Merel Witteman

Since it’s (almost) impossible to write something about yourself, I asked for help. Here a few words about me, by Kara Fraser: 

It is possible that Merel Witteman sources her creative power from her golden tresses, but it is far more likely that it comes from a deeper, darker, smellier, slimier place, somewhere beyond her hair follicles. In a time where society is obsessed with the execution and often forgets the substance behind it Merel Witteman is here to stand up for the idea and isn’t afraid to give people what they think they don’t want. Unlike many art and design devotees pretty isn’t necessarily what pleases this young creative who is a full time art-director at KesselsKramer and one half of the creative duo Met/Zonder studio. Don’t judge this book by its pretty cover, Merel is not afraid to get her hands or her ideas a little dirty. Her work is simple, clear and inevitable humourous, preferably with a cheeky wink and is undoubtedly a reflection of someone who sees the world from a perspective most people have steered clear of. Merel has an ability to see the creative potential in an idea and then dig beyond that; always looking for the rough edges and dirty little secrets hiding in a sea of ‘perfection’.

Currently I am working as an art director at KesselsKramer, Amsterdam. Most of the time I work together with my creative partner in crime: Maartje Slijpen. I like coming up with ideas and finding the best shape, material and media to bring those ideas to life. Besides working together with different artists, I also like to film, design and built projects myself.

How Hard Can it Be?
The students of Koning Willem I College seem to have some difficulties throwing away their rubbish. The evidence of this is littered all over campus. So we presented them with a series of new rubbish bins and a challenge. Because really, throwing away your rubbish in the bin, how hard can it be?

The campaign features seven custom bins, posters and 5 videos that are used around the school campus.

Raving In EKKO
EKKO is an alternative pop-podium in Utrecht that is not afraid to do things differently. We translated this into a campaign and visualized synonyms of things you can do there: drink- and dance terms. We accompanied the visualized words with the line ‘Kom Anders…’ (Come… in a different way). The end result consists of nine different synonym-situations in both film and photography. This one is about about a rave(n).

Daarom Pindakaas (Why Not Peanut Butter)?
Daarom Pindakaas (translated as: Why Not Peanutbutter) is a fictional peanut-butter brand, founded in 2013. This is one of the commercials showing how the peanut butter is NOT made.