Tag: amsterdam

SUNCULTURE Amsterdam // Sun Shades

Finally the sun started shining. That illusive, unidentified object that abandoned us for almost a year now at last has shown up. It’s there, in the sky, like it had never gone away, calling for us. Luring us out of our long-lasting winter dip. We can enjoy our drinks outside again, on a terrace or in the park. And… the festival season has started. Big time.

One thing you just simply have to fix before joining festivals and enjoying the sunshine is a prefect pair of sunglasses. The guys of SUNCULTURE Amsterdam think the same and figured out that Holland could do with some authentic models and new brands. A few days ago they launched their webshop and opened the little boutique at Quellijnstraat 80 where you can buy shades of HiTek, Sheriff & Cherry, Han, W/SÜN and more. The scandinavian brands actually set the tone: clean models of light and polished materials. Perfect for a long day of dancing and sipping on booze.

SUNCULTURE Amsterdam, Quellijnstraat 80, 1072XW Amsterdam, Netherlands

Hotel Droog

Many will know famous Dutch design brand Droog, but did you know the shop and showroom is launching its very first hotel concept on 16 September?

From this Sunday, Hotel Droog, although already visitable, will officially be open to the public. Featuring a number of shops (including Cosmania and Het Kabinet), a lunchroom and just one bedroom, can this really be called a hotel? Well, no but it was built more as Read more »

The Hotel of the Future

Last Wednesday, July 4th, I had the opportunity to stay and celebrate the opening at citizenM’s latest addition to the ever growing family, citizenM London Bankside. If you have ever stayed at one of their hotels in Amsterdam, you, like me, will be blown away with the change they have gone through to give us a better experience then they already did. It all starts in the lobby, where you check in with an automated system in less than 30 seconds. Technology at its best!

After check-in, you then notice the change they have made to their lobby. Unlike the two hotels in Amsterdam and Schiphol, you get a sense of home. Comfortable couches, tables and chars to work, or a place to grab a snack. It truly feels like a home away from home, but with citizens like your self. The bar has kept their love for cocktails, and the service is perfect. Also in the loch we find the courtyard. It is the first time they have built their rooms around an inner courtyard, giving a nice open feel to the hotel and the lobby. But what has really taken the hotel up a level is the great interior styled by BRICKS.  Read more »

Creative Amsterdam

We all love fashion and other creative disciplines like art, film and design. Besides that we find it inspiring, the creative industry is an indispensable source of innovation. Other sectors often use creative input in order to innovate. The creative industries are however extremely diverse and often perform at a low organisational level. Therefore the platform Creative Cities Amsterdam Area  (CCAA) was founded in 2007.

CCAA promotes and supports entrepreneurship in the creative industry. Thanks to their efforts there is now an online platform for creative minds from Amsterdam and surrounding municipalities. In their hall of fame you will find people like fashion illustrator Piet Paris, shoe designer Hester Vlamings, photographer Reinier van der Aart (also the official Modefabriek photographer) and Willa Stoutenbeek  & Marieke Eyskoot of MINT. CCAA functions as a help desk, where relevant information is available for entrepreneurs about subjects like finance, accommodation and training courses.

Besides this ‘one stop shop’ for information, CCAA also achieved some pioneering collaborations. For instance: they connected Damian Hirst to the Rijksmuseum. The result was that Hirst’s diamond skull was displayed in a museum for the first time ever. An international premier event for the Netherlands. The number of visitors to the Rijksmuseum on Museum Night broke all records.

At the 14th of june an international event launched the next step: the European Creative Industries Alliance. Within this platform 6 European cities work towards a framework where creativity is the innovator of the European economy. MINT’s Marieke spoke about cross-sectoral cooperation between fashion and sustainability. CCAA will continue at least until the end of 2012. Their good work is -amongst others- made possible by the Amsterdam Innovation Motor. AIM is also sponsor of MINT.

Dear Bookworms

Selling his vampire paintings as a little kid in his little self-made open-air gallery in front of Art Cologne (Germany) back in 1970, Benedikt Taschen already sensed on that books could open doors to different worlds. Ten years later he opened his first store TASCHEN COMICS. This, including Bene’s huge desire to be part of a world full of artist and free-minded spirits, turned into a publishing house starting with the realization of the first TASCHEN original publication: Picasso, 1985.

This all happening in the eighties, Benedikt got a helping hand from his talented punk mates, and together they laid foundation for the team that is now responsible for selling more than two thousand subsequent titles all over the world.

After Paris, New York, Los Angeles, London, Berlin, Copenhagen, Hamburg, Miami and Brussels, at last the city of Amsterdam will be enriched by a brand new TASCHEN store. A place where one can hang out for visual pleasures, absorb, ponder, and get absorbed. A place where one can meet Mario Testino and Kate Moss, LaChapelle, Helmut Newton, 100 contemporary fashion designers…

Books really, still are the best thing you can buy for yourself or anyone else. Who ever tries to convince you that books will disappear only to become scrolling pages on screens is forgetting about a few things. Let’s think for a second about the smell of new paper and ink, the sound of flipping pages. The feeling of tiny little bumps when you move your fingers from left to right reading about your favorite artist, or the texture whilst discovering a photograph so beautifully printed that you forget for a few seconds that you’re standing in a quiet shop, on a very busy shopping street, in a big buzzing city saturated by people, hurdy-gurdy’s, manic shoppers, car horns, bicycle bells, city noises and din. And there you stand, hot and sweaty. With the huge desire of taking that book with you so you can discover it again when no one is around.

…Ahum. I do have to admit, I have a huge weakness for art books. As well because they are clean in their aesthetics. Completed and done. No links to other books, no menu bars, un-expected sounds and adverts, poker competition pop-ups and other visual noises and din. No distractions at all. Everything you see is suppose to be exactly at that certain place. Shot, edited, designed, produced, printed and published. Ready to be lived and loved.

 TASCHEN opened the twelfth store on 19^th of September 2011 on P.C. Hooftstraat 44, Amsterdam.

The wonderful world of Nummer 9

It does not happen very often that stores in Amsterdam give you the feeling of international allure and service. However, when you look hard enough, there are a few gems out there that know exactly what the modern customer is looking for. Behold Nummer 9: a store in the center of Amsterdam with a selection of the most amazing young brands, excellent service and an interior that made me feel like I was in a high end New York boutique all over again. Nummer 9 is everything a boutique should be: genuine, unpretentious, to the point and ready to make you succeed. The fact that the owner is only 25 and really knows what she’s talking about makes the whole shopping experience even better. You won’t understand my enthusiasm until you’ve actually paid a visit to the store, so my advice would be just that. Afterwards we can talk and gush about the brands together!