OU.'s that girl

What inspired the move to the farm?

Pascal wanted room for horses. I wanted an orchard, long beautifully set tables under cherry blossoms, and a flower garden with a greenhouse. We both wanted freedom: a place where we could create whatever we wanted and where family and friends would always feel welcome.

The farmhouse dates back to 1804. Like any farmhouse of that age, it’s never really finished. There is always something that needs fixing, painting, replacing, or rescuing. We often joke that we don’t own the farm—the farm owns us. Yet we’re constantly making new plans. It’s a never-ending dream project, and honestly, I wouldn’t have it any other way. Perfect is boring.

Mia in 10 words?

Autodidact. Visually creative. Perfectionist. Impatient. Chaotic. Entrepreneurial. Handy. Flower-obsessed. Dreamer. Compassionate.

(And occasionally all ten at the same time.)

What does a typical day on the farm look like?

The alarm goes off at 7 a.m. First: coffee. Then: breakfast and lunchboxes for the girls. After that, it’s feeding time for the pigs, chickens, and rabbit. The dogs and horses are mainly Pascal’s department. Before school, the girls or Pascal let the horses out into the field, and after school they clean the stables. Around 10 a.m. my workday starts. Sometimes I sneak in an hour or two in the garden first. Then it’s off to the warehouse, office, and store, with a healthy mix of household tasks and preparing the guesthouses for new arrivals.

My favourite place is still the garden. Unfortunately, gardens don’t care about business schedules, so most of my gardening happens in spare moments or after dinner when everyone else is relaxing.

Sundays and Mondays are officially my days off. In reality, nature didn’t get that memo.

Can you tell us about your journey into running your businesses and guesthouses?

I started running guest accommodations when we lived in Loosdrecht. I quickly realised how much I enjoyed it. I love creating a place where people instantly feel welcome. Fresh flowers, fresh eggs, seasonal fruit, and a little treat on arrival, it’s the details that matter. The guesthouses have become incredibly popular and are almost fully booked year-round. They also help pay for the endless maintenance of a 220-year-old farmhouse, which turns out to be slightly more expensive than watering a houseplant.

Before meeting Pascal, I worked as a graphic designer for ELLE girl and ELLE magazine. Those skills later blended naturally with Pascal’s fashion business. Photography is something I taught myself. Today I contribute creative direction and collection advice. I’ve always loved fashion, but mainly from a personal perspective. Commercial decisions are more Pascal’s territory, he understands retail; I understand aesthetics. It’s a good balance. I don’t need every item in the collection hanging in my own wardrobe, but I do need to believe in what we’re creating.

How do you combine family life, fashion, business, farm life and personal goals?

Honestly, I sometimes wonder that myself. The answer is passion. As long as something genuinely excites me, it gives me energy instead of taking it away. For me, success isn’t about becoming bigger. It’s about continuing to surprise myself, creating things I’m proud of, and building confidence through experience. Business success is only meaningful if it buys freedom—the freedom to spend more time doing the things I love.

Where do you find inspiration?

I can see potential in an old branch, a forgotten chair, or a pile of things someone else would throw away. Maybe that’s why I love gardening so much. Watching a tiny seed become a spectacular flowering plant still feels a bit like magic to me.

Instagram is a huge source of inspiration, and I can happily disappear down a YouTube Shorts rabbit hole for hours. But I never want to copy what I see. Inspiration should spark something new, not become a blueprint.

How do you define success?

Personally, success means enriching the world around me. If I’ve inspired someone, made someone smile, created something beautiful, or surprised myself in the process, I consider that a success. I set the bar high, but that’s what keeps me growing.

Professionally, I think the same principle applies. Passion is the foundation of everything. Without it, building a meaningful business becomes very difficult.

What’s next?

At the moment, we say we’ll stay here for another fifteen years. On the other hand, I can already picture our daughters returning here one day with families of their own. It feels like the kind of place that keeps gathering stories.

Maybe one day I’ll build an art studio where I can sculpt, paint, or work with clay. That’s the dream for “when I have more time”,which is something I’ve been saying for years.

And if we’re talking dreams: a house in South Africa, surrounded by flowers, with sunshine almost every day.