I believe ‘beauty’ has everything to do with history. With all that we have seen, the things we have done, the people we have met. I like the rough and uncompromised feeling of Eastern Europe. Why? Because once there were a bunch of artists and musicians who put that feeling in their work. At the time we linked that to culture and great art, because it was in certain magazines and galleries, and so it became beautiful. The artists from the Dada movement tried really hard to make ugly things. Turns out, it became extremely beautiful simply because the scenery gave it its aesthetics.

If you look at today’s imagery, colors and language we use online, we can determine this was made by a small group of influential image makers from New York: Michael Williams (A Continuous Lean), Scott Schuman (The Sartorialist), Todd Selby (The Selby), Andy Spade (Partners & Spade) among others. These natural materials and tones can be found in the majority of the look-books, advertising, the design movement and architecture. This has all been inspired by the theme ‘heritage’ and colors of New York. Walking through New York City I instantly understood the entire movement.

Things are because we see them, and what we see, and how we see it, depends on the arts that have influenced us. To look at a thing is very different from seeing a thing. One does not see anything until one sees its beauty.

In my profession as a creative director I once found myself in a discussion about what beauty is. My client said that everything in our portfolio was beautiful, but the project we did for them wasn’t. I was convinced we had done a great job but they didn’t agree. Why did we have had such a different perception of what beauty was at that moment?

I can say a lot about form, colour, composition and how to reach certain aesthetics. But most important, and often forgotten, is how it feels, sounds and smells. Beauty is not something superficial for the eye, but a feeling. Take for instance my vintage 1979 Rolex Date Just. The sublime sound is the most beautiful sonance I ever heard, and the weight vs. color vs. sound is in complete harmony. Or the book from 1658 with the leather cover that aged so beautifully that you can just feel all the 353 years in it. That is beauty!

One of my inspirators is Kenya Hara (creative director Muji). In his book ‘Designing Design’ he describes that design is about creating a place to support the subject/object/concept. I believe that is one of the most important things to keep in mind when working towards something beautiful. At Tenue de Nîmes (a denim inspired boutique in Amsterdam) we even thought about how the feeling of the hangtags would correspond with the feeling of the walls, the fabrics, the colours…, with everything. It is balanced, almost Zen. A place where everything is characterized by that simple old fabric: denim.

A new city is always beautiful. It’s all about a new experience, the unknown… it’s thrilling! It’s much harder to find the beauty in your own city. So, just look up, at the roofs of the buildings, the structures of the walls, the shadows of the trees and the sun playing through the leafs. As fashion designer Paul Smith mentioned so catching: “You can find inspiration in everything, and if you can’t, look again.” Don’t think you already saw it, stay hungry, naive and keep your eyes wide open!

Joachim Baan is creative director and the founder of Anothercompany (a creative company who serves a wide range of clients in the art, fashion and communication industry), Anothersomething (a weblog reporting the beauty of cultures) and creative director and partner at Tenue de Nîmes (a denim inspired boutique in Amsterdam).