JOHAN KRAMER
Johan Kramer is one of the founders of KesselsKramer, Amsterdam, whose work has been featuring in Lürzer's Archive magazine since the mid-90s, from a time when no one outside Holland knew about them. Since leaving his own agency in 2005 to work as a full-time director, Kramer is back with an exciting new project... in a 'shoebox'.
Image: Johan Kramer. At the age of ten he changed his name from Jan Jasper to Johan after his footballing hero, Johan Neeskens.
The Very Small Office of Johan Kramer…
My last ‘real’ office was based in a church in Amsterdam. This was when I was still working at my own communications agency, KesselsKramer. When I started film directing full-time in 2005, I worked all the time in different places. Now, seven years later there’s an office again: a tiny, tiny shoebox specialising in filmmaking and creating little, own worlds for brands and friends - as digital or analogue as people want it to be.
In the old days, there were brands. They worked with advertising agencies, the agencies sent TV scripts to production companies and the production companies sent them to one of their directors. Nowadays, there are brands and the rest of the story is a big mash-up. Collaborations change all the time and this is where The Very Small Office of Johan Kramer likes to come in.
This means I still collaborate with the production companies that represent me worldwide, but sometimes I also like to be more involved again in creation, either directly for a client or together with an agency or a creative collective - plus photography, editorial and online projects.
The shoebox...
We’re not too big. We like to walk barefoot on the beach, daydream and do 2913 other things than work. The office is very small. But hey, that’s also a matter of perspective. If you go really close, it looks pretty big.
When I found this office space, most people warned me it was too small. And some even said it smelled (old shoes?). Others told me there would be no space for growing. But I had a good feeling, a desire to grow just inside, a rent of zero-euros and I found the perfect interior architect: the French designer Damien Poulain. It was important for me was to make this office wide open, because walls create distance and I wanted to avoid meeting rooms, bad coffee machines and fluorescent lighting.
The best piece of creative work around at the moment is...
The great thing about today is that you see something special every week. There’s just too much: Droga5’s Puma Social work (maybe we love this, because we live in a shoebox), Benetton’s “Unhate” project and 101’s “I am the Collection” work for French Connection I like, but it’s also very important to look outside the areas of commercial communication.
This is how KesselsKramer started and the Very Small Office is another evolution in that area - to really look outside the borders and be open to collaborate with everyone. I love Vincent Moon’s filmography, the drawings of Merijn Hos, the Ethical Fashion Village by 44flavours, Berlin, the Common project of the Fearless Cottage, the poster of Canario Tokyo for my latest film ‘The Crisis and Us’, the interior of the new hotel of Brussels agency, Mortierbrigade, and Martin Margiela’s imminent winter collection.
What inspires me is...
It’s definitely the collaborations! Our office is open. We love to collaborate with inspiring brands, creative agencies, designers, digital specialists, TV stations, production companies and many others. We’re small. This means we do just a few projects a year, because growing we only like to do inside our heads.
The festival I will be attending this year is...
We’re are invited to do a lecture at the yearly Birckenstock Orthopädie Festival in the small German town, Vettelschoss, to explain what more you can do with a shoebox than just storing shoes.
The work that got my attention at the last festival I attended is...
At last year’s Tribeca Film Festival, where my ‘Bye Bye Super 8’ project was in competition, I saw Alma Har’el’s ‘Bombay Beach’… a great film.
The best time to be a Creative was...
This is for sure the best time ever to work in the communications industry! The consumer is not only a content curator now, but increasingly a concerned and critical customer, expecting transparency from companies and institutions. The so-called big idea of today is the boring idea of tomorrow. None of the old rules and advertising wisdom applies anymore. This is the time of chaos. You need a mindset that loves instability. Digital is not just a part of a campaign, as some agencies still think - it’s the basis.
The next big thing in the world of advertising will be...
We’re really saying goodbye to campaigns. This was once a great invention of agencies to keep clients for a longer period, but it’s impossible to plan too long ahead these days. Also, because consumers have an average media-memory of two days and a brand loyalty that is just wishful thinking of the average marketing manager.
The great advantage of all this speed is that there’s not much time left for meetings. My Uncle Bob (my agent) came up with a nice business idea: the EUR 25,000 commercial, written and directed by Johan Kramer. It works like this: a brief (max. one A4) is provided by mail and the next step is the delivery of the finished commercial. There are no meetings, there’s no small talk, just great coffee and a film that hopefully makes you happy.
A digital campaign I wish I thought of is...
There’s really too much out there…but to name a few: I like the work of Projector Tokyo very much, especially the ‘Voices of New York’ work for Uniqlo. The Very Small Office also fell in love with Big Stories, Small Towns. A great example of fine digital storytelling, which It focuses on people caring for and creating their own community. We’re also fans of PresentPlus, the studio of Dutch online wizard, Nalden, co-founder of WeTransfer.
In a film, I want to be played by...
Woody Allen.
I admire...
Michel Gondry, because he keeps re-inventing himself and the more he knows about technology, the more analogue he becomes.
My dream collaboration is...
Pep Guardiola, the mastermind behind FC Barcelona. I would love to collaborate with him in a series of experiments: a documentary on his coaching methods, a cooking program of Catalan Food, a real life show in Barca’s dressing room during half time and I will ghost tweet under his name.
In up and coming talent I look for...
It’s all attitude.
A piece of criticism I have received is...
This happens at home at a daily basis. My two daughters are pretty critical. When I show my latest films, they get bored pretty quick. Recently, I have been doing a big art project with Bossie, a green monster from the forest and this was the first time ever they got very excited about my work.
The last piece of music I listened to was...
Mansions on the Moon. What a great band!
Image: Designer, Damien Poulain, holding Johan Kramer's new 'office'.
Video: A clip from 'The Crisis and Us', a film directed by Johan Kramer.
See KesselsKramer’s work featured in Lürzer's Archive (134 campaigns to date) on our online archive.
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