting you to pause for a moment, steady your feelings, and look again at what’s around you.
Julian's work can be found here
