// Milk&Cookies
// Milk&Cookies
Howdy ho Stijn! Please enlighten us with some information about yourself. Who are you, and most of all, what is your purpose on earth?
Howdy ho Vacuum magazine! I’m Stijn. Artistic director (aaaahum) at milkandcookies: fresh collective of mc-do addicts, flash moguls, graphic design pimps and Gwen Stefani’s sexslaves. I’m 23 yrs old. Male. Purpose on earth: become the masters of the universe (or capture the sword of He-Man which will make us masters of the universe anyway!)
Personally I don’t really like milk (do like cookies though!), I prefer to dip the cookies into the milk so they turn out to be all soft and wet. Is this blasphemy for a natural-born-cookie-eater as yourself?
Yes it is truly a pure blasphemy! ? No no, I know people who drop ‘cookies’ in coca-cola. In the land of milk and cookies: anything goes! Great, hum! That’s why we live there!
Some months ago, Milk&Cookies was looking for an obsessed ActionScripter. Have you found that person already? How was the hunting for the right person?
We (that’s my stunning partner in crime -Tim Siaens- and me) found that entity in a man called Lenzz (Reginald van De Velde). A crazy, funny, actionscripting design-guru-kinda-boy.
We are very pleased. But … people DO have to continue to send resumes, send us work samples: we liked it. And we love meeting new people.
Milk&Cookies mostly works with freelance-people, right? Why is that? Isn’t it harder for you to keep administration and all the paper-work flowing with new people coming in and out all the time?
Design/graphics are done in-house. Concept too. But for photography, sound and other stuff we like to work with young people (crazy bastards). There are a lot of great photographers, sound engineers, … in Belgium! We are the land of many creatives.
For video, 3D, sound and animation we have a big surprise coming up for clients and future clients! We are doing new things in those areas. Be curious, veryyyy curious.
The paperwork isn’t sooo hard (that’s maybe because I don’t have to do it!). Excel and Word are our friends.
You gained a lot of succes the last two years. Is that the result of a solid fanbase, lots of advertisments, or just because clients are happy and spread the word?
We never looked -prospected is it called hum- for clients. “I thank boodah for that every day, being that lucky”.
Didn’t do any advertising also (sent 1 newsletter in 2 years! Ehum!). We do the things we do. We like it while doing it. That’s it. No big secrets (My partner Tim had to Sex-up some clients, tough). We thank the people who love us. We love them.
If I would like to work at Milk&Cookies, what should I do? How would I conquer a spot in the Milk&Cookies building?
You HAVE to like cookies and be eager to eat a lot of them during the day. We eat cake for breakfast, ësjoekes’ (in Brux they are called Èclairs … space hum) for supper and finish the day with chocolate-sprinkled-cookies. We do work a lot at milk. We play and relax a lot too. We live the good life I think.
You moved from Dendermonde-City to Brussels-City. How was the move and do you like the result? No regrets?
We work in the best place in Belgium (Grande Place). When we open our windows we smell pancakes, pitta and pizza. It’s great. A vacation atmosphere the whole year long.
When we are sick of working: we take the metro to Kinepolis/UGC, visit the Kaai Theater or just take a walk in this superb city.
You have to visit us one day!
There are some big chops among the M&C clients. How did you attract them? I can assume Canon Europe isn’t the easiets client ever, just because they have an international market to please…
They came to us. That made the whole process a lot easier. Tim talks to the clients. Makes them happy (veeeeryyy important! We have a great relation with those people). A lot of great clients are not even on our website yet. I’m happy to say: We do ëmore fun’, exciting work every month. It grows. The cookie is getting bigger. There are a few BIG SHOTS that we will add to our list! YAAHOOOOOOOOOO!!! HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY.
What education did you follow, before you started M&C?
I think there are a lot of teachers happy that school is finaly over for me I guess. I went to many schools. I was not a rebel student. I just … did … NOTHING.
What advice would you give to 18-year olds, interested in (web)design?
YOU CAN MAKE IT. It’s a harsh business. A lot of competition. Great (MUCH BETTER THAN WE ARE) companies, designers in Belgium. You can be one of them. Why not!?
Thank you a lot for the effort and time, and good lucking milking cows!
We love cows!!! And we accept visa!?
comment for the picture
Bernard Bertrand (photographer), some hot milk-lovers (la fille d’O and Rebecca) and Tim (milkandcookies / bearded + long hear guy).
(Great picture! Because I’M NOT IN IT !!! that’s why!!!! ? )
Interview conducted with Stijn / Milk&Cookies for Vacuum-Magazine (2004). Visit the Milk&Cookies website at http://www.milkandcookies.be/