Support Your Local
I am sure You’ve heard about this movement.
Probably mostly in the context of food markets, native clothing companies, or small cafes that have a unique vibe. A movement to help smaller enterprises in a market full of huge corporations. What are the benefits for all society in any given country, city, or even neighborhood if we go more local? Let’s talk about obvious and less obvious pros! What came first into my mind is that :
Locals tend to care more.
Maybe it is a little generalization, let’s not put everybody into one bag, but to some degree it might be true. If You live somewhere, usually You try to make that space as nice, clean, safe and friendly as possible, because it directly impacts Your life and Your community. You tend to think for a long term, because it is Your home, a place where most of Your life is and will be concentrated.
“I will pick up this trash today, because tomorrow I will be here again. I want not only myself, but also for future generations to have a nice living here, so I need to not only preserve what it is here now, but ideally improve it. Fix what is broken and keep the things that work perfectly”.
Local means unique.
This is something I love about Amsterdam. The amount of independent stores, cafes, hotels, restaurants, bookstores, flower shops, markets to name a few is AMAZING! Every single owner of such an enterprise creates the wonderful atmosphere of this city. If You take a walk in the early morning, You will see that people working there are cleaning the sidewalk in front of the entrance, they take care of flowers, open doors of their cafes to let the smell of fresh coffee, or pastry run into Your nose and wake You up! Next time when You go to the old town, please take a closer look at the beauty of window shops. Especially those from older buildings. It feels like You are walking in some other world, like You found Diagon Alley, but in reality.
Local means characteristic.
Porcelain from Delft, Canal Houses from Amsterdam, flowers from all over the Netherlands, Moomins from Finland, Blues from Louisiana. Ok, it’s enough examples, You know what I mean. All those things, and muuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuch more, are characteristic to a specific region, sometimes a period in history. It is so obvious where they came from, that we don’t even think about it anymore. With artists it’s the same – some of them are simply one of a kind – You don’t need to read who’s that, You just know. Natalie from Vadelma Tattoo Studio is in my opinion such an artist. You can see millions of tattoos, and somehow her projects always stand out. They have that special vibe, developed by years of drawing.
Finally, Locals contribute to society by paying taxes and supporting other locals.
It is a well known fact that around 50% of the price of all products and services are taken by taxation. It goes for health care, schools, roads, transportation and so on. If You think about the concept of taxes and how people from one country, even if they don’t know each other, agreed to share some of their income for the overall good, it is great. Of course, it is not perfect, and for sure it could be distributed better, but after living in quite a few European countries, the Netherlands is so far my favorite. You really see that here life is good, and it is thanks to the people working and living here. And indeed locals earn locally and spend locally too – helping the whole country to grow. Maybe this point is a little too complex to cover the nuances of it in such a short post, even a book is not enough. What about import, export, foreign trade and all the economics? But this is a blog about art, so maybe let’s skip it for now.
Did I encourage You to go even more local? Or Are You already a person aware of those dependencies?
Even though me and Natalie live in the Netherlands only a while, we feel more and more like locals. Our contribution to society is by creating the most beautiful tattoos, art prints and customer service. To give the people living here and visitors something special, a real piece of art and lovely memories of a friendly tattoo studio. The more happy faces – the more happy faces 🙂
Much love,
Simon
“Tattoos that matter – for people who care”
I am sure You’ve heard about this movement.
Probably mostly in the context of food markets, native clothing companies, or small cafes that have a unique vibe. A movement to help smaller enterprises in a market full of huge corporations. What are the benefits for all society in any given country, city, or even neighborhood if we go more local? Let’s talk about obvious and less obvious pros! What came first into my mind is that :
Locals tend to care more.
Maybe it is a little generalization, let’s not put everybody into one bag, but to some degree it might be true. If You live somewhere, usually You try to make that space as nice, clean, safe and friendly as possible, because it directly impacts Your life and Your community. You tend to think for a long term, because it is Your home, a place where most of Your life is and will be concentrated.
“I will pick up this trash today, because tomorrow I will be here again. I want not only myself, but also for future generations to have a nice living here, so I need to not only preserve what it is here now, but ideally improve it. Fix what is broken and keep the things that work perfectly”.
Local means unique.
This is something I love about Amsterdam. The amount of independent stores, cafes, hotels, restaurants, bookstores, flower shops, markets to name a few is AMAZING! Every single owner of such an enterprise creates the wonderful atmosphere of this city. If You take a walk in the early morning, You will see that people working there are cleaning the sidewalk in front of the entrance, they take care of flowers, open doors of their cafes to let the smell of fresh coffee, or pastry run into Your nose and wake You up! Next time when You go to the old town, please take a closer look at the beauty of window shops. Especially those from older buildings. It feels like You are walking in some other world, like You found Diagon Alley, but in reality.
Local means characteristic.
Porcelain from Delft, Canal Houses from Amsterdam, flowers from all over the Netherlands, Moomins from Finland, Blues from Louisiana. Ok, it’s enough examples, You know what I mean. All those things, and muuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuch more, are characteristic to a specific region, sometimes a period in history. It is so obvious where they came from, that we don’t even think about it anymore. With artists it’s the same – some of them are simply one of a kind – You don’t need to read who’s that, You just know. Natalie from Vadelma Tattoo Studio is in my opinion such an artist. You can see millions of tattoos, and somehow her projects always stand out. They have that special vibe, developed by years of drawing.
Finally, Locals contribute to society by paying taxes and supporting other locals.
It is a well known fact that around 50% of the price of all products and services are taken by taxation. It goes for health care, schools, roads, transportation and so on. If You think about the concept of taxes and how people from one country, even if they don’t know each other, agreed to share some of their income for the overall good, it is great. Of course, it is not perfect, and for sure it could be distributed better, but after living in quite a few European countries, the Netherlands is so far my favorite. You really see that here life is good, and it is thanks to the people working and living here. And indeed locals earn locally and spend locally too – helping the whole country to grow. Maybe this point is a little too complex to cover the nuances of it in such a short post, even a book is not enough. What about import, export, foreign trade and all the economics? But this is a blog about art, so maybe let’s skip it for now.
Did I encourage You to go even more local? Or Are You already a person aware of those dependencies?
Even though me and Natalie live in the Netherlands only a while, we feel more and more like locals. Our contribution to society is by creating the most beautiful tattoos, art prints and customer service. To give the people living here and visitors something special, a real piece of art and lovely memories of a friendly tattoo studio. The more happy faces – the more happy faces 🙂
Much love,
Simon
“Tattoos that matter – for people who care”
