With over 25 years of textile design experience, Astrid ultimately discovered the keys to consistently create colorful designs that look great AND sell well. After we started using this 'system', our design sales doubled within one year, while greatly improving the results of our clients. We created tools to realize a habit of success.
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then is not an act, but a habit” (Aristoteles)
Astrid experienced first hand how difficult it can be to start (and stay happy & healthy) in a design job. Creatives in fashion and home product design are under constant pressure for better results. It's a battle to always be inspired and update and innovate product design. Astrid loves to make design work more comfortable and wants you to have fun working in design.
As a daughter of an architect, Astrid enjoyed looking at her father's work and discussing the challenges he faced. After graduating from Grammar school (Beta), she hesitated between Information Technology and Art School. Her uncle, who was an inventor and engineer with IBM and living in New York, advised her to go to....Art School!
'Finally, a collection you can wear!' was the comment of a journalist who saw the fashion collection she made for her graduation. Creating great-looking products that people really want, has become Astrid's goal throughout her career. And it was probably one of the reasons she was the only one from her graduation class who actually found a job as a fashion designer. For 6 years, Astrid developed coordinated young women collections in Esprit kind of style and target group.
Not being able then to restrain herself (and a boss who kept putting pressure on her without giving support) and being thankful for have a design job at all, Astrid collapsed after 6 years. She spent over 1 year at home, mostly in bed, fully exhausted.
After intense psychological therapy (Davanloo, if this interests you) and appreciating the lessons learned from her first job, she chose to work freelance and to help creatives in their demanding jobs. As a freelancer, she trained designers on Nedgraphics software, designed fashion and started her design studio for surface designs. Again, she saw the pressure put on creatives when she trained them in house or worked with them in other ways.
Trained and experienced as a fashion designer, Astrid always prioritizes color use as a starting point. For the last 25 years, her focus has been on Home and Interior products. What makes her stand out is her talent to pinpoint the right trend colors and to combine these in harmonious color combinations. Color harmonies developed to consistently structure color coordinated design collections.
Graduated from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in The Hague, she and her design team have been working in fashion, print design, styling and color consultancy for more than 25 years. She works with Home Fashion brands and producers in Europe, North and South America, and Asia.
Being the go-to Home Color and Design expert, she is a color consultant for several brands. Literally helping young talent, she enjoys training interns and lectures Color in Design two weeks per year in Beijing and at Saxion Design College in the Netherlands. She loves working with the graduation students.
Finally, she publishes twice yearly the most practical and effective Trend Color Tool with a surprising Color Harmony Effect: get It by clicking HERE.
Astrid is married to her business partner Martin Salet, and they have a son, Joep Salet who studies food technology & business solutions and wants to become a perfume maker. He is their best design so far, but refuses to shine on this website!