Designed in Amsterdam, made in Portugal.
All SNURK products are thoughtfully conceived and designed in Amsterdam, and responsibly crafted in Portugal. There's a playful creative process behind it, which we’re excited to share with you here.
Idea
SNURK's designers create all their prints in Amsterdam, always challenging themselves to raise the bar. Each SNURK print aims to be more beautiful, unique, and original than what's already out there, often with a playful twist. Their inspiration comes from everyday life, blended with trends from fashion and interior design.
Design
Once a print theme is created, it moves into the production phase. Sometimes this involves hands-on work, like crafting this origami animal. The design is then photographed and refined digitally. Lately, we've also been exploring the exciting possibilities of AI in our creative process.
Production
Designers Peggy and Michelle regularly go to Portugal, where our producers are located. We work closely with local textile companies that - just like us - value honesty, sustainability and quality. We have maintained these close relationships for years.
Printing
Here you can see our dinosaur print, screen printed on organic cotton. We also frequently use digital printing technology—our clothing, for instance, is always printed digitally.
Quality
We always double-check to ensure the print looks perfect, the fabric feels right, and the colors are accurate. This extra care and attention often make the difference for us between something that's 'nice' and truly beautiful.
Finishing
The fabric is cut, sewn, and packed by hand, piece by piece, in a Portuguese sewing workshop. There are no large automated machines producing ready-made items. Since we partner with small family businesses, the working conditions are ethical and well-maintained. Annual audits by GOTS, the certification for organic fibers and sustainable practices, help ensure that each step of the process becomes more sustainable and socially responsible every year.
Dream big.
SNURK has been making designer bedding since 2007. The most popular are still the covers that transform you into an astronaut, princess, shark tamer, mermaid or whatever your dream is. We put a lot of time and attention into making prints as realistic as possible. Not a ready-made picture from the internet, but a self-made photo of the real thing. It is not always easy to find 'the real thing'. Because where do you get a real astronaut suit? And how do you photograph a mermaid or fairy, when we all know how shy they are?
Astronaut
When the idea for the Astronaut cover came up, it was immediately clear that only a real astronaut suit would suffice. At the Dutch Space Expo museum we found a classic Apollo Moon suit. And luckily for all the astronauts-to-be, we were allowed to borrow it for a day. Fun fact: SNURK founder Erik modeled the suit for the photo.
Mermaid & Fairy
When dreams are about fantasy figures, it takes a little more creativity to make them come true. For the mermaid we photographed a real fish tail and covered a bustier with sea pearls and shells. Our fairy duvet cover is an ode to Cicely Mary Barker's Flower Fairies, an illustrated book from 1923. We took photos of flower calyxes, insect wings and sewed a pointed green pair of tights ourselves.
Ballerina
The ballerina duvet cover is a collaboration with the Dutch National Ballet. Not only did they provide us with a beautiful tutu, but also one of their professional ballerinas to pose in it (Nancy Burer). When you consider that our National Ballet company is among the absolute best in the world, this print becomes even more special. If ballet is your dream, this is your duvet cover.
Homemade crafts
SNURK cherishes a preference for handicraft print themes. It gives us the freedom to play with beautiful textures and optical illusions. The help of craft specialists is often called in. Sometimes even all employees of a hospital.
We fold, we knit, we clay...
Crane Birds & Paper Zoo
The largest hospital in the Netherlands, Amsterdam UMC, approached us to redesign their bedding, leading to the creation of this origami crane print. What makes it truly special is that the paper cranes you see were folded by hospital staff. Together, they folded 1,000 cranes, as Japanese tradition holds that this number symbolizes prosperity and good health.
Clay Traffic
'Turn your duvet into a play mat' was the basic idea for this print. But just empty streets on a child's bed, that looks a bit boring. So we wanted to add cars and motorcycles made from Play-Dough clay. Playfully imperfect and cheerful. Ceramic artist Georgina Vieane knew what to do with it.
Twirre
In the meantime - a SNURK classic: our knitted wool blanket print. Copied by many, but never equaled. That's because our XL wool print is actually knitted with XL balls of wool and broomsticks as knitting needles. And because it is such a large piece of knitting, we named the print after the knitter: Twirre van Kraaijenoord .