For more than a decade, Bureau Grotesk, founded by Suzanne Hoenderboom (design & identity) and Thomas van Asselt (strategy & code), has been working with cultural institutions on the way they communicate with their audiences. Their studio specialises in branding, campaigns and websites for cultural organisations that surprise and inspire. “We bring target groups into motion,” they say, “with strategy, design and activation.”
Suzanne and Thomas both graduated from WdKA’s Graphic Design department in 2013. Although they joined the programme together in 2009, they collaborated only once throughout their studies. It was during the final year that Suzanne approached Thomas with the idea of starting a studio. “I always wanted to start a bureau,” she explains. “Since the Grafisch Lyceum I dreamed of working in the cultural sector, and I liked the idea of a duo — sharing knowledge, combining strengths. Thomas’s openness and relaxed approach drew me in.” Thomas adds, “Suus is a very hard worker. It’s great to have a bureau with someone like that.”
Their complementary skills became the foundation of Bureau Grotesk. “Thomas is a thinker and I’m a doer,” Suzanne says. “He’s conceptual and broad in skills: programming, filming, photography, animation. I’m focused on design, layouts and organisation. We help each other move forward.” Thomas agrees: “It’s always been about sharing everything, figuring things out together.”
The studio originally launched as Nonstopcollective, an ambitious idea that didn’t quite reflect who they were. After a few years, they renamed themselves Bureau Grotesk. “People thought we were a big collective, but it was just the two of us,” Thomas explains. “We push our clients to make bold choices, so we had to do that ourselves.” Suzanne adds: “The new name felt right, it suited us.”
Cultural work remains their core, from festival identities to museum exhibitions, with occasional books, videos or spatial projects in between. Thomas highlights the exhibition for De Nieuwe Kerk Amsterdam as a standout: “A great team, a big client, and a project that pushed us in new directions.” Suzanne recently loved working on Museumnacht Den Haag and the website for Cello Octet Amsterdam. “Translating an organisation or event into a visual language — that’s the most exciting part.”
Reflecting on their WdKA years, both describe the academy as formative. Suzanne, who came from a practical MBO background, remembers how the environment broadened her perspective: “The workspaces, the teachers, the atmosphere — it opened up how I saw materials and design. You learn to experiment and look differently.” The courses and teachers were highly inspiring, especially those that encouraged thinking beyond conventional frameworks, such as idea development and visual studies. “They pushed us to explore, to question, to try things with our hands.”
Thomas arrived without any fixed idea of what graphic design was. “I was an open, kneadable ball,” he says. “Everything the teachers gave me, I could shape in my own way.” What stayed with him most was learning to locate personal interest within every assignment. “That’s how you keep the work fun and stay motivated.”
Both emphasise the role of their class in shaping them as designers. “There was so much learning from each other,” Suzanne says. “Critical questions, helping one another, exchanging ideas — it was essential.”
Today, Bureau Grotesk continues to work with cultural initiatives that challenge themselves and their audiences by experimenting, pushing boundaries, and seeing art as an essential part of their communication. “Those are the projects,” Suzanne and Thomas say, “that really make us shine.”
