Amsterdam | Volkshotel

 Last July, I talked to you about Volkshotel and it is now time to give you some more insights!

We spent there some great days during while in Amsterdam with the fellow Design Bloggers United: the rooms were essential, with an interesting industrial touch; I loved the iconic newspaper glasswall, a homage to the creative and editorial tradition of the building.

But it was the hall I particularly enjoyed during our stay. Designed as an open, welcoming space divided according to different functions, it hosts the reception and several sitting areas where you can chill out while waiting for friends to get ready, work or simply hang out if you are a local.

 

The vintage masculine style was very appealing and not cold at all, thanks to the amazing green walls of plants that provided both live and privacy from the street. 

I loved the raw materials combined with warm tones like dark red, rusty brown and ochre that complemented the grey and metal structures. It is undoubtedly a great place both for tourists and locals ( the bar at night was literally full up with party lovers from the surroundings), but especially my fellow  Urban Jungle Bloggers would love it!

Libratone speakers for the stylish home

"Where words fail, music speaks", cannot agree more, especially when you want to create just the perfect atmosphere for a special gathering. 

During our Amsterdam Bloggers Tour, I was introduced to Danish brand Libratone, a company dedicated to bring together high-quality sound, amazing design at an affordable price. Moreover, Libratone speakers are wireless, that means means they don't need to be plugged in - making them very easy to move around in the room according to your need. All their speakers have changeable wool covers to adapt them to different interior styling. 

Recently Libratone also launched their very exciting project 360 Scandinavian, a project where creative Scandinavians - like Christian Juhl or Kristina Kjær - shares their opinions to understand what Scandinavia stands for.

 

All images via Libratone

Styling the perfect gathering

As you may recall from my first post about our Amsterdam Bloggerstour, I fell totally in love with Pistache Studio and it was amazing to witness the transformation of the rough industrial space into a cozy and perfect spot for our Bloggers United Dinner'. For this occasion, the group decided to gather some talented and creative people from the media and blogging world to spend a few hours together: at the end, isn't the best part of blogging getting to know and meet like-minded people?

Pistache Studio during the transformation.

To make this gathering so special, it was also the fantastic combination of sponsors that fell in love with the idea and decided to help us to create a magical event.  

Thanks to Thuesen Jensen, Pillivuyt Scandinavian agent, we were able to enjoy the French beautiful tableware, whose white and blue tones added a spectacular Mediterrenean vibe to the dinner, underlined by the Nigella flowers and wild grasses decoration. A touch of contemporary was instead introduced by the stylish 'Concrete Seats' by Fatboy.

And of course, in an event styled by Scandinavian design lovers like us, we couldn't miss candles: small tea lights were lighted as soon as the guest arrived but the real start of the night was our KOTO candle, brought especially for the occasion by one of Skandinavisk founders.

Ice cold beer provided by Beer & Co

When all the guests were seating, the mouthwatering delicacies - that we had been visually enjoying during the whole afternoon -  started to be served: the wonderful ladies of 'Lady Grey Catering'  created some great dishes and fueled the lovely and relaxed conversations.

 

After the dinner, the party started! The amazing guys at BOS Ice Tea and V2C Gin treated us with great cocktails while dancing and chatting on the sound of cool Libratone speakers. 

We had such an amazing night with our guests and sponsors you will surely see more of these events during out tours. Thanks so much to all the people that helped us making that nght so amazing and a special thanks to Uber, who made the visit in Amsterdam so perfect!

Photography by Susanna Vento and Linda Elmin

BLOGGERSTOUR AMSTERDAM | The seductive universe of Moooi

Unique and iconic are probably the two adjectives that fit best Moooi universe. The venture was founded in 2001 by world famous designer Marcel Wanders and Casper Vissers who had a vision: to create a collection of beautiful and unique obejects as stated by the very name of the company ( mooi means beautiful in Dutch).

With Wanders as art director, Moooi started to create a portfolio of works from both national and international designers, such as Studio Job, Nery and Hu or acclaimed Spanish Jaime Hayon. The style Moooi proposes is exclusive, playful with a touch of past times elegance that reminds of old palaces atmospheres. But Wanders' playfulness add a light touch to the whole collection, in an "antique meets modern" mood.

Moooi Amsterdam. Images by Susanna Vento

During our last Bloggerstour in Amsterdam, we had the chance to spend a whole afternoon at their 700 m2 space in the colorful district "De Jordaan", known for its tiny picturesque boutiques, stores, restaurants and art galleries in the heart of Amsterdam. Guided by Laura Ramos Bello-Kluit, the company’s winsome PR and Events coordinator, we could explore the store and discover how different designs came to life. Laura also organized for us a lovely challenge: each of the  Design Bloggers United was given one of the iconic Marcel Wanders' vases and invited to represent on it one of our fellow companions. 

Let's see if you can guess which one was mine, an unique collaboration between Allan Torp and Wanders!

The visit moved after upstairs for a superb surprise: a tour in the very Marcel Wanders Studio. It was great to see how the space was bustling with young and creative creative minds working in the most interesting projects, from interior designs to unique  pieces. We had a chance to go through a presentation of Wanders' most interesting works that, even of far from my personal taste, were in the overall extremely interesting. There were so many layers of history and research behind each of them that was almost unbelieveable how they managed to put all them together in a very coherent project: the result ccouldn't but be rich in both sense and output. 

All images by Susanna Vento

BLOGGERSTOUR AMSTERDAM | Studio Pistache

Last week I spent a few days with the Design Bloggers United group in Amsterdam for the second of our Bloggers Tours this year. We had an amazing time while visiting places like Mooi, Marcel Wanders Studio or the Andaz Hotel. 

But today I want you to show some pictures Susanna Vento took of Studio Pistache. The space is next to a Wood stove Pizzeria in the heart of the city and is usually rented for special gatherings and events. 

The rough industrial appearance of the space is mitigated by the soft light entering through the glassed roof creating a modern glasshouse atmosphere. I especially appreciate the contrast effect created by the light: it grows from dark to bright as you enter creating the illusion that the space is even bigger.  Closer to the end of the building is an area populated by specimens of tropical plants, like Euphorbias or palms.

The space is next to a Wood stove Pizzeria in the heart of the city but the Studio is usually used for special gatherings and events, as in our case: it was here we hosted our Design Bloggers United Dinner, an event I will tell you more in the next few days.

In the meanwhile, you can check some shots taken during the Amsterdam Bloggers Tour on my Instagram account or checking the tags #bloggerstour and #designamsterdam.

VOLKSHOTEL | New generation hotel

In the last years, we have seen a new hotel typology rising based on the idea that hotels cannot just be simple sleeping spots but need to be a real experience for its guests: we want more from the place where we spend our holidays, we want to gather and enjoy. We want our hotel to be a creative hub, well designed and an ideal place to meet new, interesting people and locals.

Volkshotel in on Wibautstraat, Amsterdam is a perfect example of it. It is located in the building that used to be the home of one of the biggest, most progressive Dutch newspapers and later, transformed into one of the largest creative workspaces in Holland by the Foundation Urban Resort.

Today, it is a multi-purpose space that includes the hotel and café, bar, club, restaurant and creative workspaces where everybody, from single mum to dandy artists can gather together.  

Dutch interior designer Bas van Tol of Studio Müller Van Tol is behind most of the renovation work: he maintained the same character of the original building - a strong, industrial style that can connect to the Dutch Capital. Nine of the 172 rooms have been designed by different creative people, with the White Bike Room being my favourite for its graphic monochrome look (of course!). Also, Bas van Tol's interior design work represent a homage to the creative and editorial tradition of the building as reflected by the use of newspaper graphics and illustration into the detailing. 

  

Volkshotel opened its doors earlier in June with an amazing party: the place looks very exciting and I cannot wait for October to come. In fact, together with my friends from the Bloggerstour, I am going to stay here during our next trip to Amsterdam!If you are a last minute traveller like myself and you are thinking to head to Holland, Volkshotel is the perfect spot also because during the month of July, all double rooms are fixed at €69 per night.

Volkshotel, Wibautstraat 150  Amsterdam.

All images © Volkshotel.