Jan Willem van der Male and Noortje Veerman live in a Tiny House. This Tiny House is a small living area measuring no more than 20m2. Built on a trailer. What differentiates it from a caravan is that the latter is only intended for recreational purposes. A Tiny House is suitable for year-round residence thanks to the good insulation, ventilation and other installations offering the comfort of a complete dwelling. Their house can be found at the Concept House Village in Heijplaat, Rotterdam.
They became aware that living in a larger space automatically results in accumulating many things you never need. The 80/20 rule: You use 80% of your things only 20% of the time and spend 80% of your time using only 20% of your things. A tiny house enables them to change this ratio to a more efficient one.
Decluttering has become a speciality
Noortje explains: Decluttering has become my speciality. What can we build ourselves?
And what are the minimum requirements for a comfortable lifestyle? Am I really attached to these knick-knacks? So many questions and so much to do. While Jan-Willem was busy designing, I was working on the interior and cosiness. I enjoy establishing a network and staying in touch with like-minded people. Learning from their experience, being inspired by their ideas and helping each other along.
Jan Willem adds: We learned a great deal in the process of building our own home, and want to help other people do the same. I have founded the Tiny House Academy, where people can learn how to design and build their own tiny house. By sharing knowledge and experience, we’ll try to raise the innovation to a higher level. Thanks to the network developed in the RDM Innovation Dock, there are plenty of opportunities for this to become reality.