Joyful and lively fashion for children. Designer Ineke Grovenstein knows what kind of clothing she would like to wear as a child. Therefor, she searches fabrics that are easy to wear, easy to wash and that stay beautiful for a long use. Out of these fabrics, she creates clothing and accessories that excel in fit and wear really easy, while lines and patterns remain easy on the eye.
Time for an interview with the founder and designer of KIK-KID.
Hi Ineke, would you mind introducing yourself to our readers?
Hi readers from Les enfants a Paris, I’m Ineke Grovenstein and I’m the founder and designer of the brands KIK-KID and IS.IS-women.
Tell us a little about your background? How did you beome to be a children’s fashion designer?
After finishing my education at the Arts Academy of Kampen, a friend and I were curating an art gallery in Amsterdam, that focussed on young artists. We did this for about five years. Besides hosting exhibitions, I was trying to create collections of experimental women’s fashion. When my friend got pregnant, I made some hats for the baby. I did a lot more hats then one baby would wear. When I showed the hats to a children’s fashion boutique, the owner of the shop liked them a lot. I got a corner in the shop where I could put my hats on display. When the my friend’s baby boy was born, she named him KIK. I decided to name my brand after him: KIK-KID. From the point of having a show corner in one shop, the brand has slowly developed into what is today.
I started with a very small collection in 1996… made everything by myself.. now almost 20 years later…. 
What inspires your work, and what do you want to inspire in others though your work?
I try to make the clothes I design very practical and comfortable. With children, that should inspire playfulness. Being playful is maybe also a good idea for the women that wear the clothes of IS*IS women’s fashion. I get inspired by my own children, by the different ways people wear their clothes in countries far away. I love old fashion ( vintage ).
What is your favorite piece from the collection?
I love the jeans items with the stitched stars. But the Speedy hat, we have been making since the very beginning of the brand and it remains a good item, that still is one of our best sellers. It is the KIK-KID look in a nutshell.
Do you have children? How does that influence your work?
I have two daughter 9 and 12 years, from which I get inspired.
My women’s brand called after my Daughter ISIS and also the Kik-kid for teenage girls named after second girl Azza.
Both my girls are creative in a different way.. I’ll lean form them when we talk about the collection and when they ware it. also they design sometimes with me.
What are the most rewarding and most challenging aspects of your job?
When children waring the kik-kid clothes and i do not no them…. it is a great compliment.
I just love it when the new collection is nicely presented at a stand on a show or in the showroom. all models and colours neatly ordered, some accessoiries and fashion dolls to make it look nice and then to see the result of te last half year’s work.
If one of our readers is only in your city, which is Amsterdam, for 24 hours what one thing would you recommend they do?
Go to the nice vintage shops and get inspired, i love to go to the albert Cuyp and see the flowers.. and also they have a lot of fabric. I love to visit the ‘Negen Straatjes’.
Website: kik-kid.nl
Facebook: kik-kid
