Im Rahmen der seit einem knappen Jahr in der Zurmöbelfabrik stattfindenden Veranstaltungsreihe "Belgique c’est chique" steht die Nacht des 17.9.08 ganz im Zeichen der Stadt Antwerpen: Karo + Band aus Antwerpen spielen live, Platten legt Daniel.fx auf, der auch seine Würzeln dort hat.
Daneben gibt es Kurzfilme aus der und über die Stadt… und natürlich das wichtigste für eine gelungene Belgier-Party überhaupt: leckere Waffeln und ausschließlich belgisches Bier in allen möglichen Geschmacksrichtungen (zehn verschiedene Sorten). Da sollte doch nun wirklich für jeden etwas dabei sein…

http://myspace.com/belgiquecestchique
http://myspace.com/karolienvanransbeeck
http://myspace.com/myspacedanielfx

So, with all its ups and downs, 2007 turned out to be quite a tumultuous year... with lots of positive changes sprinkled in. Here are the nicest things that happened last year:

• A partner and I founded a company called "AUGUSTFIRST". It all began last year in August, and the focus is on Joomla projects.


• "Belgique, c'est chique" is the latest addition to the Berlin nightscape. Under this name, Henri Banks and I started a monthly event in the Zurmöbelfabrik (Berlin). Our goal is to introduce the town to the pleasures of Belgian culture in all its forms: movies, music... and naturally beer (only Belgian beers are served!) Are you a Belgian DJ or musician looking for a gig? Please contact us!
  

These two events also show how the focus of this website will change. AUGUSTFIRST will support web-related projects for various clients. For its part, vankersavond.com is focused on creative aspects (pictures and events).

And what does 2008 hold in store? Everything started up perfectly with a trip to Mali and a visit to the Festival au desert near Timbuktu. Can't get much farther away than that. Curious? Here are some pictures.

A final note... and a hot tip. The 2008 mangaparty is currently being planned. The date is the 8th of March. Come and experience Japanese artistry in all its facets. Hope to see you there! More infos on the website

I've just returned from Barcelona where I assisted Steve and Rilla from Rinzen who were art directing a Puma photo shoot. My task was to provide support while preparing and organising the props for the outdoor shoot.
It was a nice experience to be part of a professional photo shoot, which allowed me a glimpse into another world. I also become acquainted with
some interesting people. Not to mention improving my Spanish a bit (which was basically at level zero before the shoot).

Last week, the legendary Mangaparty took place, sweeping through the night like a hurricane. I'm slowly assessing the "damages": lots of satisfied party people, a very cool location, great music… what more could you have asked for? A special thanks to everyone that helped out and of course, all those that were present!
Photos can be found in the photo gallery.
Now I have to concentrate on work and the future again; a few interesting projects are coming up which I will be reporting on soon!

After two and a half years, it's time once again for a Mangaparty. It will take place on March 10th in the Zurmoebelfabrik (Berlin).
I'm looking forward to finally being able to party once again with friends, current colleagues and ex-colleagues!
You'll find more information - as well as some impressions from previous parties - at mangaparty.com.
And… respect again to Steve (RINZEN) for the design!

Just in time for Christmas, the website of the Australian art and design collective RINZEN has been redesigned and relaunched. The new site - which includes a comprehensive overview of the collective's work from the last 6 years - can now be navigated conveniently with the help of arrow keys.
Take a break from the holiday stress and enjoy a few minutes on the site!

And... to usher in the new year, I've had t-shirts printed up to thank friends and clients for their support in 2006. The illustration is by Steve (RINZEN).

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!

I've just come back from a 4-week trip across China. It was an unforgettable experience with thousands of impressions and adventures. You can find some photos here.
It was nice to leave the computer behind for a while and gain a little distance - and perspective - on everything. Now I'm back with renewed energy and fresh ideas.

My website has received a facelift just in time for the Pictoplasma Conference. Yannick Hervy offered me valuable support with the redesign – merci mon grand!
After the conference, I will be enjoying a break and will retreat for a few weeks. Until then...

The project "Auktionmaster" has been another commission from Channeladvisor.
My contribution was programming the templates with XHTML and CSS based on the W3C standard.

Despite the heat and the wonderful weather in Berlin, work is continuing at a fevered pace ;)
Yesterday, www.glueckswerk.com went online with a new look and feel.
In addition to a new design, the website needed to be made more accessible. New areas, such as the press area, were also added.

Beyond this, 2 large redesign projects commissioned by I-D Media have gone online:
- The Toshiba Computer Systems Support Forum
http://forums.computers.toshiba-europe.com/
- Redesign of the notebook and option area of the Toshiba Computer Systems website
http://computers.toshiba-europe.com/
In both projects, I was responsible for the HTML template programming and functioned as the interface between management and technology departments.

This week was a bit more relaxed in terms of work, allowing me enough time to help out in the preparations for the "RINZEN pres. IN THE MILKY NIGHT" exhibit.
The opening took place on May 20th and the exhibition will run until June 10th.
To gain a better impression, here are a few photos...

Author and journalist Michael Klonovsky was interested in having his own website. The entire project, from the initial telephone call to final delivery, took just 4 weeks - showing how good and uncomplicated a collaboration can be.
I took over the complete realisation of the website: from consulting through design to programming. We opted for Joomla as the web content management system.

A initial project for ChannelAdvisor is now online: channeladvisorpro.co.uk.
The design was completed by bossegrafix.de, and my contribution was the programming of the XHTML/CSS templates.

The Red Bull "Stairway to Heaven" event will take place for the second time this year. For this reason, the website is online once again for a few months. By and large, not much has changed: the same CMS and similar structure with a few small design modifications. I was responsible for project coordination, the design changes, programming and entry of the texts.
Calling out to all acrobats: registration runs until April 3rd!

... is often left to gather dust in the corner. But for 2006, I've planned some new highlights. I'm not only trying to keep the "News" area up-to-date, but have just redesigned the logo as well as some smaller design features.
What's more, the site is now bilingual, featuring English and German pages.
For this project, I'd like to take a moment to compliment 2 partners: Steffi Trigoudis, who is responsible for proofreading the German pages (www.lingoform.com), and Todd Dennie, who takes care of the English translations.
Feedback on the website is always welcome!

Under commission of Bader Druck, I worked on a project overhauling the website abbi.de. The site was originally programmed in ASP, but the client wanted a more flexible administration tool to update and manage job listings more conveniently. For the job, we utilised a php - MySQL solution.

The emerging Hamburg agency fxlab booked me for a few days. During this time period, I was asked to provide employees with a deeper insight into OS Commerce, based on a concrete project.
Topics included installation of the shop, structural setup of OS Commerce, shop configuration, advantages and disadvantages of the system, ordering procedures, interesting components, etc.

The first project of 2006 was a re-design for kultur.de, with the site also switching from Mambo 4.5.2. to Joomla 1.0. The subtle design was completed by fuel-berlin.
And, as I reported earlier, there are several interesting projects lined up for 2006. But - as is so often the case with private projects - the timeline from concept to realization is always longer than initially planned...
At an rate, I am looking forward to the new year!

From October on, I will be freelancing once again for I-D Media. I'll be responsible for programming the HTML templates for one of their main clients. In addition to this, some other interesting private projects are happening - more concrete news on these will be coming soon.

Another e-commerce project went online today: www.glueckswerk.com. It's an osCommerce project again, but this time featuring a nice design, which was made by micadesign.

I've supported ElektroRoyal GbR in the realization of their new project: kultur.de
This website is based on Mambo, so I undertook the template programming, built the structure of the site and taught them how to use this tool.

I've just finished 2 private projects:
. rsvwernerotto.de
. nordgruppe-berlin.de
Both are websites that deal with cycling (my favorite sport at the moment!) and
both have been realized with Mambo (my favorite CMS at the moment ;).

I'm busy relaunching my website - so come back in a short time for a view of my latest projects.

I've just returned from a relaxed 2 week job in Davos (Switzerland), which I completed for the AO Foundation.
I was contracted to program HTML/CSS templates.

- liness.net (installing a newsletter tool, in co-operation with rinzen.com)
- abbi.de (HTML/ASP programming, in co-operation with Bader Druck)
- oldtimeragent.com (concept, layout, programming)

At the moment, I am busy with different projects: I've completed some updates/changes on the Lohen & Lomax website and programmed the new website for kristinamaria.com.

RSV Werner Otto is a fast-growing and successful Berlin cycling club. This year, 4 of their sportsmen will compete for spots on the Olympic team. I redesigned their website, together with their web admin.

We developed a photo gallery for our bike training group "Nordgruppe Berlin" - which is visited by professionals and ex-professionals.
Later on, a history section will contain more information about the glory days of some of our training mates.

This nice shop is also based on osCommerce which features an open source ecommerce system. Design by fuel.

It's finally done, enjoy it! :)

In co-operation with ElektroRoyal GbR, I completed a platform for ordering "digital advertising surfaces". For this project, we used osCommerce.

Another Berlin network, for which I programmed the website.

For I-D Media, I've updated the products in the TSV 1860 shop (a Munich football team). Additionally, in collaboration with the I-D Media team, I updated the shop version. See www.tsv1860.de/shop

After having worked in a multimedia agency for 5 and a half years, I've started working as a freelancer. My specialty is open source commerce solutions.

We did it! Have a look at wecombine.net and find out more about us!

Together with some ex-colleagues, I've been working on starting up a network called 'wecombine'. Our homepage will be online soon.