Their Story. Our Story. Your Story.

Why I believe in collaboration.

For a long time, I designed spaces.
As an architect in the Netherlands, I built a career that many would call successful — creative projects, magazine features, and even three months on national television, where I was followed for my work as an interior architect on Design Secrets (RTL / Videoland).
You can see the feature here:
📺 https://designsecrets.nl/about-seizoen-3
and an editorial here:
📰 https://www.bestinteriors.nl/marije-richards/

I loved my profession deeply. Architecture will always be part of me.
But somewhere along the way, something started to whisper louder than the applause —a quiet longing for meaning....

Because what I truly loved was never just the structure. It was the feeling of a space i brought into — the light, the silence between the walls, the human story behind every detail. I created designs that connected the bridge between experiences, local handcraft, cultural visions and natural hertiage.  It was the soul  who built it.
That invisible harmony between purpose and place.

At some point, I needed to find that feeling again. Not only to design in the Netherlands.  So I left the offices, the drawings, the endless deadlines,
and started to travel and work all over the world — sometimes on my motorbike, sometimes alone, often far from civilization, guided only by curiosity and intuition.

Through those journeys I discovered what I have always been inspirated by:
truth in simplicity. A handmade bungalow overlooking the sea.
A locally crafted villa built from love instead of luxury. But even the luxury places that were build with stories, passion, and love for the shape and stories of architecture.
The kind of places that remind you that beauty doesn’t just need perfection — it needs presence.

That is how KOROOTS was born:
as a bridge between my background in design and my devotion to the essence of life.
Today I document soulful architecture, local craftsmanship and spaces that carry spirit.
I travel with my camera and my heart as compass — capturing the soul of places and the people who create them.

I believe in collaboration

Because collaboration is a form of respect.
It’s what happens when two visions meet — one that creates, and one that sees.
It’s where architecture becomes emotion, and storytelling becomes connection.

In every project, I want to listen first:
to the rhythm of a place, to the dream of its creator, to the silence that holds it together. Only then can I translate what’s already there.

My background in architecture taught me precision, proportion and patience.
Travel taught me humility, intuition and the language of energy.
And together, they shaped how I now move through the world —
not to build more, but to witness more deeply.

Because beauty, to me, is not something you design.
It’s something you remember.

Their Story. Our Story. Your Story.

We all create — homes, ideas, experiences, art.
And when our stories meet, they remind us that we’re never separate;
we’re all part of the same great design.

So whether it’s a locally built villa, a remote eco stay, or a simple wooden hut by the sea — if it carries a soul, I want to honor it. Not to sell it, but to let the world feel it.

Video's on youtube: https://youtube.com/shorts/XKonnd0hug0?si=OdwfOQbnT9jNpXbp

📸 www.marijerichards.com
🌿 www.koroots.store/pages/travel
📱 @koroots.journeys

💫 “I don’t just design anymore — I also listen, and translate what beauty already whispers.”