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Cabin in the woods
Living in the heart of the forest is a dream many share. Writer Gisele Azad and designer Rudmer van Hulzen decided to make it their reality. Three and a half years ago, they traded the city for the Drentsche Aa, one of the largest national parks in the Netherlands. Here, they built a cabin and exchanged the pace and consumerism of urban life for a quieter existence, closer to nature. Images of their life in the woods soon found an audience far beyond their own surroundings, going viral on social media.
“I’ve spent my entire life in the city,” Gisele recalls. “I lived in Tehran until I was four. When my family fled to the Netherlands, we settled in social housing in the city. My parents always told me that the city was where you needed to be, because that’s where the good jobs were. Living in the Dutch countryside simply never occurred to me. When I told my mother we were planning to move, she couldn’t understand it.”
A return to nature
For Rudmer, the move felt less like a departure and more like a homecoming. He grew up among the meadows of Friesland, in the north of the Netherlands, and the landscape reminds him of the freedom of his childhood. “As a child, I spent a lot of time outdoors, building huts and stuff. That same sense of freedom is coming back to me here.” Gisele has noticed the change, too. “Since we moved here, he’s become much more playful. He’s always outside, carrying logs and branches around. I sometimes have to call him in for dinner like a mother calling her child.”
A space to create
When Gisele and Rudmer first arrived, the cabin had yet to be built. Their home was a modest 1950s holiday cottage of barely seventy square metres. And thus, in the garden, an old log cabin made way for a new workspace. “The studio has two separate spaces, one for Gisele and one for me. It’s very simple, built from honest materials such as glass, wood and concrete. We reused the foundations of the old log cabin for one part of the building, while Gisele’s workspace stands on short stilts.” On a sunny day, Gisele slides open the window and settles down with her favourite coffee mug, her feet dangling in the open air.
Objects with meaning
“We’ve furnished the cabin very differently from our home in the city,” Rudmer explains. “We didn’t bring much furniture with us. Instead, we chose natural materials that grow more beautiful with age.” For Gisele, this approach reflects a deeper shift. “I’ve moved house so many times throughout my life, usually buying things from second-hand shops. Now, for the first time, I truly feel at home. You can see that in the objects around me. Everything here has a reason to be here; each piece adds something to the space.” The lamp by Stefan Gross is a case in point. “It’s very pure in its design and brings a certain softness to the room.” Her favourite piece in the studio is a vase from Kris Van Assche’s Josephine collection. “Its more feminine, fluid silhouette creates a subtle contrast with the cabin’s predominantly straight lines.”
Gathering around the table
Despite living surrounded by nature, Gisele and Rudmer love entertaining friends. They usually invite guests over for lunch, leaving time for a walk in the woods afterwards. When setting the table, the couple favours simplicity. “Both in terms of tableware and food,” Gisele explains. “We use timeless tableware, such as Sergio Herman’s Silhouette collection. We complement the understated table setting with intriguing details, like the shell-shaped bottle opener by Wouters & Hendrix.”
Finding balance in simplicity
The couple’s preference for delicate objects in elegant materials, such as fine glass and porcelain, is immediately apparent. The understated decorations, featuring small vases holding just a few flowers, reinforce this sense of simplicity. “I suspect it stems from an intuitive sense of balance,” Gisele explains. “We installed large windows throughout our studio, which act as a kind of canvas onto which the forest is painted. Our interior needs to complement that view, not compete with it. The restraint indoors therefore stands in contrast to the abundance of nature outside.”
The rythm of slow living
Life here unfolds largely outdoors. Mornings begin with breakfast at the picnic table, followed by coffee poured into a metal travel mug. Indoors, Gisele reaches for the espresso cups and coffee mugs from Sergio Herman’s Silhouette collection, while Rudmer invariably chooses a wooden tea cup from Utilized Objects’ Collage collection. “We do everything a little more slowly here,” Gisele says. “Also walking has become part of my daily life. My usual route is ten kilometres, although I have to admit I don’t manage to walk it every day.” Rudmer, meanwhile, has already embarked on his next project: a wooden deck beside the cabin. “Even when I’m drinking coffee, I’m walking around outside,” he says. For him, being occupied comes naturally. There is always something to make, build or explore.
