Author: @droog

The sweater collection of Loes Veenstra

Since 1955, Loes Veenstra has knitted over 500 sweaters that she stored in cardboard boxes in her home at 2e Carnissestraat in Rotterdam. The sweaters have never been worn.
Museum Rotterdam discovered the collection, and with Wandschappen invited designer Christien Meindertsma to develop a book, Het Verzameld breiwerk van Loes Veenstra uit de 2e Carnissestraat.
Droog is pleased to present the book along with a selection of sweaters from September 27th until October 31st. The sweaters and the book will be available for purchase.

SWEATER AUCTION
On October 31st, ROOMSERVICE cafe and tearoom at Hôtel Droog will auction a number of unique sweaters over a lively dinner event. A chance to bid on your favourite sweater from by Loes and to welcome the winter in glorious colours.

Credits
Het Verzameld breiwerk van Loes Veenstra uit de 2e Carnissestraat
design: Christien Meindertsma
photography: Mathijs Labadie, Roel van Tour,
Christien Meindertsma
commissioner: Wandschappen, Museum Rotterdam
publisher: Stichting Kunstimplantaat

Centraal Museum Utrecht acquires 3 iconic Droog designs

Centraal Museum Utrecht acquired the Speaking Coffee machine by Eibert Draisma, Paraffin table by Timo Breumelhof and the Godogan table by Niels van Eijk & Miriam van de Lubbe from the Droog collection, to be included as part of their contemporary design collection. The Centraal Museum is known for its extremely varied and widely known collection of design.

Since the founding of Droog in 1993, the museum has collected design objects from the Droog collection almost every year. The Droog pieces are of great value to the museum collection. As the curator of applied arts and design Ida van Zijl explains: “In the first 10 years of the 21st century we experienced a typical trend in design, in which designers manufactured products that sat on the border between art and design. Droog is a very good example of a design company who created products that blurred the line between art and design”. The museum boasts an extensive collection of works by Droog, ranging from design classics such as the Chest of Drawers by Tejo Remy (1991), the Tree-trunk Bench by Jurgen Bey (1999), and the Bone Chair by Joris Laarman (2006), in addition they have also acquired the complete 14 piece Saved by Droog collection from the 2009 Droog Milan presentation. In 2010 they edited the artist’s proof #1 edition of the Red blue Lego chair to their collection. This piece was exhibited at Rietveld’s Universe, as part of the Rietveld Year organized from October 2010 until January 2011.

The recently collected pieces will be on display at the ‘Nieuwe Aanwinstenzaal’ at The Centraal Museum Utrecht (date to be confirmed).

Speaking coffee maker by designer Eibert Draisma (1990)
This coffeemaker is assembled from rejected material. It includes the base of an old transformer. The coffee maker is programmed to repeat a series of pre-recorded messages, designed to alert the owner when the coffee is ready.

Godogan table by Niels van Eijk & Miriam van de Lubbe (2006)
The Godogan table has been (hand)made in Indonesia because of the region’s high quality craftsmanship. The woodworkers were challenged to the utmost with this extremely complicated design depicting an Indonesian fairy tale. This table could not have been carved in the West, where comparable craftsmanship no longer exists.

Photographer: Gerard van Hees

Paraffin table by designer Timo Breumelhof (2000)
Many products are designed for extreme ease of use or for safety. Extremely “responsible” products leave little space to the imagination or creative (mis)use, they lose their poetry. From this point of view the designer created an ‘unsafe’ table, this table’s lack of safety considerations increases its poetical aspect; ‘using’ the table will destroy it.

Photographer: Marsel Loermans

European Design Award for Hôtel Droog

SILO wins another award! They received a Silver European Design Award for Hôtel Droog in the category Brand Logo.

“SILO created a visual identity and signage system inspired by American motel signage. Bright light, color and specific forms characterize these signs along the highways. Within the identity, SILO recomposed these style elements and stripped them of all color into a contemporary, dry graphic interpretation, appropriate to the Droog brand.”

http://www.europeandesign.org/submissions/hotel-droog/

 

Guests #3 @ One and Only Bedroom in Paris

Three lucky couples are offered the chance to stay the night @ the Only and Only bedroom in the Merci Store, where they can sleep amongst iconic Droog products and live the Hôtel Droog experience. The last guests just checked out:

Hello! We arrived @ Hotel Droog in Paris

Our bed for the night

Exploring the shop…

Taking a bath before going to bed
Goodmorning.. Breakfast is being served…

Bye bye Hotel Droog..

Guests #2 @ One and Only Bedroom in Paris

Three lucky couples are offered the chance to stay the night @ the Only and Only bedroom in the Merci Store, where they can sleep amongst iconic Droog products and live the Hôtel Droog experience. Check out their photo dairy:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Arrived at Hotel Droog at Merci, Paris

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tonight I’m actually gonna sleep in a concept store. Every girl’s dream!

 Hmm what to wear today? Waking up in an empty Merci at Hotel Droog. I think I’m going for this Isabel Marant outfit 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bath with a view. I’m staying at Hotel Droog in Merci. Having the complete concept store for ourselves. #feelinglikeakidinacandystore

 

Images by petitepassport.com

Guests #1 @ One and Only Bedroom in Paris

Three lucky couples are offered the chance to stay the night @ the Only and Only bedroom in the Merci Store, where they can sleep amongst iconic Droog products and live the Hôtel Droog experience. Check out their photo dairy:

Our beautiful room.

It’s time to wake up. Breakfast is ready. Cup of tea served.


The picture says it all..!
Merci mERCI MERCI Merci MeRcI merci M-e-r-c-i Mercl

All in one carpet from Gafsa region (Tunisia) at Hôtel Droog

Droog presents in partnership with United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), SeeMe and Studio Droog the “All in one carpet – Gafsa region”. This special edition of carpets in various sizes and patterns was designed and executed in Tunisia by four artisans from Gafsa region, one of the most ancient but yet least developed region in the country, and a nesting place for the Jasmine revolution. The carpets will be exhibited at Hôtel Droog in Amsterdam from May 16 – June 30, 2013.

Studio Droog introduced one of their design concepts ‘The All in One carpet’ as an open format for the four artisans involved. The format, served as an “open yet unifying umbrella” combining local design and execution in diverse styles and techniques. Instead of imposing  externally designed patterns, Droog’s approach served as inspiration and guidance, leaving each artisan free to design and execute sections in his or her own style and technique.

The outcome is a family of nine carpets summing up to 20 m2 whose product development process created stronger ties amongst the artisans, reframing historical patterns and techniques in a contemporary context. The exhibition also features other carpets designed by the artisans after the workshop with Studio Droog.

The carpets act as a structure for cooperation revitalizing the region’s ancient glory. Traces of patterns used in the Gafsa carpets go back 15,000 years to the Capsian civilisation. Paul Klee saw in them the first expression of cubism and, during the centuries, they have been influencing many more artists such as Kandinsky and Macke.

The project is part of a multi-agency programme in Tunisia funded by the Spanish funds for achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDG-F), and implemented by UNIDO with the aim of helping achieving full employment for Tunisian youth. The project intervenes along the entire regional value chain of the carpet production, through a series of interventions to ameliorate the soft and hard skills of the artisans while improving their livelihoods, increasing their productive capacity and granting access to new markets.

Fair Design has framed the partnership. Introduced by SeeMe, further explored by Studio Droog, and endorsed by UNIDO, Fair Design advocates for the development of design products that uses local skills and knowledge for promoting sustainable socio and economic growth.

Voulez-vous coucher avec Droog?

Droog is taking over the infamous Merci store in Paris for 14 days. Three lucky couples will be offered the chance to stay the night in the Merci Store on the 5th, 6th or 7th of June, where they can sleep amongst iconic Droog products and live the Hôtel Droog experience. Guests can check in after hours and check-out the next morning at 9.00, just before the ‘hotel’ opens its doors to the public.

One of these lucky guests could be you. How? The only thing you have to do is tell us in 1 sentence ‘why you should be the lucky one or two…’  to spend the night with us at ‘The One and Only Bedroom’ rsvp: [email protected] before the 22nd of May, 2013.

The rooms are now fully booked!

During D’DAYS (designer’s days) editions 2013 Parisians can get an enticing glimpse of its Fairy tale garden, mini Fish restaurant and the One and Only bedroom, together with a magnificent view on the city of Amsterdam. The event will also feature a tattoo parlor and the chance to sleep right in the middle of the Merci store. Hôtel Droog is based in Amsterdam, but the concept can pop up anywhere and will never appear the same.

Where: Merci @ 111 Boulevard Beaumarchais, 73003 Paris, France

When: June 4th – June 15th 2013

Our image of nature is naïve!

During the Free Zone series a selected number of fearless speakers stand up and share their most annoying irritation to those willing to listen and react. An informal evening fuelled by a mix of inspiration and frustration, laughter and tears on how just the smallest thing can make life so irritating and how irritation can lead to inspiration. Join artist, technologist and philosopher Koert van Mensvoort in a discussion on our naive view of nature.

Nature is perhaps the most successful product of our times. Despite the many initiatives to ‘save’ nature or to ‘restore’ our balance with it, the basic question, “what is nature?” is rarely asked. Stroll in nature on a Sunday or watch it in HD on your flat screen 3D TV. We need to indulge in illusions, but is this the role of nature? If we continue to treat nature as a spectacle, certainly we will fail to properly deal with urgent issues such as global warming, massive deforestation or the loss of biodiversity. Unspoilt nature is almost impossible, especially in the Netherlands where every meter of land is artificially decorated, and where our chickens eat genetically modified soy that’s a little more like the original. At the same time, our technological environment is so complex, pervasive and autonomous, that it’s becoming a new kind of ‘natural’ hazard.

Volume #35 Everything Under Control launch
The evening will coincide with the launch of Volume #35 Everything under Control. The issue features an interview with Koert van Mensvoort along with contributions from designers and scientists speculating on the confluence of biology and design.

When: April 3rd
Debate: 19.30 – 21.00
Free entrance
RSVP CLICK HERE

Our restaurant (café&tearoom Roomservice) will be open between: 18.00 – 19.30
Bar open all evening

Low-tech Factory at Hôtel Droog

What at first glance appears to be a rocking chair, turns out to be a knitting machine. And while you sit and rock on the chair, a knitted hat is created. As you do a little dance on a platform, an expandable carrying bag is made. Another spectacular machine makes popcorn—a single kernel at a time.

Low-Tech Factory is a project by ECAL/Ecole cantonale d’art de Lausanne, Switzerland. In a workshop led by Chris Kabel and Thomas Kral, students from Bachelor in Industrial Design and Master in Product Design created a series of simple but sophisticated machines that not only create an experience, but actually produce finished goods—hats, mirrors, bags, toys, lamps and popcorn.

With this project, the theme of auto-production is raised. Recently we have seen countless designers make their own machines. And while it often seems the machine becomes more important than the result, in this case, the design of the machine and its resulting product are in balance.

The exhibition presents six machines with videos. At the opening on March 21st, the designers will demonstrate the machines themselves. The question—why are designers making so many machines—still remains. With this question, we will enter into a debate on March 21st with Alexis Georgacopoulos, director of ECAL, Chris Kabel, Joanna van der Zanden and Joris Laarman. The evening will be moderated by Tracy Metz.

Opening exhibition and debate

Why are so many young designers making machines these days?
Where: Hôtel Droog
When: 21st of March
Start debate: 19.00
Opening exhibition: 20.00 – 22.00
RSVP click HERE

Special Low-Tech Dinner
Where: café and tearoom (upstairs at Hôtel Droog)
When: 27th of March
Time: 18.00 – 22.00
Price 3 course menu: 40euro (including a glass of cava – cocktail)
RSVP click HERE
(limited capacity)

Exhibition from March 21st till April 21st

Credits: Low-Tech Factory – Rocking-Knit

Photographer: ECAL/Nicolas Genta