At the end of last year's Summer, the super inspirational multidisciplinary Japanese creative studio nendo created this beautiful retailconcept for ‚BACKYARD by | n’ — an original brand exclusive to the Japanese designer’s own products — located in the Seibu Sogo department stores in Tokyo’s Ikebukuro and Shibuya, and in the Yokohama Sogo space. BACKYARD refers both to a shop’s storage space or loading dock and a tiny paradise for children, an outdoor space for free play. The clean minimal white fixtures bring out the beautiful variety of the different products, but what we love most about the inspirational design are the plinths and in stands’ plywood, on which texture appears gradually towards the base, creating a very elegant aesthetic touch within the clean spaces. [ Continue reading ]
On the 24th of January inspirational force Maison Kitsuné will take up residence at number 68 rue Condorcet (9th arrondissement) in hometown Paris. Listed on the Inventory of Historical Monuments, the building in which the boutique will house was built in 1862 by the French architect Viollet-le-Duc. Conceived by Emiliano Salci and Britt Moran, of DIMORESTUDIO, the 70 m² venue welcomes both the men's and women's collections as well as a Café Kitsuné. Inspired by the universe of Maison Kitsuné and by a shared passion for detail and the mixing up of genres, DIMORESTUDIO unveils a warm and functional space where complimentary colours and textures, simple lighting and materials, symmetrical lines and volumes are core concepts. Shades of lapis blue and carmine red are given pride of place; the walls, floor and doorways are swathed in a satiny aluminium. Tables are rendered from stratified wood, blue and ivory, while the chairs in the Café Kitsuné are finished with amaranth fur. The all-dominating wood, in a variety of species and dimensions, has been recuperated and re-modelled to measure, creating an elegant environment in perfect Kitsuné style. We can't wait to visit! [ Continue reading ]
Last September the design studio of Jeroom Jansen and Bertel Grote; Grand & Johnson, celebrated the opening of their beautiful studio and a brand new accompanying store in the Amsterdam West-based new creative area named De Hallen. The area, a former tram depot, has been transformed into what is in the process of becoming the creative centre of that area of Amsterdam, housing a mix of cultural, culinary and creative initiatives like Filmhallen, Hallenstudio, House Of Denim and Foodcourt. Next to a great selection of Mendo books, the store offers Grand & Johnson's own designs, next to custom-made baths, cupboards and dressers. A beautiful selection of special and unique items which were hardly available in The Netherlands before, selected from around the world from places like Japan, Canada and Denmark. [ Continue reading ]
On the 20th of December, just before Christmas, Amsterdam-based The Playing Circle celebrated its second edition of their fascinating concept named The Loft. Where the first edition, last summer, was to be found on the the fifth floor of the Cristofori building located on the Prinsengracht, for their Winter edition they found a lovely location in the Vaudeville theater on the Singel in the heart of the Dutch capital. New within the whole concept is an online webstore where all of the products on display in the fully furnished apartment, which has the feel of somebody actually living there, are also for sale. It is The Playing Circle’s ambition to create a whole new home-retail experience in which one walks into an apartment which thoroughly will feel like someones home, but instead of just being able to marvel at it, now everything the eye meets is actually for sale. And we have to say; this second edition shows even more promise than last summer's debut, so make sure to see it in the coming days before it closes on the 4th of January, or when not in the position see the beautiful curation of products online. [ Continue reading ]
In 2009 Paul Smith opened this incredible store in Seoul, South-Korea, which still is one of the most interesting designs we've seen in a long time. Considering the fact that the store is located in Seoul's densely built Gangnam-gu district, Paul Smith has succeeded gracefully in making a lasting imprint within the urban environment. The extraordinary shape of the building is open to all interpretations, depending on the unique perspective of each customer or even by-passer. The suggested figure, intended to create different stories depending on people`s perspectives and interpretations, was actually the result of a design that was constrained by legal regulations and the ever-demanding Paul Smith, who at times must have driven the architects, Chanjoong Kim of the Kyung Hee University and Taek Hong of The__System Lab, insane by being just as demanding as the state's strict rules. The result is nonetheless or because of these extremely difficult preconditions an incredible building, reminding of the work of the master Antoni Gaudí or even the Dutch artist Joep van Lieshout. Unfortunately the store is now closed, but its beauty and story remain. [ Continue reading ]
Since the beginning of this year we have been working on some new, very exciting projects, among which is a little trip into the world of optics. A discipline far too complex to enter without proper experience, therefore we’ve combined forces with our good friend Bijan Azami, who has 33 years of experience under his belt. The last 12 years of this period he has been running Azami Optiek in the Dutch city of The Hague. In this period Bijan and his team at Azami have been passionate about finding those glasses that perfectly reflect the personality of the person wearing it. Every frame sold at Azami Optiek is custom made or selected to accentuate the contours of one’s face to perfection with designs that powerfully express inner and outer beauty, through the immaculate combination of craftsmanship and fashion. [ Continue reading ]
We are very grateful for everyone who had a share within the very first Our Current Obsession as without them we couldn't have realized it. Having introduced the main collaborator GERTRUD & GEORGE, some of the artists involved (with more to come), and ,The World of Black' in our space has been extended long and wide onto the online Our Current Obsessions environment, now it is time to give a proper insight into the other partners with which we’ve created the core of the extraordinary black selection of products for sale in our space on the Schippersgracht in Amsterdam. As these stores offer only the finest in their particular specialty we’ve named them Holland’s Finest, to which we owe a sincere debt of gratitude and feel honored to have collaborated with. [ Continue reading ]
Pure tea from around the world, hand-processed using different, traditional production methods, suitable for multiple hot or cold infusions, since its foundation in 2012 the remarkable Berlin-based Paper & Tea and its whole-leaf teas have gained an ever growing following among gourmets and a discerning lifestyle segment with a focus on creativity and healthy living. Up until now, P & T, along with its founder, Jens de Gruyter, have been pursuing their endeavor of promoting and making authentic tea culture accessible to a broader audience from the first Paper & Tea concept store in Berlin-Charlottenburg. The day after tomorrow P & T will open its second store in Berlin-Mitte, the heart of the city, innovatively building on its existing brand philosophy: allowing modern consumers to discover tea through a unique retail experience. The systematic way of presenting products, developed for the original concept store, has been adapted to match the fast-paced environment of the Alte Schönhauser Strasse, resulting in another inspirational store. [ Continue reading ]
Chamber is an exciting new boutique of limited edition design, objects and art, which opens today in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City. The space’s unique concept and retail experience is the vision of Argentinian-born Founder Juan Garcia Mosqueda. Critically acclaimed architectural practice MOS has designed the interior of the space. Taking the Renaissance-era Cabinet of Curiosities as its inspiration, Chamber will be a twenty-first century reliquary for unusual objects and a platform for design experimentation. Every two years, Garcia Mosqueda will choose a different designer or creative to curate the shop’s entire program, bringing their unique viewpoint to Chamber through specially commissioned works, and rare and vintage items. For the inaugural curatorial period, he has selected designers Studio Job, who are working closely with a dynamic group of established and emerging designers and artists to create Chamber Collection #1. [ Continue reading ]
Last Thursday, on the 18th of September, the exhibition named 'Sonic' opened in the Paris-based Fondation Pierre Bergé-Yves Saint Laurent. It takes a look at 15 years of Hedi Slimane's photographic musical archives, ranging from London to New York, with particular focus on the beautiful Californian cycle begun in 2007, from which came 'California Song', the exhibition at the MOCA / Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles in November 2011. In 'Sonic' studio portraits of highly influential and heroic rock figures like Lou Reed, Keith Richards, Pete Doherty, Amy Winehouse and Brian Wilson, stand alongside images of alternative scenes from London or California. The exhibition is completed with a video installation, juxtaposing the musical cycles of London (2003-2007) and California (2007-2014) in a documentary style, painting an alternative portrait of two generations of performers and their fans. This combination of two worlds; that of the icons of rock and roll and on the other side the rock and roll to be found in everyday life, exemplifies Slimane's unique creative vision and masterful observations from which all his work, whether as Artistic Director in fashion or as a photographer, stems. Make sure to visit whenever in Paris! [ Continue reading ]
On the 29th of August a new inspirational Culture CHANEL exhibition opened, the successor of the exhibition in Paris last year, this time in the highly impressive Dongdaemun Design Plaza in Seoul, Korea. Each of the exhibition's ten sequences, which were curated by Jean-Louis Froment, acts as a particular landmark in Mademoiselle Chanel's life story. More than 500 pieces including photographs, books, objects, manuscripts, archives and artworks along with fashion, jewelry, watch and perfume creations retrace the life story of the legendary designer who left an enduring mark on her time. In a stunning and therefore very fit context the exhibition retraces the fascinating adventures of the designer and her brand whose language undeniably still is synonymous with modernity and creativity. [ Continue reading ]
What started as the creation of a weekend house of architect Manuel Aires Mateus ended as one of the most beautiful retreats we have seen in a long time, named Casas na Areia, located one hour south of Lisbon, in Comporta, Portugal. The beautiful region is known for the magnificent white sandy beaches, the wine, fresh fish, the rice paddies and the pine trees. It's integrated on the natural reserve of river Sado, home to a great variety of wild life such as flamingos, storks and dolphins, but also one of the best places in Portugal for bird watching, with 100 different species to be seen in just 1 day. Next to this, the design of Casas Na Areia is simply mind-blowing, making it the perfect place to forget about everything and find peace of mind. [ Continue reading ]
We love this beautiful and insightful film by London-based director William Williamson for DAZED named 'The Silent Conversation'. The aesthetic and gripping short looks into the relation between the people of Lahore, Pakistan, and everyday fashion. As well as visualising the feel of garments and textiles and the importance of clothes-making in Pakistan, the film explores how clothing fits into Pakistan’s strong traditions; traditions that are also being broken. In a country where people are standing up more and more against harsh social mores that ask for countless restrictions, fashion becomes more than a means to dress up and look nice. As shown through the examples of female police women and transvestites in the film, fashion is used as a tool to express authority, individuality and boldness, which is tremendously captured by Williamson, who also created a tremendous soundtrack for the imagery. [ Continue reading ]
It is a really good year for one of Amsterdam's more visible entrepreneurs: Casper Reinders. After opening a beautiful new gallery earlier this year, this month he opened yet another restaurant, his tenth, named Nacional. The bistro style restaurant, which is a collaborative effort of Reinders and partners Dobson and Uzcudun, aims to give new élan to one of the more sleazy squares of Amsterdam's city center, the Leidseplein, offering French cuisine with a modern New York-twist. Nacional's spacious interior, somewhat in line with the new Libertine Gallery, shows an eclectic mix of vintage, art and design, among which is a tremendous huge specimen of Piet Parra's beautiful Cold figure, which was released by CASE STUDYO in miniature size last month. The restaurant can handle as many as 140 guests with its surface of 460 m², making Nacional a little piece of New York right in the middle of Amsterdam. [ Continue reading ]
Today the Amsterdam-based The Playing Circle will celebrate the official opening, or housewarming like they address it themselves, of its latest interesting project called The Loft. On the fifth floor of the beautiful Cristofori building located on the Prinsengracht a fully furnished apartment has elegantly been created in which everything one finds in it is for sale. From design furniture, the vintage accessories, the books on the shelves, to the plants one finds in The Loft: if you like it you'll take it home. The Playing Circle's ambition is to create a whole new home-retail experience in which one walks into an apartment which thoroughly will feel like someones home, but instead of just being able to marvel at it now for one whole month everything the eye meets is actually for sale. [ Continue reading ]
We truly love the city of Lisbon and during our previous stays, without a doubt, we have found our trusted home away from home, but recently another beautiful option was brought to our attention. Located in one of Lisbon’s most charming neighborhoods; Janelas Verdes, the hotel named Palácio Ramalhete is an amazing example of 18th century Portuguese architecture, where all original features have been preserved to maintain its timeless romantic charm. Because of the caring and thorough renovation, the eye pleasing hotel offers tradition combined with the comfort and modern luxuries to make ones stay as pleasant as possible. [ Continue reading ]
On the 12th of June, our friend designer Ellen Truijen officially opened her first brand store in Maastricht; the city where she resides and works in the far south of The Netherlands. The store sells, naturally, Ellen's leather bags and accessories, but also clothing, lingerie and other must haves by other designers. Grown out of the store named mos, which housed in the same location and already sold Ellen's products, the shop now truly sails under the flag of the ellen:truijen brand. Focus in the offered products lays on designers who still cherish locality, creating honest quality products like Ellen herself, such as POPcph, Brosbi, Lena Berens, the lingerie of Gent-based La Fille d'O, lipbalm by Kiyoko, the immaculate Mast Brothers chocolate and accessoires by Gabriel+Guevara and Lisanne Janssen next to Ellen's own beautiful collection. [ Continue reading ]
We are truly amazed by what in our eyes is one of the most inspiring retail concepts of late, which opened its doors in Los Angeles in April of this year. The store named Please Do Not Enter is a one-of-a-kind progressive men’s luxury retail and exhibition space in the heart of Downtown Los Angeles, offering an eclectic array of exclusive, carefully selected and timeless contemporary goods. From design to art and fashion, each piece has an unheard-of story that the founders, Nicolas Libert and Emmanuel Renoird, are longing to share with its visitors. From a vision, we totally agree with, moving away from hype brands and temporal trends, Please Do Not Enter offers a genuinely subjective collection, an as they call it themselves: ode to modern life. Pleasing the eye goes hand in hand with timeless quality and functionality, hybridizing the traditional gallery concept of tight curation with a retail space urging everyone to enter despite its name telling the opposite. [ Continue reading ]
It has been a while since we visited The Graham & Co. last October and therefore it's a good time to go back to the lovely 20 room hotel in Phoenicia, a small town in the Catskill region of New York State not far from Woodstock. Inspired by the heritage of the Catskills, The Graham & Co. is a modern take on the classic weekend getaway. Located at the foot of Hunter Mountain close to Phoenicia’s main street, the hotel is the perfect getaway from the city laying at about 2,5 hours by car. The Graham & Co. was founded by Jeff Madalena, owner of clothing store Oak, Jason Gnewikow, a partner and creative director at Athletics, a New York-based design studio and their friends Amanda Bupp and Bianca Barattini. When they noticed that the old Cobblestone Motel in Phoenicia was for sale, they felt it would be the perfect project to combine their love of interiors and travel and in July 2013 they opened The Graham & Co. for business. [ Continue reading ]
Concrete Matter, the Man’s Gift Co. began as a collaborative effort between graphic designer Tim, former FOAM curator Jacob and entrepreneur Tomas; three young, creative guys from Amsterdam. Bound together by a passion for useful, durable and beautiful products, they set up a small but comprehensive online store called Concrete Matter in early 2012. Inspired by the admiration and applause the online store received, their confidence grew that they weren’t the only ones with a passion for beautiful and durable goods. This confidence led to a new idea: an actual store, tangible and visible, located somewhere in Amsterdam’s vibrant city centre. A place to showcase their products and ideas in optima forma. A location was found in a former video rental at the Haarlemmerdijk, a street which over the last few years is given a totally new face with a lot of interesting stores and initiatives opening among which is Tenue de Nîmes, making it a perfect location for Concrete Matter. [ Continue reading ]
Julien Rademaker is one of those people who has successfully translated his love for collecting into a personal blog project named Gevonden op Marktplaats, which gathered a large following rather quickly, making it the most-desirable location on the internet for every Dutch seller to be mentioned on. Julien uses his platform to showcase an ongoing curation of rare and stand-out furniture, objects, art, and other curiosities that he spots on Marktplaats, which is the Dutch equivalent of Ebay. As the digital world still quite lacks the aura of the materialized world, Julien has stretched the horizon of his project once again, after doing his first live event 'Spullen waar we niks vanaf weten' in December 2012, together with architect Samir Bantal he now presents: 'De Gevonden op Marktplaats-Salon' taking place the 5th until the 8th of June. Where in 2012 Julien and Samir only did a small exposition/sale of curated goods, the two friends now will fill up a large space on the Looigersgracht 60 in Amsterdam, which they arranged in different thematic areas or rooms; from baroque, Memphis Milano to Hollywood Regency. [ Continue reading ]
We highly recommend the inspirational exhibition 'Dries Van Noten Inspirations' in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris after visiting it last weekend. It is the very first exhibition devoted to the artist’s work and the broad field of inspirational sources for the designer of the Antwerp Six, making it an multidisciplinary feast for the senses. Dries Van Noten takes the spectator on an intimate journey into his artistic universe, revealing the singularity of his creative process which he illustrates with his various and numerous sources of inspiration. One receives an eye opening experience into the space within van Noten's mind or rather soul, bringing together the designer's men’s and women’s collections with iconic pieces from the museum’s fashion and textile collection. The show also includes photographs and videos, film clips, musical references, as well as artworks by renowned artists, from public and private collections, that have triggered the designer’s imagination throughout his life and career, making it one of the more extraordinary fashion exhibitions created till date. [ Continue reading ]
On the 23th until the 25th of May, the remote and beautiful surroundings of Ireland’s Inis Oírr, will welcome the return of Drop Everything, a free contemporary culture Biennial, for its second edition. Situated on the edge of the Atlantic and close to Galway, Inis Oírr is the smallest of the three Aran Islands and provides an unforgettably atmospheric and unique setting for this intimate weekender of creativity and culture. Visitors to the island can expect talks, installations, screenings, DJ sets and impromptu pop-ups across the island, as well as communal dining, a curated boutique of editions and products created by the collaborating artists and ample opportunity to explore the wild beauty of this tiny and remarkable place. [ Continue reading ]
Yesterday citizenM officially opened its first hotel in the USA, just off the corner of Broadway and 50th street citizenM Times Square the next chapter for the Dutch hotel chain was just opened. With its 21 floors and 230 rooms this is the biggest citizenM till date. The hotel with a city view boasting rooftop bar, a beautiful terrace and a sky gym including an outdoor yoga space, continues its persistent offer of affordable luxury and everything seems to be in order to succeed once again in delivering just that in New York. The lobby of the hotel has the familiar citizenM cosiness, and is open for guests and visitors, with the canteenM open 24 hours a day for quality food, coffee and even cocktails. The Times Square hotel also shows the continuation of the creative partnerships of citizenM. These include the involvement of architecture agency concrete, Vitra, bookstore MENDO and the amazing art collection one finds throughout the hotel. [ Continue reading ]