And that's how it all began
Reinoud van Bemmelen and Carsten Langediers, the founders of De Beeldhouwwinkel and bildhau, have known each other for ages and have already set up one or two projects together. It all started with a student house that they built and renovated together in The Hague.
From personal use to commercial business: Reinoud van Bemmelen
Reinoud van Bemmelen studied sculpture and is an experienced sculpture lecturer. In between, however, he was also an employee of Triodos, a Dutch bank for ethical investment. As a work teacher at a Waldorf school in the Netherlands, Reinoud van Bemmelen was always faced with the question of where he could get good tools, marble and alabaster for sculpting stone. And so, in the mid-90s, he got into his car for the first time and drove to Italy and Spain to visit tool factories and quarries and to supply himself with good material. Within a very short time, colleagues, friends and acquaintances gave him their material requests and quickly his studio became a small shop - De Beeldhouwwinkel in The Hague had come into being.
The foundation of bildhau in Germany: Carsten Langediers
Carsten Langediers came to bildhau through working with wood: his love of craftsmanship and design initially led him to become a master carpenter. His concern was to develop well-crafted products that appeal to the senses of the user, to perceive the beauty of the materiality and to allow a creative approach. In the process, he has always been moved by the question of what ultimately nourishes people more: buying beautiful things or making them oneself? In 2004, he made the decision and founded bildhau in Germany together with Reinoud van Bemmelen to provide all do-it-yourselfers with good tools and high-quality sculptural materials for their projects.
More than 20 years of experience in trading sculpting supplies
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Meanwhile, bildhau in Germany and De Beeldhouwwinkel in the Netherlands have been established specialist trade shops for sculpting supplies for many years. The teams have grown over time, as has the range of tools and materials. Stone sculpting and wood sculpting have now been joined by modelling, moulding and casting, as well as ceramics and bronze casting.