Bastiaan Spil grew up in Indonesia. He was one of the few Dutch kids who spent his whole youth in Indonesia, surrounded by the Javanese culture. As a toddler he was already in touch with furniture and the local crafts. He built secret hideouts among the cardboard boxes and products of his mother’s furniture company. He was an observing, dreamy kid that was always drawing. In high school design and graffiti gave way to his urge to express and explore creative boundaries.

On his eighteenth he went back to his “second motherland” - the Netherlands- to attend university. The Netherlands had always been a mysterious distant land of chocolate sprinkles, raw herring, playing outside and a variety of seasons. After getting his degree in Economics and Law he felt a strong longing to develop his creativity further and applied for the academy of Arts to study Illustration.

After his life chapter in the Netherlands Bastiaan returned to Indonesia where he began designing custom and white label furniture. The experience and positive response to his products gave him the boost to establish his own brand through which he could express his own perspective on interior and tell his own unique story about the shapes, possibilities and crafts behind the products. This was the final step that bridged the gap between what he had learned in the west with his experiences growing up in Indonesia. Elements was born.