The Red Blue Collective
Creating space for Chinese-Dutch stories, culture and belonging.
The Red Blue Collective is a Chinese-Dutch cultural foundation founded by Igrien and Kalun. We create books, art, education and community projects that preserve Chinese-Dutch stories, strengthen cultural identity and contribute to the fight against anti-Chinese and anti-Asian racism in the Netherlands.
Our first project is Chinatown, a book documenting the lives of twelve first-generation Chinese immigrants, set to be published by Random in October 2026.
Why we began
Shortly after our first daughter was born, the future stopped feeling abstract.
Becoming parents made us look differently at what we had inherited, what had been missing from our own upbringing and what we wanted to pass on. We wanted our children—and the generations after them—to grow up knowing that being Chinese and Dutch are not two identities they have to choose between. Both can exist fully, proudly and visibly alongside one another.
One question kept returning:
What can we create today that might help shape a more positive future for the Chinese-Dutch community?
Our first project: Chinatown
That question led us to Chinatown, a book documenting the lives of twelve first-generation Chinese immigrants who built their lives in the Netherlands.
Through oral histories and photography, the book records their memories of migration, work, family, sacrifice, identity and belonging. Together, these personal stories reveal a history that is deeply connected to the Netherlands, yet has rarely been documented from the perspective of the people who lived it.
While working on Chinatown, we began to understand how much racism had remained unnamed in the lives of the first generation. Many did not always have the Dutch words to describe what was happening to them. They knew that they were treated differently, but not always how to recognise or challenge it.
Language barriers, shame and the feeling that they should be grateful to be here made it harder to speak out. Staying quiet often felt safer. But that silence—and the feeling of always being different—could also be passed on to the next generation.
Chinatown preserves the voices of the first generation while inviting younger Chinese-Dutch generations to better understand the people, choices and histories that came before them.
The book will be published by Random in October 2026.
[Discover Chinatown]
What we believe
We want to help break the silence that has surrounded many Chinese-Dutch experiences.
We know that cultural pride alone will not end racism. But knowing where we come from can give us the language, confidence and sense of belonging needed to recognise discrimination, speak about it and stand against it.
For us, embracing our Chinese roots is not about looking backwards. It is about understanding ourselves well enough to move forward without making ourselves smaller.
Chinese-Dutch communities are not guests in the Netherlands. Their restaurants, shops, families, traditions, labour and stories have helped shape Dutch society.
Chinese-Dutch history is Dutch history.
Taking up space in the Dutch cultural landscape is therefore not about asking to be included. It is about recognising a place that has long existed.
What we create
Our commitment
The Red Blue Collective works across publishing, visual culture, heritage, education and public programming.
We work through books, oral histories, art, exhibitions, education and community conversations. Each project begins with lived experience and asks what has remained unseen, what needs to be preserved and what we want to carry forward.
We approach Chinese culture not as something static or distant, but as something living—continually reshaped through migration, memory and everyday life in the Netherlands.
With The Red Blue Collective, we pledge to dedicate our own time, knowledge, creative expertise, network and resources to work that strengthens the Chinese-Dutch community.
We know that meaningful change grows through collaboration. We welcome partnerships with brands, cultural institutions and organisations that genuinely share our mission and want to help preserve Chinese-Dutch stories, create new opportunities and bring these experiences to wider audiences.
[Collaborate with us]
For the generations after us
When our daughters grow up, we want them to recognise themselves in books, art, education and public life.
We want them to know where they come from, to feel connected to their roots and to understand that they do not need to choose between being Chinese and Dutch in order to belong.
We want the same for the generations growing up alongside them.
A future in which Chinese-Dutch culture is understood not as something outside the Netherlands, but as an integral part of it.
That is the future we want to help build.