I’ve spent more of my life in a van than a house

IF there was ever a man with the credentials to design a van tailored for comfort and utility, Jan Peter Nagel fits the bill.

Jan is from Berlin and at a young age he was an Event Technician and spent years building stages.

“I’ve always loved making things and in 2000 I bought a van. This is long before van life was ever a thing! Only weird people were travelling around in vans then – like kite surfers and climbers!”

Jan first travelled around Germany in his van, then decided to take the long western coastline of Europe all the way down to the Canaries where he ultimately stayed for seven years, living the beach life, and was even a hotel receptionist for a while.

“Being a receptionist required being very conservative, with a tie and my hair slicked back,” he says, as he gestures to his dread-locks, “but I quite enjoyed it.”

He lived the surfer life mostly.

“I have basically spent more of my life in vans than in houses since 2000!”

Jan decided on moving to somewhere he’d never been, which took him to Ireland.

“I knew nothing about Ireland at the time but I really enjoy it here so I stayed!”

He’s been in Ireland for 13 years now and initially he worked in Apple as tech support.

“I decided I had to change as I didn’t want to spend my life staring at a computer, so I took on commission work. Everything! From laying floors to hanging doors… I was then asked to convert a van and enjoyed doing it so much, I thought I should attempt a business out of this!”

A self-professed nomad craftsman, Jan seemed perfectly poised to combine his van life experience and his technical craftsman skills into his business, Unfollow.ie.

I met with him in his workshop on the edge of a cliff near Coolmain Beach, near Kilbrittain. He gave me the guided tour of his creation, paying acute attention to every detail.

I could sense the deep experience from many years of van life materialising into his vision.

The van is a left-hand-drive, DHL postal van from Germany that he imported.

“But apparently 70% of camper vans in Ireland are left hand drive. I could have used another van, but I can tell you the quality is just not as good!” he said

It’s a striking yellow!

Why the colour, I ask.

Jan laughs: “I’m not so good with colours and when I got it, it was already yellow and I thought that it was cool so I cleaned it up and now it’s yellow!”

The branding was done by a friend of his.

I asked about the business name, Why Unfollow?

“It’s an invitation. People seem to be following everyone these days, whether it’s YouTube van life people or Instagram influencers, I want to invite people to stay in the van and just unfollow for a few days. The funny thing now is I am asking people to follow my business online!”

His message wasn’t lost on me. His vision is to create a space for people to detach from the inundation of media we imbibe through our phones, to take his van for a few days and get lost with someone you care about, all the while enjoying the outdoors.

He rolled open the massive door.

“I really wanted to make sure the doors were huge because so many campers have these tiny little hatches and you’re either inside or outside. I want people to be able to open the door and be both inside and outside! Because, you know, in Ireland we get 20 minutes of sunshine and 10 minutes of rain!”

He has a shower built in with a toilet that comes out of a drawer to save on space. The water takes about 20 minutes to heat up and will give 75 degree water.

There is also an essential heater to endure Irish winters. The electricity runs off the engine and a solar panel. Jan-Peter has a gas cooker and a fridge freezer, all packed tightly into a kitchen unit. He was making a wine holder when I arrived.

The cabin is spacious and is designed to fit two people, with a massive storage area below the bed that could easily fit surf boards and mountain bikes. The back hatch also opens wide, adding to the indoor-outdoor feel.

There will be a minimum of four nights to book and August is already nearly full, but Jan-Peter plans to make this a year round venture.

He’s also hoping to get a second van prepared for the autumn – with the colour scheme still undecided.

If there is anyone who has the qualification to design a van tailored for comfort and utility, he fits the bill.

Find Jan-Peter and his creation on Instagram at Unfollow.ie