Shoppers Diary: Sanne Hop’s Creative Atelier in Amsterdam

For more than a decade, Sanne Hop has chronicled her life on Instagram. We first when she and her family had just left Amsterdam for the burbs—see Elevating the Everyday. For their home, Sanne had slowly assembled an inspired mix of handmade furnishings and become part of an online community of creatives trading work and ideas. At the time, she was a stay-at-home mother of four with a PhD in history and a natural way with design and interior styling.


We just caught up with Sanne for the first time in five years, and she welcomed us into what might be termed, at age 45, the busting out phase of her life: the family are back in the city, Sanne and her husband are divorced and amicably co-parenting, and she’s now presiding over her own concept shop, Atelier Hop, in the center of Amsterdam. In it Sanne showcases a changing array of vintage and contemporary art, decor and fashion by friends and things she herself makes, such as arch-shaped beeswax candles in Waldorf crayon colors. And she frequently hosts pop-ups and workshops—Sanne has become the den mother of rarefied small makers. The space also doubles as her half-time living quarters and just about everything in it is for sale—Sanne is all about creating anew.


Photography courtesy of Atelier Hop (@sannehop).
Above: Atelier Hop is in 1 1945 building at Fokke Simonszstraat 10.
Above: Sanne says making and selling things is in her DNA: her parents ran a clothing and housewares shop and her grandmother was a celebrated seamstress who sold her own work. The red folding table was a gift from a neighbor.
Above: Sanne (pronounced Sauna) mans the register in her shop. The counter is stocked with linen shop bags that she dyes using things like turmeric and birch leaves—Sanne learned her natural dye techniques by taking Rebecca Desnos’s online classes. The shirt and vest on display is one of Danish fashion designer Nanna Møller’s ensembles made from vintage pieces and deadstock fabrics.
Above: A cabinet from an old pharmacy serves as a display that changes constantly.  The vintage Scandinavian daybed in the corner is also used for display—and as Sanne’s cot when she camps out in the store. She built herself a small kitchen in the back.


The shop floor is rough concrete that Sanne painted a cream color to brighten the 100 square meter (approximately 1,075 square foot) space—her two daughters like helping to keep it clean. The dried herbs used to ornament wrapped packages.
Above: Sanne’s beeswax candles. She set up a compact candle-making operation at the front of the shop. The collection of abstract art in the background dates from the 1970s and is by Jan Jonker, a locally-famous political cartoonist; prices start at €75.
Above: Sanne’s signature Arch candles in natural beeswax start at €11.95. She originally came across the mold for them “years ago in an odd little shop somewhere in the countryside,” and now makes her own silicone molds. “For me there is no other material for candles than beeswax.,” she says. “I absolutely love the smell, how natural it is, how it burns and feels.
I experiment with either yellow or white beeswax and little scrapes of beeswax crayons to create color ranges.”
Above: Sanne made these Obelisk candles with her architect friend Andrew Choptiany; their shape was inspired by Cleopatra’s Needle in London.
Above: A lot of Sanne’s vintage finds come from a daily flea market not far from the shop. She recently came away with a giant cache of baskets from a wine store: on her shop site, see World of Straw for a sampling. 


Above: The greenery girls, Sanne and eldest daughter, Pippa, captured by photographer friend Petra Droogsma.
Above: A poetic wall installation incorporating the woven wire remains from the Georges Store of France home decor pop-up. The zodiac embroidery on the wall is a child’s Bath Cape by KAMA of Amsterdam; €95.95. Of the goods she sells, Sanne says, “”It’s all products that tell stories, made by people using their hands and hearts—and I am so happy to share those stories.”
Above: Sanne’s youngest daughter, Cassia, at home in the shop.
Above: Sanne in a brocade waistcoat and pants by Nanna Møller. She proudly says of Atelier Hop, “More than a shop, it’s an experience.”


Sanne’s sister, Tessa, also has a way with style. A while back we featured her place:


Living with (Four!) Kids: Ideas to Steal from Tessa Hop’s Organized and Serene Family Home | bit.ly/3XLoEJb


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