SMIB WORLDWIDE is a platform which found form in the southeast of Amsterdam. De Bims, or the Smib, a name people from there are more familiar with, is the name we started to label our art with. A couple of years later, the platform consists of different disciplines such as the music industry, clothing and literature. While the platform started in a small neighbourhood in Amsterdam, the focus is on the whole world.
GRGY
Georgy Jan Hendrik Dendoe
at the time the article was written Georgy was 22 years old
Georgy likes to surround himself with ambitious people just like himself. He is a busy bee, chaotic, but genuinely friendly. He is easily distracted and is constantly texting or on the phone. He finds himself accidentally making six appointments at the same time, but it doesn’t matter because everyone gets along. He tells everyone that he almost completed his collection of Japanese cartoons he has been collecting since he was eight years old. This is an example of how he seems comfortable around everyone, and confident about who he is. “I am 90% myself. Nobody is a 100% themselves; that’s not possible. But I am very much myself, always.”
He is one of the people – if not the one – that made SMIB happen. It is something he has been working on for years, but he never really had people he could work with. It really started when he met Ray Fuego, who gave him confidence and was the first like-minded person he met who was also from the Bijlmer. He is also one of the few people within SMIB that moved out of his parents’ house. In his small room in the attic of a big old Amsterdam canal house, he has been working on the SMIB fashion label. Georgy produced music, illustrated all the logos, managed their social media and much more. He wants SMIB to grow larger independently, without being signed by a record label or business that already has a name, so they can stay authentic. He proudly shares that he just had his first customer in Japan, proving that hard work pays off.
Georgy explains that he didn’t really like living in the Bijlmer when he was younger, “I was kind of a weird kid.” He dressed very differently from others and people couldn’t really accept that. He had trouble with the street attitude a lot of people took, where people constantly try to intimidate each other, especially if you look or act differently. At the same time, acting tough is something that he also appreciates. “Growing up here gives you kind of an attitude, which is also nice because it does make you a stronger person.” There are a lot of people that respond quite negatively when he tells them where he grew up, and say that it is a ghetto or a scary neighbourhood they never go to. “If people react that way, I already know what type of people they are: people who have an opinion about things they don’t know anything about.”
One of Georgy’s goals is to change the negative stereotype the Bijlmer is associated with: “I am sure that Ray and I had an influence on the fact that, suddenly, people want to come over to the Bijlmer, and shoot video clips and photos, or just hang here. The Bijlmer is an awesome place.” Another goal he has is to become a positive role model for every creative person in The Netherlands. He wishes that more people would do things they really like, rather than follow trends. Every young and ambitious creative is SMIB, he says, “SMIB is not a group; it is a mindset. It is not just The Bijlmer anymore.” He thinks it is time that the young people take over: “It is time for change.”
