Reinder Nijhoff

I’m a creative coder and software engineer based in Utrecht. Currently, I work at Monks (since 2015), where I work on interactive 3D and web projects for global clients. In my spare time, I build platforms that let other people make things with code.

Eigen is a privacy-focused, European alternative to Google Workspace where you own your data. Six months in, it has ten apps: mail, drive, docs, sheets, slides, calendar, contacts, chat, kanban and admin. Real-time collaboration where it makes sense, IMAP and CalDAV for external clients, per-user file-based storage. More in the blog posts about building it and six months later.

I’m now looking for the right home for the project: an organization, foundation or company that wants to adopt Eigen, or people with experience growing open-source and public-interest tech projects. I’m not attached to keeping ownership and I’m not looking for money. I want Eigen to exist and to work.

If that sounds like you, or you know someone, please reach out at [email protected].

Update: Eigen is open source now (https://github.com/eigen-is/eigen)! Have a look at the code and install your own Eigen instance on your server.

I tend to build platforms rather than one-off projects. What they share is restriction (a small API, a single shader, a square canvas). By offering a restrictive environment, I hope to stimulate creativity.

I build these for the love of making things. If you want to sponsor me or buy me a coffee, it is much appreciated. More than anything, I value your feedback.

Some past work: a real-time Wolfenstein ray tracer in WebGL1 (2019), The Uncensored Library in Minecraft (with DDB Berlin for Reporters Without Borders), and third place at JS1k 2014 with a 1024-byte Minecraft renderer.