On The Go - Danique - What does home mean to you?

Who

Danique is an Interior & Fashion Stylist and founder of Creative Studio Vert Creation. She lives in Amsterdam and is showing us a few of her favourite places. We got to sit down with her and ask her a few intimate questions. Get to know her as we ask her what home means to her.

How are you?

I'm doing well. I'm quite busy. I really learned during this strange times that I need to give myself more rest, take my time, and open up my eyes and look around me and see what's really happening. So that I can then better focus on my own goals and my own vision. I realise that this calms me more, and that I really don't have to look at what other people are doing. I try and do this as little as possible. It just makes me have a more clear mind and vision of what I really want.

Favourite moment of the day

I think the mornings. I plan everything in the morning and get everything ready so that I can start the day. I think that's probably my favourite moment of the day. It makes me feel at ease and it makes me calm.

What every day things make you happy?

The every day things that make me happy is when the sun is shining, that the weather is nicer. When I go for a walk and you unexpectedly see something or someone you like. And if you've had a good conversation with someone. And also... flowers! Always white flowers though. Yellow flowers don't really make me all that happy [laughter].

[Talking about the pressure of turning 30 in a couple of years]

After you turn 25 then you really matter, you kind of need a plan by then of what you want to do with your life. You can also do nothing, that's also fine but that's just not in me. I give myself a time period to do and accomplish things. I start with a 2-year plan, and after those two years I'd like to be somewhere that I envisioned. This is what calms me down and puts me at ease. But I also understand if this is something that people find really uncomfortable and this is not the way everybody works. And that's totally fine.

But this is something that comes natural to me. I think by myself, OK. I'm 26 now, and I can't really do all these different (side) projects here and there anymore. I really need to make a solid plan for myself where I want to be. But maybe that's also how I've been raised. It really calms me. I've always done it this way: having a plan for something where I want get to and what I see myself doing.

What gets you out of bed?

I'm not really a morning person, but if I really have to, I can easily wake up at 7am. What gets me out of my bed is a really nice breakfast with croissants, bread, fruit. That makes me really happy.

What's your ideal holiday?

My ideal holiday is a combination of both. It needs to be somewhere where you have the best food and restaurants. Where you can really experience the culture, where you also have a beach where you can go to and rest. My ideal holiday is actually the kind of holiday that I grew up going to with my parents: the first week we always do something outdoors and active, and the next week we take things slow. And then after two weeks, I get un easy and want to go back to work [laughter]. Two weeks is a maximum I can go on a holiday haha. I have too many ideas that I need to work out. I always carry around this folder with paper and pencils, and at the end of every holiday it's completely full with (new) ideas I want to tackle when I get home.

The most important things in your life

I think the most important thing in my life, is my inner circle. I don't need a lot of people in my life. But my family and my friends are the most important to me. And I really want them to do well in life. And I have learned that it's really nice to get valued by other people and also the other way around, that you value other people too.

What are your imperfections?

I'm quite impatient, and I can be really direct. And I often leave things too long, and that's not always very practical.

What do you admire of yourself?

I admire that I continue to keep finding out what I really like and what I'm passionate about. And it doesn't come easy, I have had to go through some difficult roads to eventually get there. It's a lot of trial and error. I am studious and I am really open to learn. And I always keep on going, no matter what, I never stop. And then you find out what you're really good at and what you're not good at.

What's the difference between my ideal self and my current self?

The difference between my ideal self and my current self is that I really still have to get to know myself more and give things more time. And that everything has a timing. I'm really trying to learn that everything has a time and a place, but I really need to take the time for this to think like this more. Sometimes you're just in this hustle mode where you have no choice but to go fast. But this is really something that I want to be more: take the time and everything will just follow suit.

See all of Danique's favourite places in our IGTV