The first time Frances and Dave Shoemack moved to Amsterdam in 2011, they were 27 and had neither plans nor jobs.
The Wellington couple picked the city on a hunch that they could find English-speaking work, and because “everyone rides bikes there”.
What was meant to be a year or two turned into nine.
They returned to Wellington in December 2019 with two sons and a natural perfume business in tow.
Frances had left winemaking to found Abel in Amsterdam in 2013. The business has grown steadily, then fast since a relaunch last year: up 93.3% so far this year against the same period in 2025, and more than 150% in the US.
This year Dave Shoemack took over as chief executive, after four and a half years running Wellington trap maker Goodnature and, before that, a marketing career including Heineken and Amsterdam e-bike company VanMoof.
“Frances is a fantastic founder CEO, but she was also trying to do that alongside effectively being the creative director and working on product development. At a certain point it was too much,” he said.
“Her superpowers are really on that brand and product side.”
Back to Amsterdam
In June the family moved back to the Netherlands to sit closer to their customers and the investors they will pitch for a Series A early next year.
Shoemack is talking from an office in a regenerating pocket of Amsterdam, in what was once a tyre factory, now surrounded by warehouses turned workshops and studios. There is a cafe out the window and a gastropub down the road, with the city centre a 20-minute bike ride away.
When the family returned to Aotearoa in 2019, they thought it was for good.
“It’s quite funny, when you’re from New Zealand and you’re living in the Netherlands, people are like, ‘but why are you here? New Zealand is so beautiful’.”
The boys were 3 and 5, a stage where most Amsterdam families move out to the suburbs.
“At that point, we were like, well, if we’re moving out of the city, we’d far rather move back to New Zealand than live half an hour outside of Amsterdam.”
They settled in Wellington, got a dog and enjoyed the ocean and trails they had missed in Amsterdam.
The decision for Dave to become Abel’s chief executive and relocate his family happened after a board meeting in November last year.
Frances had returned from an overseas tour of the brand’s markets and told the board that being so far from the business’ main markets and having teams in two different places was holding the company back.
The couple, both directors, had not discussed it beforehand.
Investors had been suggesting for a while that Dave take the chief executive job, freeing Frances to move to the creative side.
“So it was this crazy meeting where we finished it, and then we were like, oh my God, are we actually doing this?”
They took a week to work through the family side. They worried about moving their sons, Rufus and Arthur, now 12 and 10, again.
Both boys had spoken Dutch as small children and lost it in New Zealand.
But they were enthusiastic about the move, choosing to attend Dutch schools over international ones. Rufus is the only non-Dutch speaker in his class.
“So he’s in the deep end,” Dave said. He wants to be a writer.
“He knows that to be a good writer, you need to have good stories. So I think he’s embracing that. He’s making a story for himself.”
The sticking point was the dog. Sherlock, a vizsla, loves to run in nature.
The family decided Sherlock should stay in New Zealand and the company’s insurance broker agreed to home the dog while the family is away. He sends photos every few days.
Moving a family and a business while starting a new job has been a lot of change at once.
They have no car and little support network. But as soon as they arrived, they bought new bikes for the four of them from the nearest shop.
The boys are loving the freedom to bike everywhere, sampling different tastes and exploring the local culture.
Closer to the money
Two of the New Zealand staff relocated with the family, and every Abel employee is now based in Amsterdam.
“The New Zealand part of the business is strong, but 80% of our business is in the northern hemisphere, so Europe, UK and US,” Shoemack said.
The parent company stays registered in New Zealand, with a Dutch BV employing the staff.
The Dutch and Kiwis are more alike than people assume, including a shared suspicion of anyone doing too well, he said.
But the Dutch are more direct, which took a while to get used to.
“At first, you feel like they’re kind of being brutal or, or almost like they’re being mean. But actually they’re just being honest.”
The Kiwi polite edging can get lost in translation there. Once Dave thought he had been hard on a local staff member in a performance review, only to realise the employee had experienced the review as positive.
“I thought, oh my God, I was so mean and so horrible,” he said.
“It took me six months to realise that they forgot about the thing I had said they weren’t doing well because I had sandwiched it between two compliments, which is what they remembered.”
Going home, the couple had to wind it back a little.
“We had to be careful that we didn’t come across as being too Dutch and too direct because it also could be that we sort of appeared brutal. But we also tried to find the balance there because Kiwis also respond really well to honesty, and to directness.”
Three years, at least
The Shoemacks miss their dog and family the most, as well as the ocean, Wellington’s trails and cheese scones.
The family will be in Amsterdam for at least three years, as long as it takes to get the business where they want it and as long as everyone is happy.
“New Zealand’s always home. So for sure we’ll be home one day,” he said.
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