Hans Demoed and Geert de Rooij started The People of The Labyrinths (POTL) in 1984. POTL distinguished itself from the beginning with intriguing hand-printed and hand-dyed high-end fashion. Uncompromising, outsider-instincts combined with colourful, spirited and labyrinthine exuberance. Apart from the personal fashion-collections, the POTL-realm includes also a many-faceted and sophisticated interior design range and a select perfume line. The People of the Labyrinths are renowned for its sublimely connected concept of fashion, interior design, art design and cosmetics. The look and feel of the wide range of collections from the past and today always bear the characteristic and original look and feel of POTL: colourful eye-candy, seductive use of materials, sharp graphics and mesmerizing silk-screen prints, inspired by heraldry, the visual arts, history, anthropology, photography, nature and science. Both Geert de Rooij and Hans Demoed focus on the texture of the fabrics enhancing the tactility and sensitivity of the luxurious POTL experience with ingenious designs and otherworldly colours. The fascinating labyrinth-construct with endless meaning, secrets and layers still remains a bountiful incentive for Geert de Rooij and Hans Demoed to add personal magic in their art of hand-dying, hand-printing of fabrics, garments and objects.

"When we started The People of The Labyrinths we could never find materials in the right colours or prints. So we decided to do everything ourselves". POTL outfits are all hand-made, hand-dyed and hand-printed. The prints are the kick-off for every new collection. Hans Demoed is the master of the distinctive POTL colour palette and Geert de Rooij comes up with the spectacular prints. The designs form an extensive archive of hundreds of prints from the first ones inspired by computer graphics until the latest ones from the new collections. Geert de Rooij loves the magic moments of the silk-screen printing process - mixing his own colours, when each and every print emerges from the interplay between the conceived and prepared design and his own personal touch during printing.

 

• Paris, Musée d'Art Moderne: les Mythes de nos Nippes, curated by Carol Mann, 1984
• Moscow, Maison de la mode, Mode de Vie
• Paris, Mirty-Mory: La mode, La vie, La rue, 1984
• New York, gallery of wearable art, 1984
• Paris, American embassy: show for the cotton institute.1984
• Paris, Hilton hotel, The People of the Labyrinths shows with Karl Lagerfeld, 1983
• Paris: Onward Kashiyama: Interior collection
• Apeldoorn: Van Reecken Museum
• Amsterdam: Foam Museum, the collection: The Golden Age, photography by Erwin Olaf, 2005
• Utrecht: Centraal Museum, 2005
• London: On invitation by the Dutch Embassy an exposition during London Fashion Week
• Arnhem: Fashion Biënnale, MAKE BELIEVE an exposition co-curated with Lidewij Edelkoort, 2013
• The Hague, gallery Het Gemak: Suppose it's true after all what then? Group behaviour, 2014.

Take a look behind the scenes and discover all the print, ink and magic that goes into the making of our products.