RAW REFINEMENT

In today’s Amsterdam culture, status is more important than ever. We line up at the newest, trendiest spots, dream of high ceilings, and make ourselves seen in neighborhoods that seem to grow more expensive by the day. We share carefully and en masse on social media to craft and project this it-girl identity. In doing so, a distorted image arises of the environment we actually live in.

The everyday choices we make – coffee from our own kitchen instead of a matcha on the go, home-cooked lunchboxes instead of a styled plate at a restaurant, Core40 on a Saturday morning instead of the rushed Monday morning commute, or wintering in Cape Town versus the gray days at home – often quietly disappear from our stories.

This is where Raw Refinement comes in: it captures the tension between polished appearances and everyday existence, between the vibrant colors of carefully styled outfits and raw surroundings, between the online picture of status and simple reality.