You are now welcome to visit the brand new textile interior of the Serre by Nikkie Wester at Hôtel Droog!

Wester transformed the space next to the Fairytale Garden by using elements of 17th Century greeneries as an inspiration. You can recognize the constructions of these original greeneries on the red textile.
 
The Serre is used for various occasions, such as weddings and business meetings. To make the space a perfect fit for every party, Wester constructed three adjustable backdrops. By using this system the back walls can be bare, but the space can also be divided in two without fully removing the elements and therefore keeping their acoustic quality.
 
The intensive process of sewing, transferring the image on the fabric, dry felting, harnessing, damping and cleaning, makes it a true piece of custom-made design!

SUN+, A range of sun protection products by buro BELÉN 
During summer 2018 at Hôtel Droog

During the summer we are pleased to show SUN+, a range of sun protection products (wearable and portable) by buro BELÉN in our window at Hôtel Droog!

SUN+ is a research project into sun protection by designers (and sun lovers) Brecht Duijf and Lenneke Langenhuijsen of the Amsterdam-based design studio buro BELÉN.

Overexposure to sunlight is harmful, but so is overprotecting. Sunscreen products come with serious disadvantages that outweigh their usefulness in the long run. The chemical ingredients used in the products damage the skin and pollute the environment. When UV light touches the skin, our body starts to produce vitamin D. Using sunscreen with high UPF factors stops this process, as too much UV light is blocked. The ideal factor is UPF 8 as it provides both protection and keeps the vitamin D production going.

Buro BELÉN’s research focused first and foremost on traditional, cultural and alternative means of sun protection like henna and ashes. But their research also focused on external layers covering the body and architectonic structures and elements that provide shelter from the sun.

The designers concluded that textile is a good material for sun protection. Every natural textile has its own sun protection factor, based on the fibers, weaving and color. For example, the silk used in the SUN+ veil has UPF8. By doing away with the environmental disadvantages and public health risk of mainstream sun protection, this collection offers textile-based alternatives.

At Hôtel Droog we present several products of the Sun+ collection of wearables and portables. Open daily from 09.00 – 19.00.
Sunbathe with a healthy conscience this summer!

Botanical compositions and perfumes took over Palermo city centre, in the area of Fontana Pretoria. 
During June 14 – 16, the opening days of Manifesta12, designers Frank Bruggeman and Alessandro Gualtieri | The Nose were commissioned by Droog to create perforative installations.
Knowingly or unknowingly, directly or indirectly the public became carriers of the local flora and spread them, possibly around the globe.

THE FLORILEGIUM
The Florilegium seeks to record collections of plants from within a particular place. Designer Frank Bruggeman and perfumer Alessandro Gualtieri | The Nose were cataloguing the flora of Palermo and tracing back the Greek, Roman, African and Arabic origins. The Bottle Tree and The Dragon Blood Tree are examples of trees that are to be found nowhere else in Europe.
In their collaboration, on the occasion of Manifesta12, they took different approaches but the idea of pollination is cen- tral in both their performative installations.

WEARABLE BOTANICAL COMPOSITIONS
Frank Bruggeman, a designer with a special interest in nature, explored the flora in and around Palermo and collected several seeds, flowers, plants and roots. These cuts were be the material used for large and small botanical compositions. These were  distributed in public space during the opening days of Manifesta12 and could be worn or used as corsage or small bouquet. The wearer of the corsage contribute in that way to the further pollination of the nature of the island. 
Click here to view the website of Florilegium via Frank

ATTRACTING SCENTS
Alessandro Gualtieri, a perfume creator based in Amsterdam, has created scents that centred around attraction and rejection. 
In order to reproduce and diffuse their own species, plants use scent and flowers to attract pollinators. The scent of pollen is the most ancient floral aroma and beatles the oldest pollinators. Beatles are attracted to both the pollen as well as the smells of rotting and excrement.
The perfumes created by Gualtieri was distributed in different ways around the city of Palermo during the opening days of Manifesta12. The smells were in conversation with one another and with the public who encountered them directly or indirectly and carried out these scents further around the city.
The main performance took place at the Fontana Pretoria, where the scent of the Zagara, the citrus flowers, was distributed through the heart of Palermo. 

To mark the quarter-century anniversary Droog presents a new exhibition Then … Now in the lobby of Hôtel Droog. In 1993 Droog debuted with a modest show of offbeat items by Dutch designers. Here young Dutch designers chose to use discarded materials and embraced imperfection, and everyday simplicity with a conceptual twist. Looking towards the future, Droog presents the same designers, but in Then … Now their more recent works are on show. From Richard Hutten to Jurgen Bey, Tejo Remy to Marcel Wanders, the exhibition gives an insight in the new works of Droog’s iconic designers. Then … Now touches upon multiple developments in and around design and connections the past and future. 

Then: 1993
At the beginning of the 90s one could recognize design a mile away: slick and stylish with a perfect industrial finish. But in the Netherlands, Droog founders Gijs Bakker and Renny Ramakers discovered something completely different. In 1993 Droog presented 16 unconventional products at Salone del Mobile in Milan. The exhibition observed the uncustomary design mentality in the work of great many young Dutch product designers. It was an overnight success. Not only for Droog, but also for this generations of designers.

Now: 2018
25 years later time has evolved and designers still create noteworthy and fresh pieces. Then … Now delves in the work of several designers showcasing their latest works.  The exhibition also includes work by designers Eibert Draisma, Gijs Bakker, Piet Hein Eek, Jan Konings, Arnout Visser and Ed Annink.

Renny Ramakers and Gijs Bakker honored after 25 years of dedication to design

Founders of Droog, Renny Ramakers and Gijs Bakker, have been appointed Officer in the Order of Orange-Nassau and Knight in the Order of the Dutch Lion. They received the awards (of royal honours) by the acting mayor of Amsterdam, Jozias van Aartsen, in a ceremony in the Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam.

Ramakers and Bakker founded Droog in 1993 and since then, they have put Dutch Design on the map. The presentation was given the title Droog because it concerned work in which the concept was more important than design.

ENTER THE PAST AND SEE THE FUTURE. Q&A.

Enter the Past and See the Future is the title of the 25^th anniversary exhibition celebrating memorable highlights that have shaped the collective program of Droog. This exhibition features 32 projects chosen by co-founder and director, Renny Ramakers.

The projects are based on themes, seeking for more ways to experience the possibilities of design and design thinking. Merging the bottom line of Droog, the exhibition consists of relevant topics represented by the work of different renowned designers, emerging talents, scientists, entrepreneurs and architects. Enter the Past and See the Future challenges the spectator to track down the larger idea behind the visual design. The exhibition will be on show from 26 April until 27 May 2018.

25 years of Droog
Droog’s debut came in the spring of 1993 during the International Furniture Fair in Milan with a modest show of offbeat items by Dutch designers. Now, 25 years on, Droog has gathered a wide range of projects. Through the exhibition it becomes evident that many of the themes addressed by Droog in the past are still relevant, and in some cases even very topical, in the present-day.

The spectrum of identity is shown in experimental projects such as Identity Land, Me, Meself and MY job and Single Town. Alongside the discourse with environmental challenges is set with crafted programmes as Material Matters, Re-Use and Social City. These relevant themes are annually presented in Milan; alongside at the Venice Biennial; UABB in Shenzhen; a San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and other places worldwide. Most icons of Droog are interconnected with all the above stated topics. Together they offer a different perspective on design.

 Q&A
In the exhibition, the exponents visualize a Q&A with Renny Ramakers, addressing simple yet intriguing questions about the underlying idea of the projects. It becomes clear that the apparent straightforward questions include clear concepts. More generally the personal answers of Renny refer to the fact that the outcome of the projects not always have to be a product itself.

Future
Droog’s view on the future is shaped by the past and the past reveals the future. Through the 25 years Droog made exhibitions, gave lectures, produced and distribute products, published books and created a shop and hotel. Up until this day Droog responds to the latest developments in design with original yet relevant ideas. Nowadays Droog is a mentality that is shaping up in all the disciplines. Droog will continue with a broad range of activities all connected and nourished by an ever-evolving dialogue within society. 

Dive into spring. To celebrate the season Hôtel Droog invites Frank Bruggeman to design a centrepiece in the lobby of the monumental building. For the floral installation Frank selected 8 varieties of blossoming and blooming trees and plants, mostly in the colors pink, purple, red and orange. In the Lobby Centrepiece all flowers are uncut. The installation is on show until April the 24^th.

In the piece, the relationship between nature and culture is investigated though an intervention with black and white objects. You are most likely to find garden chairs, plastic pallets and somewhere a blackbird singing the melody of the season. 

For 25 years, Droog has been working with many prominent Dutch designers on projects and products. To celebrate the 25^th anniversary of the platform, Droog is organising a range of activities. In Bergen the exhibition Do It Like Droog marks a special year in Museum Kranenburgh. While in Amsterdam an exhibition, Enter the Past snd See The Future, celebrates the highlights that have shaped the platform’s program since its founding in 1993. Enter the Past and See The Future will be on show from 26 April until 27 May 2018.

Look back at a few of the highlights that have made these decades so memorable.

As part of its 25th anniversary celebrations several museums made some major acquisitions.

Recently MoMa in New York acquired the kokon chair from Jurgen Bey. Likewise, Het Centraal Museum in Utrecht brought in an extensive collection of 56 objects. Alongside this year Droog will generously donate its archive to the RKD in The Hague.

In April 1993 Droog made a debut at the International Salone del Mobile in Milan. Now, in 2018, the number of activities in Droog has grown to more than hundreds of projects and products. In the past decades Droog made exhibitions, gave lectures, produced and distribute products, published books and created a shop and hotel. Up until this day Droog responds to the latest developments in design with original yet relevant ideas.

To mark the 25th jubilee year of both Museum Kranenburgh and Droog, the museum brings together iconic designs from Droog’s collection in an exhibition entitled Do it Like Droog. Museum Kranenburgh’s green surroundings formed the starting point for the spatial design that designers Koehorst in ‘t Veld created for this exhibition. It takes shape in a walk through a graceful botanical garden, in which the Droog objects are positioned alongside aluminium borders and flower beds, in full bloom. The exhibition route encompasses the entire museum premises, including the exhibition rooms, as well as the museum shop, the garden and the Kranenburgh sculpture forest. With this first presentation of the discipline design, Kranenburgh once again broadens its scope of art.

For more information please visit their website

What do we think of when we think about luxury? We think about items that are produced in exclusive and limited editions with expensive materials. About items that are scarce and difficult to obtain. Products that distinguish the owner from others or that confirm a certain social status.

However if ‘luxury’ has become fashionable and anyone can acquire a purse with a waiting list or a pair of Laboutin’s, than – by definition – it is no longer a luxury. Thus the luxury industry is looking for new trends so that their clientele can keep on distinguishing themselves from others. The contours of a new luxury are on the horizon: one in which sustainability plays a major role.

Luxury and sustainability. Are there two terms that are further apart? We associate sustainability with sober, moderate and less. Also we believe that we have to sacrifice something to be sustainable. Surely it is possible to give a sustainable product a seductive and glamorous design that radiates pleasure!

This exhibition presents work by ten Dutch designers that are very able to design sustainable products that seduce. This exhibition presents luxury and abundance as a good investment for the future.

With work by Demakersvan, Golden Joinery, Humade, Heleen Klopper, Dirk van der Kooij, Simone Post, Ariëlle van der Vaart, Richard Vijgen, Karin Vlug & Lisa Konno, and Sander Wassink & Maya Pesach.

Exhibition design: Eric Sebastiaan Roelen