As a member of the
Modenus #BlogTourCGN Team I spent just one brief day in Amsterdam, it was the last day of
my #BlogTourCGN experience. From the moment we arrived at the train station it was a whirlwind walk thru the snow covered streets of Amsterdam. Our lovely tour guide and fellow blogger Louise de Miranda, author of the blog
30s Magazine, met us at the train station to help us navigate our way to our hotel. We dropped our bags off at our Hotel -
The College Hotel, and we were ready to explore Amsterdam. We gathered together and were joined by Nienke Zondervan, editor at
Eigen Huis & Interieur Magazine and Dutch bloggers
Patrick Kooiman and
Desiree, along with Louise to be our guides on our walk thru the streets of Amsterdam.
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| clockwise from top Nienke, map,Patrick,Desiree, Louise |
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We were giving a map and off we went...
Our first stop was Hotel Droog, and though the name implies it is a hotel it is in fact a one room hotel, surrounded by so much more.
It is a unique design store, an exclusive fashion store, a wonderful cosmetic & skin care boutique, a restaurant, a gallery, a garden and a hotel. A hotel with but one room at the top of several levels and flights of stairs to the top of the building overlooking the unique Amsterdam rooftops.
We toured through Hotel Droog where we saw and experienced some unique and unusual products and we were treated to tea and sweets in the Hotel's singular guest room/suite.
Thru the streets, over the bridges and past the bikes...
...we then made our way to a fun shop called
Frozen Fountain - a beautiful store filled with fun and funky stuff for the home. We all took a seat while Cok de Rooy, one of the owners spoke to us of how the Frozen Fountain store came to be and how they opened to be a shop where they would sell things as art or as a gift, how they help to organize a lot of exhibitions with designers and their products.
He explained to us that he is always impressed when a designer doesn't care about the pressure of trying to do something new, because new doesn't exist. He said that if you can show him something that is new then he is very curious, but in fact, there is always influence a designer is always standing with his feet in the time, and the better the designer the better he translate his style. And to in Mr. Rooy's words ... that is what is happening when you are looking at a good designer.
We then had an opportunity to take a quick look around, had a quick drink and a bit of cake and then we were off and walking...
Our next stop brought us to a
Moooi Amsterdam showroom.
Having just seen Moooi at Design Post in Cologne a few days prior, I was excited that Moooi's showroom was part of our walk thru Amsterdam tour. Moooi has to me a sort of quirky sometimes overscaled, colorful, bold and unique look and feel. I am new to Moooi though I know I will be admiring them for years to come....Bravo!
While in the Moooi showroom we had the pleasure of meeting one of their newest designers, Sjoerd Vroonland, who designed the extension chair for Moooi. It is more than just a chair, it is every bit as much a showpiece as it is a multi functional chair.
Off and walking, we left Moooi and headed out into the streets of Amsterdam to our next destination...
Store Without a Home ('SWAH') another fabulous interior design boutique filled with quirky, surreal items for your home.
We were treated to hot tea and coffee as we enjoyed out time seeing all the design treasures they had for sale. Each item I would spot in this store was even that much more fantastic then the next, out of the box sort of unusual and functional home decor. Great fun!
And then we were moving on to continue our walk thru Amsterdam and our next stop was
Sukha, a eco-friendly, clothing and home decor boutique in the center of Amsterdam. The clothing was impeccable and virtually all of the the items they sell have a sustainable background and are carefully selected by owner Irene Mertens. We had a nice glass of wine, spent some time enjoying Sukha, which means 'Joy' in Sanskrit and I agree Sukha is a bundle of joy!
When we left Sukha the sun had gone down and we were off and walking to our final destination for the day at
Hutspot, a concept store run by a group of young entrepreneurs.
The large store was filled with everything from clothes and shoes to artwork, their dog and even a vintage vespa! We met up with some other local bloggers and we had a chance to just sit down, rest our feet, enjoy a drink and visit with each other.
It was a long day, a lot of walking, amazing shops and fabulous new friendships. I felt like it was such a whirlwind and we only just saw a smidgen of all Amsterdam is. I can't wait to return and continue my walk thru Amsterdam....and next time I will also take a bike, a boat and a car...there is just so much to see, the architecture was amazing, the people were so friendly and I was truly enchanted.
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