Shelf Sessions: Jason Denham

An extraordinary house, for a man who might not seem that extraordinary at first. As he’s speaking calm and sober, the home of Jason Denham in the middle of the Jordaan has everything you’ll ever dream of. Including an enormous collection of beautiful books.

Soon we found out that the name-giver and founder of one of Holland’s biggest fashion brands, actually is pretty extraordinary. Not only because of his story, (someone with the name Denham who starts a denim brand, didn’t want to move to Amsterdam, but eventually stayed for decades), but his book collection also might give you an idea.

Check some of the favorites from Jason’s shelves.

Books ranging from architecture and interior design, to fashion and music. With every book we point out he has a story to tell. “Hobbies and things that I like. Obviously I have a lot of books on fashion and denim, but I’m also a big fan of vintage cars, watches, music and architecture. I know that we live in a digital age and everything is fast and social, and I’m a huge fan of all of that, but I think there is something very special about print in a beautiful bound book. It’s something to keep and cherish as opposed to the disposability of digital.”

It’s probably one of the reasons why DENHAM chose to celebrate its ten years of existence in 2018 with a book, made together with MENDO. A Decade of Denham (sold out) tells the story of the brand and its endeavors in the first ten years. “I think it captures the spirit and energy of the brand and to do it with MENDO was great. We’ve known MENDO even before we started DENHAM, so it was evident for us that a book about DENHAM should be made with MENDO. MENDO has taught us a lot in terms of format, size, content flow and layouts, and our in-house team did a great job on pulling together all the content that was needed to get a great feeling of what we stand for and who we are. It gave me a new insight on the books I own as well.”

The books he owns (“must be near a thousand”) are dispersed around the house he shares with his daughter Jasmine and his wife Debbie. Debbie was actually the one that introduced Jason to MENDO (“even before you guys were a bookstore”) and runs the operational side of Jason’s business. “Many people think I’m crazy for working with my wife. But I travel a lot and she works on the fourth floor and I work on the ground floor… All jokes aside, we work fantastically well together. I’m responsible for the creative direction and brand building, she does all the operational work.”

It has been the recipe for a very successful international business, with over 300 employees worldwide and 25 stores in Japan only. “Japan is the absolute center of the denim world nowadays, and when we started, we instantly said we wanted to go East. Now we have 25 stores in Japan and expanding in China and Korea. Ever since the first time I went to Japan, I immediately fell in love with the culture and the lifestyle. We’ve tried to build a brand over there with our own values but with respect to what they do as well. We understand the Japanese market and operate locally.”

Japan is a theme that recurs in his interior and in his book collection. Books like Philosophy of Japanese Life Culture, The New Japanese Architecture and of course books on Japanese fashion like A Bathing Ape. “I consider Tokyo my second home.” Perhaps it’s not a coincidence that on his way to DENHAM’s European headquarters on the Prinsengracht, Jason passes a Japanese antique store.

Although his office might function as one as well. His workplace is filled with huge piles of paper, books, Japanese magazines, shoes, vintage denim and of course, the iconic denim scissors. “When I made the brand, I wanted to have an icon that represents the product. I got my first pair of scissors when I was in university, and the collection gradually got bigger over the years.” A MENDO fan might recognize it from our book The Workshop, in which Jason has his own chapter. “Of course, we’ve been affiliated with MENDO for years. But to be part of such a cool project was amazing. It really shows the dynamic and ethos of the Dutch creative industry. The team was really nice, we even worked with Iris (Duvekot) afterwards, and of course, it’s always good as a brand to be in-between such great names.”

However beautiful the DENHAM office is, his workplace is soon going to change. DENHAM is leaving the Prinsengracht for a brand new headquarters in the vibrant area of Amsterdam-Noord. “At a certain point you have to move on. We’re going from 600 square meters to 4000 square meters. It’s a big change, but we have always tried to push things forward.”

While pushing things forward might not be the thing you think of first when you think about the denim world, Jason and his company have always tried to move on and try new things. “Denim, of course, is an industry that is based on heritage and history. Raw, stiff and heavy garments made in Japan or the US, rolling cigarettes, wearing Red Wing boots… I love that as well, but what we’re trying to do with DENHAM is to use that heritage and create new ways of approaching denim.”

As he grabs a copy of This Is Not A F*cking Street Style Book, he talks about his industry and its future. “Fashion as an industry, has a tendency of falling asleep over time. That’s why I think it’s interesting that Louis Vuitton hired Virgil Abloh. It’s not necessarily my style or taste, but I like how he and his peers are shaking up the industry and pushing it forward. That’s what we’re trying to do with DENHAM as well. One of the things we were never scared to do was move on. We do new fits, new washings, new materials and that’s important to develop. People are often scared to change too much. But the key is to stay true to yourself and never stop developing.”

Check some of the favorites from Jason’s shelves.

Although DENHAM is certainly developing, there’s always a link to the past. You can feel the heritage in the brand identity as well as in his workplace and his home, which used to be one of the best music recording studios in Amsterdam. “When I bought this, it was still set up as a music studio. I wanted to keep the stage in, but it was too old to leave it like that. Paul Weller’s album 150 was named after this place. It’s crazy to think that greats like Bowie, Jackson and Weller have recorded here.”

Now the recording equipment has been replaced by design furniture and a great collection of books. Some notable titles in his collection are KAWS: Where The End Starts, Wonderplants, #SENDNUDES, Tom Ford, Helmut Newton and his price possession: a limited edition Rise of David Bowie book. “I’m a huge David Bowie fan, so this one is really special to me. The photography is amazing and the fact that it’s signed by Mick Rock and Bowie himself adds a little extra to it, of course.”

Besides photography, there are obviously many fashion titles. “Books are always nice as a reference point. To us, they often form a visual inspiration or a starting point for a new collection. When I made one of my first collections for DENHAM, I went to Japan and found a beautiful vintage Louis Vuitton bag. When I got back, I bought this Louis Vuitton book at MENDO and the bag was in it, complete with background info on when and where it was made. We used that as an example to make a garment bag from denim to present our first collection. It’s an example of how a book can add to a story.”

With the name his brand has built in the past ten years, Denham himself has become part of the worldwide denim culture as one of the frontrunners of the industry. “I love the Denim Dudes books from Amy Leverton. It’s great to see where our industry is going and to connect with all these people. Her latest Denim book has one of our employees in Japan on its cover wearing DENHAM clothes, which is pretty cool.”

For someone who thought he would never leave London, Denham has become one of the pillars in Amsterdam. “For me, London was the coolest place on the planet, but I had to move to Amsterdam for work. I instantly fell in love with the city because of its creativity and international identity. Especially the last few years I’ve seen the creative scene grow, which is really good for the city. I think Dutch design is iconic and I really see Amsterdam as one of the denim capitals of the world. People here wear denim all day long, so for me this is the perfect place.” And with a home like his, we wouldn’t be too eager to move either.

Check some of the favorites from Jason’s shelves.