Co-owner of Maison Sucre Luxury Interiors, Sharon Streuper Kievits, tells MASTERS how she went from her job as an event organizer and artist supervisor to interior design and that Maison Sucre has a style all its own. "We have a unique collection, you won't find anything like it anywhere else. "Text: Bart-Jan Brouwer | Online Editor: Natasha Hendriks
Image: John van Helvert
"I did event organization and artist supervision for a while, and always joked that my life was 'one big party.' Every weekend I was busy and came home late. After five or six years, I wanted something different. Interior design company Sugar Garden came my way through the grapevine. I wrote an open application and was invited for an interview. I immediately had such a great click with the owner, Annemiek Bakker! That's how I got into the business. And I immediately felt like a fish in the water. I discovered a part of me that I didn't know I had in me. I started there in 2004. At one point Annemiek Bakker was going to retire - she was seventy plus - to clear the way for her son Cees, who was to succeed her. But he died suddenly. That made the future uncertain. I was talking about that with my colleague Rob van Velzen. Naturally, the question came, "How would you feel about... together? It went very naturally. In the year after Cees passed away, Annemiek, Rob and I finished all the projects very neatly, and in the background Rob and I started building our own company, Maison Sucre. The name is a tribute to our school of learning and to Annemiek."
"Maison Sucre has such a unique style. We really like classical details, but incorporate them into interiors in a modern way. That leads to very nice combinations of different shapes. Nobody gets happy with square block boxes, people like classical elements. This special combination of styles together has become a style in itself, the Maison Sucre style. We go to a lot of fairs. A fair is already successful for us if we come back with one beautiful object, that one item that fits our style. The result is that we have a unique collection, something you can't find anywhere else. People are proud to be our customers, some even make selfies under the logo on the facade. Our clientele consists of people who work hard, mostly entrepreneurs who want to come home after a busy day in a cozy, comfortable setting to relax with their families amidst beautiful things. End users, architects, interior designers: everyone is welcome here. On Fridays and Saturdays our showroom in Rotterdam is freely accessible for inspiration, during the week we work by appointment and really sit down with interested parties. Architects build a house, but don't really look at it from the point of view of living. That's what I do. I walk through the floor plan of the house with the client and tell all visually how every corner, every room can look."
"Normally we furnish an entire house in one day. And then I also style it completely. The customer leaves an empty house and ends up in a total metamorphosis the next day. That's what I love about this, it's always a kind of holiday when we come. Due to corona, the supply of supplies and fabrics slowed down last year. That did pose a challenge. We had some big projects, trying to get room by room done. We had red ears from calling and chasing. Of course, we notice that people want to make their homes cozy in this day and age because they are cocooning more at home. They are doing plenty of restyling. And we actually do no different: our style never stands still, we are constantly expanding and developing our collection. In this we are guided in part by customer demand. Shar, listen: I really like that, but can't we...? Of course we can, I say, because we make everything to measure. Then I start looking. And if I don't find it, I start designing it myself. I make the sketches, Rob works them out - he's more of the technology. Own design is increasingly getting the upper hand in our collection. By translating the customer's wishes, items arise that are sometimes so nice that we add them to the collection. That's how we evolve. We do bedrooms, television rooms, sitting rooms, bathrooms, dining rooms, work rooms... The other day a customer came and asked, 'Do you have a kitchen too?' So we are now developing a Maison Sucre kitchen in collaboration with Tieleman Keukens. You can customize it, for example with bronze-colored fittings, bar stools, nice lighting and beautiful curtains. We will present the kitchen in early 2021. Then we will be complete and you can furnish an entire house with Maison Sucre!"
© 2024 MASTERS EXPO. All rights reserved.
