“If we have to choose a date for the very beginning of Heinen Delfts Blauw, I would say: 1975, during one of the very first editions of the Spakenburg Days,” Jorrit begins his story. “My parents loaded the car with vases and painting supplies to sell at the market in the fishing harbor. My father’s painting was so popular that by August he had so many requests his calendar was filled up until Christmas. He even received requests to paint traditional costumes!” To help his father — and to earn a bit of pocket money himself — son Jorrit also decided to start painting.
“My father initially painted scenes in the Asian Imari style, but he soon immersed himself in the Delft Blue painting tradition. He started a small studio in Putten and had to figure out the entire production process of Delft Blue pottery himself — from creating designs and mastering the distinctive painting style to glazing and firing the ceramics. His craftsmanship developed quickly, and thanks to the high quality of his work, customers from all over the Netherlands found their way to the small studio in Putten.” When Jorrit sold a self-made plate for 25 guilders, his entrepreneurial spirit was awakened. “My father realized that besides painting, I also had a strong desire to be an entrepreneur. My involvement in his work was an encouragement for him to take his growing hobby seriously, and one day he said to me: ‘we should look for a little shop in Amsterdam.’ That’s when my career truly began. In 1985, we bought the small shop on the Prinsengracht in Amsterdam, and I find it very special that this store is still part of our company after all these years.” While father and son worked in their new space, passersby stopped to watch, and curious tourists loved seeing the process. The sales of their pottery grew even faster.
The days of the idyllic market in the fishing harbor are now far behind the company. Today, Heinen Delfts Blauw has multiple stores at prime locations in Amsterdam, Delft, and Putten. The company has also gone international with beautiful stores in Curaçao, Bonaire, and the United States, as well as its own factories in the Netherlands and China. The webshop has also undergone a major transformation and now performs at the same high level as the physical stores. “I once started out as a pottery painter, but today I have the privilege of leading a company with more than one hundred employees. My role has changed enormously over the years, and I was fortunate to learn it all through trial and error. My father is no longer involved in the company due to his age, but he is thrilled with its growth and speaks about it with great pride. The scale of the expansion was not always easy for him to grasp — he simply loved painting.” As the company grew, so did the collections. “In the beginning, we sold only our own hand-painted work. Later, we added painted pieces from other brands, but today we sell only our own collections. These collections are developed either in-house or together with talented Dutch designers such as Romy Kühne and Debbie Wijskamp. This has allowed us to reach new audiences, though our hand-painted collection remains our showpiece.”
“I once started out as a pottery painter, but today I have the privilege of leading a company with more than one hundred employees.”
The changing course of the company has sometimes been quite exciting. “Heinen Delfts Blauw has always been a little rebellious. We became successful by going against the tide, and that has actually become synonymous with our company. While in Gouda and the surrounding area all the pottery factories disappeared, our business continued to grow. We had our own retail at strategic tourist locations, even when Delft Blue was hardly popular in the Netherlands.” During the coronavirus period, Jorrit was forced to make drastic decisions for the future. “Our tourism-based revenue model came to a complete halt during the pandemic. Sadly, our factory De Delftse Paauw did not survive the crisis, and it was painful to say goodbye to it. We then decided to accelerate our shift toward the Home & Living market, focusing on Dutch customers instead of tourism. It was a risky decision, but we had no choice — and in the end, it brought us to where we are today. The pandemic was not a pleasant time, but I always keep thinking in terms of opportunities and possibilities. That is what makes entrepreneurship exciting, and that’s why Heinen Delfts Blauw has become such a great company. We have a lot of talent on board, and only through the dedication of all our staff is it possible to keep growing and dreaming.”
Delft Blue is once again hugely popular in Dutch households. “We simply have a beautiful product. Delft Blue has become a unique cultural heritage because countries and their people identify with a product — something timeless and recognizable that is part of a shared history. Many countries have their own ceramic tradition, and we can be proud of our Delft Blue. I see it as my mission to ensure that Delft Blue remains relevant and contemporary over time. We want to keep the craft alive and keep Delft Blue interesting for future generations as well. That’s why our motto is: Creating New Traditions. For me personally, this means that I get to carry forward the life’s work of my father. And if the new generation continues to build on that, it fills me with enormous pride.”
28-08-2025Just like the development of Delft Blue, the emergence of Heinen Delfts Blauw was a continuous process. A growth that arose naturally through talent, dreams, and a bold dose of courage. With the right people coming together at the right moments, the family business took flight and spread like a splash of blue paint across the globe. CEO Jorrit Heinen looks back on those humble beginnings and the inspiring and challenging fifty years that followed.
