(enchanting orchestral music) (paper rustles) - The motto "every woman is the architect "of her own fortune" is actually a play on the motto "every man is the architect of his own fortune," which was a Dutch motto at the time that I discovered.
I chose it and I altered it because I wanted to think about the women of this society at the time and this idea of how much or how little we are in control of our own lives.
The best you can do is try and try and make yourself the architect of your own fortune, but whilst also understanding that there are just some things out of your control.
(dramatic, mysterious piano music) - You're reading my mind now.
- "I fight to emerge" was a Zeelandian motto, so Zeeland is a part of Holland.
The original use of the motto was very much a kind of nationalistic, we're strong, we're Dutch, we're gonna rise out of the sea, we're gonna build our land, but I used it more as a kind of self-actualizing, empowering message that the Miniaturist wanted to send to Nella.
You fight, and you will emerge, and you will succeed.
(paper rustles) "Things can change" is used sometimes in backgammon and in board games in the Dutch Golden Age.
It's this idea of one minute you're up, and the next minute you're down, and that's life.
(dice rattle) I used it because I wanted Nella to sort of have that reassurance from the Miniaturist that things would get better, but that also, life is constantly in flux.
(paper rustles) "Don't let sweet weapons stray."
I made this one up, (laughs) which is a hint, a kind of mysterious hint from the Miniaturist to Nella to think about the sugar.
So, Johannes is a sugar merchant.
He's got a lot of sugar to sell, and it's moldering in their warehouse.
They're not doing anything about it, and it's a kind of a reminder to Nella.
There's something that she can use.
She's got sweet weapons, and she can use them for her own benefit or use them for her family's protection.
(enchanting orchestral music)
