Welcome to Heritage Standard
On the craft, faith, and daily order that formed European civilisation, and how to recover them.
No one taught you the order that built the world you live in. Heritage Standard does.
Most of what surrounds you was built by people with a framework you were never given.
The Eucharistic fast shaped the commercial fishing industry. Dutch guild law anchored regional identity for four centuries. Austrian tailoring houses transmitted a standard intact through five generations… until they lost it.
You were never taught what held any of it together, or what broke it. Heritage Standard does.
‘Awesome publication. That has growing potential. Robbert writes about interesting topics, such as Dutch history and culture or higher European culture in general. I learned interesting facts from many articles, such as how linen was produced in Holland, a cloth I thought would have been produced somewhere in the Near East.’ — Nanne, NL 🇳🇱
‘The idea that craftsmanship was never about style but about submission to form — that feels true. The standard comes first, and the maker grows to meet it. That is something in very real danger of becoming lost.’ — Vincent, UK 🇬🇧
‘Where has this account been all my (social media) life?’ — Homber, NL 🇳🇱
‘It’s clear the author is a man who understands quality when he sees it. What strikes me is the same thing everywhere — a management elite replacing people who knew their craft from the ground up.’ — Kar, UK 🇬🇧
‘Great weekly articles. Enjoying it.’ — Zeno, NL 🇳🇱
‘Realised how little we are taught about the actual foundations of Western and European culture. I’ve been trying to end my days of being a ‘cultuurbarbaar’ ever since.’ — Constantijn, NL 🇳🇱
‘I am glad I found you. Thank you for your work, which is very much appreciated.’ — Paul, UK 🇬🇧
‘I’d read a book about all of this if you made one’ — Mauro, GER 🇩🇪
‘Enjoying your Substack. I know very little about the history of the Dutch in North America — a bit embarrassing for someone born and raised in what once was Nieuw Amsterdam.’ — Paul, USA 🇺🇸
The Diagnosis (free subscribers)
Each week an essay names something that was lost, dismantled, or quietly replaced. Craft, liturgy, architecture, comportment. You will learn to see what most people walk past.
The Formation (paid subscribers)
The paid essay goes further: How to dress with intention. How to read a city. How to keep Holy Week. How to give your year a shape. Observation becomes practice.
What you are reading toward…
Hidden order: The Catholic and institutional infrastructure that built the world people inhabit without knowing it.
The Dutch standard: A concrete historical case study in what ordered civilisation looks like, and what its collapse looks like.
Made things: Craft, architecture, dress, material quality. How things are made reflects how a society thinks about permanence.
How to live: Comportment, daily order, seasonal rhythm. What the other three themes demand of a person in practice.
Popular posts
WORK WITH ME
Your brand has a genuine craft story. Most people telling it do not understand what that means: because they were not trained to see it.
But I was: at Hermans Schoenen, Edward Green, Crockett & Jones, Zegna, Montblanc. I spent years inside heritage retail learning to distinguish what is real from what performs being real. That is what I bring to the brands I write for.
If you are a founder or heritage brand with a story worth telling, I ghostwrite on X and Substack.