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 ]
The latest story by the always inspiring Jungles in Paris is once again of great beauty. It focusses on the the camel herders living in the largest Indian state by area, named Rajasthan, which translates to Land of Kingdoms. A large part of the state comprises of the Thar or Great Indian Desert, in which one still finds a significant group of people living of camel herding. The centre for these herders in terms of trade is the town named Pushkar and its fair which attracts herdsman from all over the desert. The images for this story were all taken in this town, located in the middle of the Rajasthan state and more importantly the Thar Desert, which explains why it attracts herdsman from all over, which prove to be the perfect subjects with their highly stylish appearance through colorful turbans and garments, beautiful accessories and faces showing the hardships of the desert. [ Continue reading ]
This week The Travel Almanac presented a great new project named TTA Editions. In each Edition a selected artist, designer or other creative entity is asked by The Travel Almanac to design a product in a specific category which has a more or less direct relation to travel, after which every product will be released in a very limited edition available in select fashion boutiques and through The Travel Almanac website. For the debut Edition, fashion designer Bernhard Willhelm has created a very unique and beautiful Imabari cotton beach towel, which were produced on the island of Shikoku in Japan, each containing 34 individually hand-stitched embroideries. The towel has just been released in an Edition of 20 pieces. [ 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 ]
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 ]
'The Outsiders: New Outdoor Creativity' is the latest inspirational publication by German publishing house Gestalten. Created out of the fact that more and more people are turning to the great outdoors when seeking peace and balance, whether hiking through the mountains or simply spending a night in a tent far away from civilization. The Outsiders showcases the outlook and passions of the new creative scene that has emerged and draws inspiration from this development along with its original products, brands, and ideas. The products and projects presented in this book are better, both in concept and design, making them more radical and complete than its predecessors. Combining handicraft with the latest technology, they incorporate illustrations, photography, and graphic art as well as trends in product design and fashion. Here, the fundamental challenges posed by the wilderness meet the aesthetic needs of the design-literate urbanite in ways that are atmospheric and likeable, with the occasional romantic or ironic wink. [ Continue reading ]
Once again we are extremely pleased to give another beautiful preview of a story by one of our favorites on the internet: Jungles in Paris, curated by Darrell and Oliver Hartman. This particular story takes place in downtown Dakar, on a beach called the Plage de Fann, although most of the regulars there don't even really need to call it by name. End-of-day beach workout is a routine part of life for many fit young guys in the city, especially the students who go there after class at nearby Cheikh Anta Diop University. They have benches with weights made from old wheel rims, and permanent apparatuses for push-ups and pull-ups. All of it is very basic. Guys do push-ups in the sand, skip rope, help and compete with each other, and just generally hang out. Of course there is lots of soccer played as well, as there is all over Senegal. There's a little side area for prayer. This is a city where you can do this sort of thing year-round, given the climate, although it's often cooler and more comfortable towards end of day. Certainly a workout place unlike any other in the world! [ 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 ]
Dutch designer Piet Hein Eek, who became famous for his use or rather reuse of unorthodox materials in his designs, has collaborated with textile designer Borre Akkersdijk on a beautiful new project which will be presented at Salone del Mobile from today until the 13th of April. The project started at one point at Spazio Rosanna Orlandi, a former ties factory in Milan, in which Eek found large quantities of unused silk necktie fabrics. After reaching out to Akkersdijk, the designers created a new product out of the tie garments. After careful selection through color and designs, a new larger garment was created out of the smaller pieces. First these small pieces were sewn together, subsequently filled with padding and finally it was totally stitched together, creating beautiful quilts illustrated by the designs which originally were to be found on the ties. The quilts are presented the coming days at Rosanna Orlandi which is the regular location of exhibition during Salone, creating a full circle, bringing the garments back to the place this journey originally started. [ Continue reading ]
The Unmonday Model 4.3 speaker represents an extremely complete solution to a very specific problem. The goal in the creation of the speaker was to fabricate something truly wireless and flexible, without compromising on sound quality and design sensibility. As a result the system streams audio from any Apple AirPlay compatible device across one to five speakers allowing for mono, stereo, multi-room or surround sound. Even if there is no WiFi available. But besides being very pragmatic, the Unmonday Model 4.3 is also hand-made by professional craftsmen; from the vitro porcelain enclosure to the custom-made amplifier, the speaker needed to be perfect in every sense. The speaker is even designed to stay on top over time. It can be updated simply by swapping out the hardware and downloading software updates, without renewing either the durable porcelain housing or the driver. The Unmonday Model 4.3 is therefore a remarkable speaker in every aspect. [ Continue reading ]
Wanderlust is one of those experimental boutique hotels with a very bold overall aesthetic one sees very little. The hotel, founded by hotelier Loh Lik Peng houses in a building which originally was a school built in the 1920s in an area called Little India; a bustling cultural enclave where Indian immigrants once settled in Singapore. The hotel features thematic levels of 29 rooms by different award winning Singapore design agencies, who were all given full creative freedom. This resulted in a bold and beautiful hotel catering to all sorts of aesthetic preferences without taking it too far. [ Continue reading ]
The Bezau, Austria-based Hotel Post is one of those places with a long and rich history which we really appreciate. It starts in 1850 when Susanne Kaufmann's great-great-grandfather, Postmaster Johann Kaspar Natter, opened the first K.u.K Post Office in the Bregenzerwald Forest in the far West of Austria. Mail coaches were the most important means of overland transport covering up to 100 kilometres a day at that time. Therefore a small inn was added to the Bezau Post Office where passengers could refresh and rest from the coach rides. Johann Kaspar Natter's son Franz Josef took over the tavern and extended it so that in 1920 the inn had 28 beds. From 1926 the Post Inn was run by Oskar and Irma Natter. They passed on the reigns in 1968 to their daughter Rosemarie and her husband, the architect Leopold Kaufmann. Under their management the house underwent large changes paving the road to the hotel four star spa hotel one sees today. [ Continue reading ]
We have been a fan of the work of New York-based Mikael Kennedy for some years now and really appreciate his latest series 'California'. The series captures one week in California in which the photographer is clearly on the move. The beautiful photographs with the familiar toned down color palette show the wide landscapes of the American state with only sometimes allowing traces of civilization to play a minor role within the frame. A road, roadside fences, an electrical cable, the inside of the car a photograph was taken in, and just a little glimpse of a house. Kennedy places the geographical entity of the state of California first and its inhabitants second. The pictures therefore evoke somewhat of a lonely and melancholic sentiment within the beauty of the depicted landscapes, making the urge to visit the beautiful area even greater. 'California' has been published by Done To Death Projects in a limited quantity zine of 100 pieces which sold out within four days. [ Continue reading ]
Since we discovered it, whenever we visit Antwerp the only address we want to stay is the extraordinary Boulevard Leopold. Owned by the warm hosts Bert Verschueren and Vincent Defontainers, Boulevard Leopold is located in a 19th Century house in the Belgian city, between the Albert Park and the City Park which is right in the Jewish Quarter. The two owners say their aim in the interiors was to create a sense of "forgotten glory", which in our eyes is the exact sentiment Boulevard Leopold evokes. Entering Boulevard Leopold is like entering the house of a libertine nobleman from the 19th Century living in contemporary times, cherishing all his old belongings hinting and long-gone times, completed with modern elements where needed. With three regular rooms for rent and two larger apartments available on longer terms, the bed and breakfast, built in 1890, is a beautiful hybrid of antique and contemporary design. [ Continue reading ]
In his project '52 Weeks, 52 Cities', developed exclusively for German museum Marta Herford, my brother Iwan Baan takes the spectator on a one-year photographic journey around the world. Always on the lookout for ingenious homes in unexpected places and outstanding construction projects. Süddeutsche Zeitung described the influence of Iwan: “our image of architecture like no other”. He has been working, very successfully, worldwide for architects including Rem Koolhas, Herzog & de Meuron, Toyo Ito or Zaha Hadid. A characteristic of his pictorial language is the engagement with the close relationship between human and architecture, between social use and the various spatial situations. [ Continue reading ]
We are very thrilled to give another fantastic preview of a feature story by the highly inspiring online platform Jungles in Paris. This story focusses on the environment of the Weddell seals and is an outtake of the beautiful book The Last Ocean by photographer John Weller. Weddell seals live in Antarctica, and unlike other large animals there, like for instance whales, other seals, or penguins, they don't migrate North during the winter. No other mammal on earth lives this far south. They have extraordinary diving abilities, can go as far as 700 meters below the ice in their search for fish, and stay underwater for as long as an hour. [ Continue reading ]
Ka'ana is a lovely resort that was founded by the brothers Ronan and Colin Hannan in 2007 as a tribute to the rich heritage and natural beauty of Central American country Belize. The resort is located in Belize's western Cayo district and offers personalized service and modern design that respects the country's culturally rich past. Located closely to areas where the ancient Maya civilization resided and surrounded by marvelous jungles, Ka'ana's tour excursions for exploration of the beautiful country are completely altered to the visitors' wishes to ensure an exclusive and most likely overwhelming experience. [ Continue reading ]
After going for a month to India, a few weeks in Patagonia, and a few in Nepal, the idea grew in 24-year-old Ruben Brulat's mind to go for a long and unstopped journey, an aesthetic travel, leaving from Gare de Lyon, Paris. Brulat decided to go East. From Europe to Asia by land only, through Iraq, Iran, onto Afghanistan, Tibet until Indonesia, Japan and Mongolia. Inspired by his first trips, Brulat realised that he wanted to see and share the experience of giving yourself away to nature in a photography-project. Early january 2011 the Frenchman asked the first person to pose naked in a landscape for him to photograph, trying to create a symbiosis with the surroundings. Last September Brulat succeeded in finding funds to release a beautiful self published book of this series of photographs taken all over the world which was named Sharing Paths. [ Continue reading ]
Traveling has been an integral part of Ruben Kosenda's life since he was a young boy. All this time on the road and in the air has now been translated into the design of a new hotel in the place Kosenda calls home: Indonesia. Named after its founder, the Kosenda Hotel in Jakarta is the work of local talents, artists, designers, and architects. Located on Wahid Hasyim road, this 8-floor hotel is an ode to the angular geometries of Betawi architecture, while simultaneously paying tribute to the surrounding environment. [ Continue reading ]
We are highly inspired by the online platform of writer Darrell Hartman, writer for among others New York Magazine, Travel + Leisure, Details, and the Wall Street Journal, and his brother Oliver Hartman, called Jungles in Paris. It aims to redefine armchair travel using a global network of professional photographers and filmmakers, it produces and presents short, focused stories on culture, craft, geography, and wildlife around the world. Instead of splendour the Hartman brothers aim to go small and observe with an highly critical eye by focusing on the unexpected surprises uncovered by the careful traveler, from ritual skin-piercing in Ethiopia’s Omo Valley to the beautiful aesthetic of the colourful house fences one finds in Rwanda. [ Continue reading ]
Some people don't travel, they explore. They explore new ways of crossing the world, they explore new places and new boundaries. Rob Lutter is one of those people. Two years ago, on a windy day in London, Rob Lutter got on his bike and cycled down the road, and he didn't stop. Day after day, for 24 months, he cycled more than 15.000 kilometer all the way to Hong Kong to raise money for charity. As he has reached his initial destination and his hunger for exploration hasn't been stilled, Lutter is now raising funds from Hong Kong for the next stage of his journey. The aim is to cross South East Asia, Indonesia, Australia, the US from west to east, with a final stretch from Scotland to England. [ Continue reading ]
To celebrate their 40th anniversary, California-based outdoor clothing brand Patagonia have released The Legacy collection. A collection that solely takes inspiration from Patagonia’s iconic pieces located in their archives. Down jackets, fleece vests, multi-paneled rock-climbing pants, and element-repelling outerwear which made Patagonia the well-known brand it is today are being reproduced in their original styles. Photographed by Foster Huntington, the lookbook created for the collection shows Foster's friend Trevor, with whom the photographer took a trip in a 1991 Jeep Comanche, which Trevor bought, all the way from Fort Collins in Colorado back to California dressed in different pieces of the collection. [ Continue reading ]
During our last visit to Gent we discovered another gem that made our stay in the historical Flemish city more then satisfying. Jigger's the Noble Drugstore was opened in September 2011 and is the brainchild of Olivier Jacobs, who named his cocktail bar referring to the American prohibition which was named 'The Noble Experiment' by the American government. And not just the name bears a connotation to the period in which alcohol was forbidden in the USA as the window display of the bar has nothing but a stuffed fox wearing a monocle in it, making it impossible to recognize it as an actual bar without any foreknowledge. [ Continue reading ]