About
Not that random
Random is an independent cultural and creative company creating books, objects, experiences and stories worth keeping.
We work across publishing, education, lifestyle, art and culture. An idea may become a book, magazine, object, campaign, event, commissioned project or collaboration with an artist.
The form may change, but the intention remains the same:
To help people look more closely, think more deeply and live with greater curiosity.
Nothing we create is random for the sake of being unexpected. Every project begins with a question, a story or something we believe deserves more attention.
What is Random?
Random is a creative company based in the Amsterdam region of the Netherlands.
We bring together publishing, design, storytelling, education, products and cultural experiences under one name. Our work is created for curious, culturally aware people and families who care about how things are made, what they mean and why they matter.
Random is not defined by a single category.
We may document an overlooked history, create a children’s learning series, design an object for the home, publish a magazine about the things we love or produce an experience that brings people together.
What connects these projects is not their format, but their point of view.
We believe culture should feel alive, knowledge can be beautiful and everyday objects can carry meaning.
Why Random exists
We live in a time of extraordinary access.
There are more images, products, opinions and stories available to us than ever before. But more does not always mean better, and speed does not necessarily lead to greater understanding.
Random exists to make thoughtful choices within that abundance.
We create and curate work that:
expands curiosity;
preserves meaningful stories;
brings cultures and generations closer together;
offers new ways of seeing the world;
values craftsmanship over speed;
contributes something worthwhile rather than simply adding more.
We are interested in the subjects people return to: family, identity, beauty, memory, childhood, culture, creativity and the ways in which we build a life.
Our beginning
The foundations of Random were laid in 2016, when we began developing creative direction, editorial concepts and visual productions for leading international brands.
Working across publishing, photography, film, writing, social media and creative production, we built projects around the belief that strong visuals become more powerful when they are rooted in substance, clarity and a meaningful story.
Over the years, we have created campaigns, photography and film productions, published books for companies and developed editorial projects for brands including Aman, Canon, Cathay Pacific, Chanel, De Bijenkorf, Gucci, Hermès, La Mer, Lancôme, Moët & Chandon, Ritz-Carlton, Ruinart, Skins, Tiffany & Co, Tommy Hilfiger, Viktor & Rolf and Vogue.
In 2020, this editorial approach found a new expression in Currant, an independent magazine bringing together style, culture and a considered perspective on contemporary life.
Through Currant, we explored fashion, beauty, design, travel, parenting, Amsterdam and the stories behind the people and places that inspired us. We met remarkable people, collaborated with talented creatives and developed a clearer understanding of the work we wanted to make.
As our lives and ambitions evolved, our vision grew beyond commissioned creative production and a single magazine.
We wanted to publish our own books, create meaningful objects and educational tools, collaborate with artists and develop experiences that could live both on and beyond the page.
That wider vision became Random.
In 2026, we are retiring the Currant title. Its editorial curiosity, cultural awareness and eye for beauty continue within Random, now as part of a broader cultural and creative company.
A new chapter
From 2027, Random enters a new chapter.
Alongside our commissioned work, we are building Random into a brand with its own growing world of books, objects and experiences.
Our publishing programme will expand across culture, lifestyle and children’s education. We will create objects that bring beauty, meaning and curiosity into everyday life. Through talks, dinners, workshops, exhibitions and other gatherings, we will bring the ideas behind our publications into the physical world.
This is not a departure from our earlier work. It is the natural continuation of it.
Years of creating campaigns, books, photography, film and editorial stories for others have shaped how we now create for ourselves.
Random Studio will continue to work with selected brands and institutions, while Random’s own publications, products and events become an increasingly important part of the company.
We are building this new chapter deliberately: one title, one object and one meaningful experience at a time.
Igrien
Random was founded by Igrien, a writer, artist and creative director whose career began in tax law before a growing pull towards storytelling led her into the creative field.
Since 2016, she has built a multidisciplinary practice spanning creative direction, publishing, writing, photography, film, illustration, social media and creative production. Her analytical background brings structure and clarity to her work, while her editorial sensibility shapes how ideas are translated into coherent visual and narrative worlds.
During her tenure as creative director at De Bijenkorf, Igrien further developed her approach to storytelling at the intersection of culture, fashion, beauty, design, retail and experience.
She later founded and led Currant magazine, expanding that perspective through independent editorial publishing.
Today, she leads Random with close attention to detail and the belief that aesthetics and meaning should never be separated.
Alongside Random, Igrien remains her personal creative platform: a home for her writing, art, films, observations and independent creative practice.
What we create
Random works across three connected areas.
Editorial
We publish books, magazines and cultural stories across lifestyle, children’s education, Chinese culture and the wider diaspora.
Studio
We create commissioned work for brands and institutions, including creative direction, campaigns, publications, photography, film and cultural experiences.
Objects and experiences
We develop meaningful objects, editions, workshops, dinners, exhibitions and events that bring the ideas behind Random into everyday life.
As Random grows, we will also collaborate with and create opportunities for selected Chinese diaspora artists and creative voices.
Our approach
Curious
Every project begins with a question and the desire to look beyond the obvious.
Culturally aware
We approach people, traditions and stories with research, context and care. Culture is never decoration.
Beautifully made
We believe form and meaning should strengthen one another. Every word, image, material and detail should contribute to the idea.
Thoughtful
We create selectively. Rather than simply adding more, we ask whether something deserves to exist and what lasting value it can offer.
Chinese culture and the diaspora
Writing Chinatown changed the direction of Random.
What began as an attempt to document Amsterdam’s Chinese community became a deeper exploration of family, migration, identity and the stories passed—sometimes silently—from one generation to the next.
Through writing the book, we realised how much more we wanted to understand, preserve and celebrate Chinese culture. We came to see more clearly that our roots are not a separate subject we occasionally return to. They are an undeniable part of who we are, how we see the world and what we create.
Chinatown is the origin story of this new direction for Random.
It brought us closer to the histories that shaped us and showed us how many stories, traditions, objects and ideas still deserve greater attention. It also made us consider what we want to pass on: not only to our own children, but to future generations growing up between cultures.
Chinese heritage will therefore run through everything we do.
It may appear explicitly in a book about history, mythology, language or food, or more quietly through an object, visual detail, family ritual or way of telling a story.
We want to celebrate our heritage across our books, objects, educational work, collaborations and experiences—not as something fixed in the past, but as something living, evolving and capable of generating new ideas and forms.
Random will remain open to wider subjects across lifestyle, education, art and culture. But our Chinese heritage is one of its foundations: a source of identity, curiosity and creative direction that we want to honour, explore and celebrate throughout our work.
Work with Random
There are several ways to connect with us:
Explore our books, objects and editions through the Random Shop.
Discover our publishing programme through Random Editorial.
Commission creative work through Random Studio.
Propose a collaboration through Partnerships.
Contact us about artists, press, wholesale or cultural projects.
For general enquiries:
Random is based in the Amsterdam region and works with partners and audiences in the Netherlands and internationally.