Menw Hurkens will inspire you to send handwritten letters to your loved ones (when was the last time you did that?)
An avid collector of all things paper, her studio is filled to the brim in anything from stamps and postcards to washi tape and string. But it’s her unique wax seals that really caught our attention. Decorated with foil, dried flowers, and paint, her seals bring back to life a lost art that is almost forgotten.
“Some of my favorite things to do is decorating envelopes, making flipbooks and collages and write letters,” Hurkens shared with Surely Simple. “I seriously get happy by unpacking mail and discover a little bit of the world from the person behind it.”
Based in Maastricht, situated in the southernmost corner of the Netherlands, Hurkens shares a home with her husband, their four sons, and their four cats and a dog. While most of her time is dedicated to her job as a project manager at the University of Maastricht, she also shares the love for paper through her online Etsy shop where she sells vintage ephemera.
“Creativity comes from a long way back, and has developed throughout the years in an always present character trait,” she shared. “As a kid, I was always busy collecting things, wooden boxes, postage stamps, poetry illustrations, books, paper, but also ladybugs or tadpoles.”
Take a look at some of her collection:
