Traces of Her - Henriette Van Baren, Echoes of motherhood

June 12, 2025

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By Odessa Beres With Sophie Van Balen for Mmoire, photographed on film by Frederik Schut May 6, 2025 - Henriette’s apartment, Amsterdam Jordaan

TRACES OF HER

At Mmoire, we wanted to offer something special for Mother’s day. Tired of the generic and lifeless marketing push that we are so often presented with, we decided to flip the usual script and tackle this celebration from another perspective, motherhood. The Cambridge dictionary defines motherhood as the state of being a mother, we would like to introduce it to you as a journey.

To celebrate mothers, we created our newest series, traces of her, an ode to all mothers, without judgment. Traces of her consisted of three simple steps. First of all a creative kit, sent to all participants, inviting them to put pen to paper with a drawing, a poem or a reflection to reflect on motherhood and their own journey. Secondly an at home photoshoot by the talented Frederik Schut bringing to life all the emotions shared. And lastly, an honest interview, understanding their experience as mothers, for this, Henriette Van Baren shared some precious insight.

SALT, SUN AND BEGININGS

Henriette’s story begins in the very city she later chooses as home. Though life would carry her to new places, her story begins in Amsterdam, the city she would one day return to and call home. She was born there. Then, from the age of five, moved within the region closer to the sea. She recalls a beach house childhood, cradled by scented memories of fresh cut grass and salty air.

BUILDING A LIFE

Today, Henriette is a busy brand strategist and designer:

“I’m a brand strategist and designer. I work mostly with product based brands, and I help them with creating the brand strategy, brand identity, packaging, and e-commerce website.”

Her work is precise, creative, and rooted in passion and dedication, much like the life she was about to build with Joost, her partner, whom she met through close friends.Whithin a year, they embark on a thrilling adventure together.

“After only one year we moved to New York together! A great adventure and start of our life together.”

Eventually, they returned to the Netherlands, more certain of themselves and ready for the next chapter. They had a beautiful wedding in 2021. Marriage brought with it a deepening sense of partnership, but the road to motherhood didn’t unfold easily or all at once. For Henriette, becoming a mother carried a weight of reflection, shaped by her own experiences and silences from the past.

ROAD TO MOTHERHOOD

In the absence of inspiring precedent, there were moments of doubt, of wondering whether she could chart a new path for herself and her future daughter. The journey to pregnancy was not immediate, but when it happened, when she learned that she and Joost were expecting a girl, something shifted.

“I finally got pregnant and I found out we were having a girl, I realised how much I had wanted a daughter. And somehow all my insecurities about motherhood vanished with the birth of Ella, a whole new world opened up.”

Building this connection, giving life, with Ella’s birth, the uncertainty was replaced by something simpler, purer: love, and a profound sense of connection.

“I think it’s so special to have a daughter,” she tells us, pausing for a moment. “It’s hard to put into words. But she puts a smile on my face every day, even if it’s a dark day. And that changed my life forever.”

Now, motherhood is not a role Henriette performs, but a relationship she lives and grows within, one that allows her to shape her own chapter, slowly, gently, and entirely on her own terms.

THE SCENTS ASSOCIATED WITH THIS JOURNEY

When asked about the scents that mark her motherhood, Henriette doesn’t hesitate.

“When I think about the early days of motherhood, I think of the scent of a newborn, which is very, very special,” she reflects. “I remember wanting to smell my little baby all the time when she was just born."

There’s a tenderness in the way she speaks of it, not as nostalgia, but as presence. Even now, years later, there are small rituals that tether scent to memory.

“I still really enjoy it when I’ve just washed her hair just putting my nose on her head and taking in her smell. It’s like a quiet joy.”

Motherhood has smoothly shifted Henriette’s relationship to fragrance. During pregnancy, she became hypersensitive to smell, as most women, and removed most scents from her home

“I even asked Joost to stop wearing fragrance,” she laughs. These days, she prefers subtlety. “I use less perfume now. Your sense of smell changes, and so does your awareness of it. I gravitate toward fresh, natural smells. Nothing too strong or sweet.”

When asked what she hopes Ella will carry with her through scent, Henriette smiles.

“Maybe the smell of fresh linen, or going outside in the morning and smelling the dew on the leaves.” There’s a calmness to the life they’ve created together, quiet mornings, fresh air, small spoons of milk from her mother’s coffee cup. “We always have coffee together in the morning. She has her little wooden cup. We sit down, and it’s our thing.”

For Henriette, fragrance is less about adornment and more about grounding.

“Sur Arize is my favorite fragrance from Mmoire. It’s a really nice and grounded smell. I love the natural influences of it. It feels like the scent can really transport you to another place, if you just close your eyes.”

It’s clear that for Henriette, motherhood is not something that can be pinned down to one moment, one gesture, or one scent. It’s in the fresh air that pours through an open window, the quiet clink of two coffee cups, the softness of a head just out of the bath. It’s in the traces subtle, but unforgettable.

All in all, Henriette’s story reminds us that motherhood is not a fixed image or inherited script, it is a path we carve ourselves. Her journey speaks to the quiet resilience it takes to build something beautiful without a blueprint. Motherhood is not defined by perfection, but by presence. It’s found in the small, unspoken rituals. Morning coffees shared with little hands, and with time and patience, crafting a bond with Ella grounded in intention, presence, and joy. It tells us something quietly radical: legacy is not only what we receive, it is what we choose to create.