I think a better world starts with me.
I think it is important that we do not throw away usable things, that we use raw materials consciously and that we treat the earth with care.
My name is Gert jan and I am the man behind the TRATAC products.
My passion is creating, putting my golden hands to work to make beautiful things. I love working with wood and metal, the smell of the wood, the howling of the grinder, the crackling of the welding machine, turning a nice screw in the wood to get two materials together. Looking for the right piece of metal with the right piece of wood, to shape it exactly so that it is “right”. I am meticulous and perfectionist, have an eye for detail and like to make something beautiful out of ordinary things.
In the forest I am always looking for a nice piece of wood, it must have been alive and dead and already well weathered by the sun and rain. I’ve been collecting old, discarded, useful stuff all my life, the large TRATAC warehouse is full of stuff to make beautiful new utensils. That’s why I call it (re)use art.
The products I make must look lived in, the materials must already have a life behind them, only then will my work come to life.
It is very important to me to try to use only old materials, found in the garbage, given from acquaintances, found in the woods or bought at the thrift store. Very occasionally I allow myself to be tempted to add something new to make the object a little more beautiful or if there is really no other way.
View the artworks. click here