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.

BARCELONA | Palo Alto for the Design Market

Last weekend took place the first Barcelona Mercado Condal del Diseño, an event where to young designers can present their work to the wide public. The location is one of the greenest in Barcelona, the Palo Alto foundation in Poblenou, a cultural landmark in the city for being, on one side, a real jewel of industrial archaeology (the long factory chimney gives actually name to the complex) and, on the other, an attraction spot for creatives, such as Mariscal the designer of the 1992 Olympic games logo (Cobi).

The industrial warehouses and factories (naves) are perfectly conserved and nowadays covered in a dense green canopy of Parthenocissus. For sure, the extremely favourable climate of Barcelona helped a lot in the creation of this urban jungle and its gardens, where people working in the companies located in Palo Alto can have their lunch. I believe this is one of the greenest spots in the city and the special character of the area just makes you want to pack your stuff and move in.

This unique mix of rough industrial and jungle was the perfect location for the first Mercado Condal del Diseño and a great background for these young talents to showcase their works. I was very impressed by the quality of some of the products, so much some came home with me! 

But I will tell you more in the next few days about my most favourite ones, so stay tuned because there were some amazing surprises!

All images © facing north with gracia

PLACES | FNWG and Tonolo Selezioni

I have been asked often where my passion for Scandinavian design comes from and why the atmosphere and interiors of our home are so Nordic. Undoubtedly, both my personal preference for essential, meaningful living and the research I carried out at the Architecture Faculty in Venice shaped my way of understanding design and space. But, it was the possibility to discover Nordic design and share this growing affection with very passionate people that planted the real "seed" in my heart. 

So, here I am, sharing with you one of the "great roots" that made me fell in love with Scandinavian design, many years ago.

Everything happened in this store, not far from my parent's home in Italy, where I used to spend lot of time observing the objects of classic brands like Marimekko, Iittala and Normann Copenhagen almost 15 years ago.

In a way, Tonolo Selezioni was my personal Scandinavian Design museum, with private talks about the meanings and concepts behind the design of the selected pieces. The conversations with the small gang that used to come around the store shaped my understanding of design, sometimes more than the lectures at the faculty. Nobody wanted to teach me anything, so there was no preconceived route to take and my imagination could wonder freely discovering concepts, functions, shapes and materials.

Still today, Federica - the owner - carefully selects the objects that she presents in the shop and creates some of the most refined still life and stylings I have seen. The selection has enlarged during the years and includes new design brands, like Hay, Vipp, AndTradition. It also embraces design in clothing, being one of the few stores in the area having Marimekko dresses. Italian brands are also present with labels like Album di Famiglia -  outstanding children clothing - Some Beautiful Items or 10notforsale, a curated collection of hand-blown glasses that challenge our idea of nature.

Most of the times, inspirations and possibilities come from the most unexpected places. But I have always found that where there is a great passion and this is shared freely, something special always grow. At least, this has happened to me.

All pictures © facing north with gracia

STOCKHOLM | Rosendals Trädgård

Saturdays are made for long sweet hours spent with friends and having fun, aren't they? 

For this reason, I decided to dedicate it only to family and beloved ones. But this post is special for two reasons: it is a way  a way to thank the Urban Jungle Bloggers to have me in the group and the first I publish about part of my main professional duty. I hope you enjoy the little divagation. 

Today we head to Djurgården, the garden island located on the East side of Stockholm, to visit the beautiful Rosendals Trädgård. Infact, part of my work as a RD manager consists of visiting from time to time special plant nurseries and garden shops. As a landscape architect and someone that has literally grown among plants, visiting this kind of places is quite natural: I usually start with the "get the atmosphere" tour, pass to the "professional eye" one and move eventually to "let's have fun" (with a slice of cake and coffee when possible). I have visited garden shops mainly in Italy, France and in the UK, so I was very excited to have a chance to spend a few hours in Rosendals while in Stockholm.

As I was in Stockholm just after the Design Week, the place was not at its greenest moment. Still it was no disappointment, especially because I had the great privilege to enjoy it all by myself as it was closed for some small renovations that day. They obviously sneaked me in - who can resist me? lol - and let me wonder in the little antique glasshouses. It is hard to explain the feeling that always invades me through the scent created by the mixture of the soft ground, the plants and the high humidity. To me it is the fragrance of Life.

Rosendals plants and object selection is very interesting and their colour palette has my complete approval. I know some of you will feel the urge to ask if even the gardens I design are completely white: I confess they are not. However, I always remind my client not to forget white is the last colour disappearing when the night comes and the only one capable to reflect the shy moonlight, therefore it should be highly used in the garden.

I strongly recommend my fellow Urban Jungle Bloggers to spend a few hours here whenever they have a chance to visit Stockholm. 

This post is part of the STOCKHOLM SERIES.

 

Pictures facing north with gracia

 

STOCKHOLM | Part Two

Here it is the second part of the Stockholm Series! So let's take a walk in Södermalm, from Götgatan into the heart of SoFo in Stockholm. As you may remember from what I wrote last week, the district is packed with cool shops and places and you can breath creativity everywhere. My first stop was at the local Hope store, the Swedish clothing brand: the place was visually stunning. I liked the industrial touch of the structures combined with the white tiled walls and the pieces of art used to reinforce the colour scheme of this year collection.

Second stop was Granit where I actually stopped more than once during my short staying after the Blogger Tour, and I never left "alone". hat can I say about this place? I just love it. It was so hard to not buy all the items, like the new light strings (I wish I would have bought the white ones, silly me). The staff was very friendly so I dare to ask if they plan to open internationally delivery soon because I am sure I am not the only one looking forward to it. I have  sweet and bitter news: they will open it to the all the Northern countries this year but nothing is planned before next year fro the rest of us. That means, we will have to go to visit Stockholm to get something: bitter-sweet, isn't it?

As I said, the area has a great number of creative offices and I loved to walk around taking pictures of unexpected scenarios like the one down. And I almost rang the bell when I saw the Skull poster in the window shop in the other one.

One of the places I really wanted to visit in SoFo was Dusty Deco, a shop specialized in industrial pieces with patina and great classics they collect during their travel. Unfortunately it was closed. So I walked to visit GrandPa, a store next door to the cafè and Fabrique bakery I showed last week. Grandpa was founded in 2003 with the idea of offering a different sort of shopping  that could merge interesting products with their special atmosphere. selection Since the founding of Grandpa in 2003 we have offered a different type of shopping. We have always had service, atmosphere and inspiration as our top priority. We often decline strong brands that we don’t feel are up to our standards from a quality, environmental or image perspective. For us, the brands are never more important than the product itself.  Their famous Cyclisten poster can be found here.

The second part stops here but there are two special issues coming soon and one is dedicated entirely to my fellow Urban Jungle Bloggers! 

 

 

 

Pictures facing north with gracia

STOCKHOLM | Part One

I have been wanting to share with you some of the pictures of the trip to Stockholm from last month. As you know, I have been travelling a lot recently and I have managed to download the photos now. This won't be a chronological report: I prefer to arrange everything in minor threads with a "special issue" at the end.

I spent the first days of my staying  with the beautiful people from the Blogger Tour, sharing  an amazing eclectic apartment that Emma and Allan found for us in the very Mariatorget, in Södermalm. After the tour, I moved to a Airbnb apartment not far from there: it was almost a decade since my last visit and I really want to breath and feel Stockholm as much as I could.

Södermalm is an amazing district, full of life and cool shops and cafès. One of the places I spent a long time in was Drop Coffee [above], home of the Swedish champion of Latte Art. The place is very nice: a relaxed atmosphere where lots of cool freelancers and bloggers go to work. In general, I have to admit coffee is very good in Stockholm (and you know how picky I am about this, don't you?) but the milky foam of Drop Coffee beat all the other - Italian manias of mine. 

Another place I strongly suggest to visit is called Il Caffè:  minimal and funky, the coffee shop shares its space with the local branch of the famous bakery Fabrique ( those Cinnamon buns..) and to Cristoffer Blommor, one of the most famous flower shops in town and a delight for my eyes.

The Stockholm Series continues next week.

Drop Coffe image courtesy of Linda Elmin.  

ICELAND | Reykjavik Kex Hostel

As you may have seen in the previous posts dedicated to our trip to Iceland, we had an amazing time. This is the last post and it's entirely dedicated to one of Reykjavik coolest place: Kex Hostel.  Housed in an old factory close to the sea, the place has a unique vintage industrial atmosphere. Furnished with pieces and objects coming from many places, it's the perfect spot where to have breakfast or brunch (food is delicious and, of course, you can stay overnight as well). The place, a former biscuit factory (kex is the word for biscuit in Iceland) is a real success and has fast grown into a favourite  meeting point for international travellers and locals that come here after work. 

If you go to Reykjavik, you cannot miss this place.