Jesse van den Berg

I have always had a passion for working with my hands. I also like the idea of giving new life to old things. As a child, I used to build cars and helicopters from old CD players. I was very much in my element then. Around my 26th year of life, I rediscovered this creativity.

I often make things myself instead of buying them. One day my partner wanted a lamp in a nice bottle and I told her I could make it myself. My father is a pharmacist and still had some pharmacy bottles. I asked him for a mouth-blown one with an old cork and made my first lamp from it. I soon received many positive reactions, including from the owner of a shop in Amsterdam who had been looking for original lamps for some time. I built twelve lamps, showed them to her and she bought nine. A week later I registered at the Chamber of Commerce: Lichtbeurs was born.

What I like most about this work is the creative process that occurs when I make customised lamps for a customer. Every lamp is different and that keeps the work interesting. The personal contact with the customer is also great.

Now, almost five years later, it has become a serious business with over 300 projects throughout the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg and England.

Usually I work alone, but recently I've been getting help making various ceiling panels and frames for the custom-made work from Corstiaan, a furniture maker at Houtwaard and Justus, interior decorator at Artisans both in Laren. Furthermore, I sometimes work together with Harald, a fellow designer at Lumedesign in Soest.

Jesse van den Berg, founder of Lichtbeurs, lives in Bussum and works in Hilversum.