Ham (Willem), Hammetje Castle

In 1992 Willem Ham, who singlehandedly constructed a castlelike structure on his property near Amersfoort in the Netherlands, was interviewed for a dutch TV program that dealt with "special people". In december 2012 a video of this interview has become available on YouTube.

In the first 1.5 min of the interview Willem Ham talks about his "castle". Since the text is in Dutch, I here offer a transcript in english of this part of the video.

It is interesting because Willem Ham in this short interview mentions the characteristics that in general relate to creators of outsider environments:

-being retired they do not want to stay idle;

-they use discarded materials;

-they have no prior professional training in creative activities;

and with respect to those who make built structures:

-they have no preconceived plan but follow what they have seen in their dreams and/or imagination

Transcript

"This is Fort Willem 1 and Fort Willem 2. I have constructed these with materials that someone else will discard, old bricks, scrap materials...

I had stopped working and I had my furniture store handed over to my sons, then you have nothing to do, and I thought, damn, I will go fiddling a little over here, I am not one to sit quietly.

When I visited the nearby dump, I thought, wow, these stones are beautiful, that's nice rubbish, from this you can build something nice.

So firstly I collected various materials, and fourteen days later I was busy bricklaying, although I had never had a trowel in my hands.

The idea arose in the night, just in my imagination, when you are thinking in the dark, about what to make. Then I have seen this in my imagination and I have obliged myself to keep this in mind.

The constructions have been made, so to say, somewhat in opposition to Amersfoort. The city has been designated to grow significantly and is approaching alarmingly fast. So .....( text not understandable....he shuts the window)..... the enemy is approaching...."

(the rest of the interview, dealing with the animals, has not been transcribed)

added to OEE-texts dec 2012