Wim Plijnaar also started at Hotel Mitland at the very bottom at a young age. For some 45 years he has been active there, most of which
most of which he was responsible for human resources and the interior design of the hotel. Now he still works there 10 to 20 hours every week. Because there must be enough time left for the passions he shares with his wife Liesbeth: art and culture, both passively enjoying and actively practicing.
Attached to his house in Langbroek, Wim has had a spacious studio built where he can indulge his love of painting and sculpture as a creative artist. Both art forms have been late vocations in the life of the youngest of the Plijnaar brothers. "But all my life I have been creative," Wim explains. "I always wanted to learn everything, wanted to know everything about cooking and baking from my mother, was always working on new creations for my room, eight years I had piano and singing lessons and was in a choir."
Van Wijnhoven, Scrolla and Roos
About 15 years ago, Wim was offered modeling lessons with artist Lea van Wijnhoven by a close friend. From then on, his passion revived and he created, among other things, his collection "Carnaval des animaux," large round minimalist animals made of clay, special glaze and gold leaf. During a vacation, Wim and Liesbeth discovered the work of Spanish painter Joaquin Sorolla. After that "discovery," Wim turned to painting and developed in this art form. "And a few years ago in a restaurant we saw a sculpture by Eddy Roos, a great in Dutch sculpture," Wim remembers well. "We loved that and I boldly called him if I could take a master class with him. At one point we were welcome and attended a week-long workshop with him in Uithuizen. We were there with all these people who had done art school, but I think we got through it quite well." And so since then Wim has been active and productive not only as a painter, but also as a sculptor.
'Room boy'
Then, as a fourteen-year-old, his life looked very different. "Yes, then the bowling started and of course I had to help," Wim explains. "Washing dishes, helping in the kitchen, cleaning toilets and later behind the shoe bar in the bowling. And like my brothers, I also stood behind the reception desk. We got to know all facets of the business." At 19, he disappeared to Paris for a few months, where he worked in a hotel as a "room boy" and learned the French language in passing. After returning, Wim really got into the family business. "That expanded more and more," he says. "In the beginning we did everything ourselves, but with that growth we needed more and more staff. We all developed in the business and so at a certain point I got human resources, and later on that was added to the interior design." That personnel work was intensive, Wim has found. "At one point we employed more than 200 people and for them you are a kind of social worker. That's not a bad thing, because you have to be there for your people and that's what I wanted. And yes, then sometimes the phone rings on Saturday morning and there is someone with a problem. But oh well, I enjoyed doing it immensely and it always worked out in the end. Just before corona, however, I thought it was enough and took over human resources."
50 years of ups and downs
But now also for about 30 years Wim is responsible for the interior design and design of the company; with the expansions, the start of the restaurant, the various adjustments
over the years, not to mention the four themed suites Hotel Mitland has. "Ideas often came to me at fairs abroad and I got stuff from everywhere. But also from second-hand stores, from Marktplaats and for the Old Dutch Masters Suite I even used a Persian rug from my mother. And I designed a lot myself, such as the double clog bed and the tulip lamps for the Holland Design Suite." All the creativity notwithstanding, Wim never seriously considered making art his main profession. "Fortunately, he didn't have to," he says. "Much more importantly, we have been working together as brothers for some 50 years now. On the basis of mutual trust, we have always shared our joys and sorrows. And we still do so with pleasure. That's unique, isn't it?"