About us

Hi there! My name is Leen and I’m the mother of two amazing children, Frederik and Victoria. 

Before I became a parent, I had never heard of Montessori.  

When I started a family, I wanted the very best for my children, as every parent does. But in my opinion ‘the best’, was something different than ‘the norm’. I wasn’t just going to raise my children the way everybody does it or the way I was raised. I wanted to do it intentionally. 

I also didn’t think our school system was the optimal way to prepare them for a successful future in a world we don’t know yet. I think traditional schools still put too much emphasis on the reproduction of facts and too little on acquiring skills like communication, cooperation, critical thinking, creation, independence, entrepreneurship,... 

So I started my search for the best way to give children an optimal start in life. I  scoured the internet and read a lot of scientific and popular articles and books on the subject. I am a bio-engineer and a pharmacist, I wasn’t scared of a good literature review.  

And soon I found Montessori. The thoughts behind this pedagogy really resonated with me. The more I read about the Montessori method the more enthusiastic I got. 

There were no Montessori schools in my area and I considered homeschooling and even starting my own school. But in the end we decided to send the children to a traditional school across the street and I would apply the Montessori principles at home. 

I quickly found blogs and communities online that were doing Montessori at home, but the Montessori furniture and materials I saw them using were totally unavailable in Europe at the time. I could create some things myself, but I wasn’t a woodworker or anything like that.

I was convinced that I wasn’t the only parent looking for a place to buy the things you need for a Montessori home. So I started Manine Montessori, where I gathered the best Montessori materials for families. And soon people from all over the world found my webshop.

Not long afterwards I began producing Montessori furniture under the Manine Montessori brand and now I’m selling it to other stores as well. 

Manine Montessori is always evolving and I hope to keep improving it, so I can be of service to more and more families worldwide.    

Feel free to contact me with questions or comments:

hello@manine-montessori.com

+32 (0) 495 67 08 98