... Many Dutch people think of the HEMA as an expression of Dutch culture in the same way that IKEA might be considered to be an expression of Swedish culture. The HEMA is a store that sells normal stuff for the folks that consider themselves to represent the norm. The products are of good quality and the HEMA goes to some length to ensure that they are produced ethically. HEMA products (home, kitchen, office, food) are both folksy and ‘designed’ in a formal language that after 20 years can sometimes git up yer nose with its relentless practicality and cultivated quirkyness. HEMA design products are so ubiquitous that there are very few Dutch people, and by ‘them’, I mean ‘me’, that do not own that famous tea kettle that is considered Dutch enough that a corporate entity paid to have it immortalised on a postage stamp...