Sebastiaan Veldhuisen pursuing barefoot adventures on the island of Curacao.
Ever since I was 12 years old – when I moved from the Caribbean to the chilly, wet Netherlands – I have been exploring ways to stay warm in winter, from clothes to innovative heating solutions. Now, over 30 years later, I can conclude that cold is not just an 'evil force' to overcome and that warmth is more than a heating system that can be turned up.
My quest for warmth has led me along a path of many ideas, all aiming to find ways to retrieve that comforting feeling I had as a child when walking barefoot on the sand and stones of the tropical island of Curaçao.
As an architect, I designed and developed sustainable and affordable solutions for heating with low temperature stone mass heaters. Later as a consultant, I helped other architects and planners apply sustainable solutions. Finally, I started working for an insulation manufacturer in Denmark where I developed knowledge on energy efficiency and sustainability. It was only then that I realized how ironic my personal history was becoming.
All those years, this tropical boy had only been in search of lost warmth as he turned silly ideas into working solutions…
Click 'INDEPTH' to read more from Sebastiaan Veldhuisen, who represents ROCKWOOL International and qenep architecture and product design