Category: Netherlands

Dutch Design (38): Pimp your Mini Rooftop

Probably you all have seen the Ipod design for the Mini Rooftop. I Love it!

You might also know Mini offers an on line tool to Design Your Own Mini Roof Top. Unfortunately it is not possible to add your own image or logo in this tool. In the USA there is another Mini site: Roofstudio. However, I cannot get it working even after downloading the correct shockwave version to check if you can add your own design….I’m yet too busy to try it in photoshop, but I might.

Anyway, a Dutch Mini Website Top of Mini has held a competition for designers up to the age of 30 and recently announced the winners. I would like to share a few with you that I particularly like, some of them are winners, some not:

The winner and also my first choice is the one with the typical Checkered Dutch linnen or cotton pattern known under the name “Boerenbont” (i.e. something as “Checkered Farmer’s” see for more info in English Babylon). I don’t doubt this pattern is known elsewhere, as Dutch Merchants seem having it introduced almost everywhere. I certainly do like the association with the checkered flag that was used on many original Mini.

My second choice is the Knitted Dutch Flag. I have already predicted that in the direct future we are on out way back to knitting under the present economic down slide.

My third choice is the Google Map Mini. Almost impossible to make a stronger statement. Satellites know to find you.

Talking about maps: This one is very Dutch with a map of The Netherlands 1:300,000 on its roof.

Also very Dutch is this Delft Blue tiles design. Delft Blue is still an very touristy item for Dutch export. The Royal Delft Factory is worth a visit and attracts many visitors annually. And do you see that when you click? There is also a Marcel Wanders collection for sale.

There is also a Traffic Jammed British Flag nicely referring both to the British legacy of the Mini and the horrible daily Dutch traffic jams.

There are many more, but maybe another time.

via Design.nl Dutch Design on the Road

Affordable Art Fair – Amsterdam – Contemporary Art Fair

After eight successful years in London, New York, Sydney and Melbourne the Affordable Art Fair has been launched in Amsterdam in November 2007. After this first edition the Affordable Art Fair Amsterdam will grow in 2008: circa 80 galleries from the Netherlands and abroad will be seen at the Westergasfabriek terrain from 29 October to 2 November. The fair is fun, relaxed and with everything from €100 to €5,000, it is an art-buying opportunity that can not be missed.

The fair’s friendly environment invites first time buyers to browse amongst the thousands of paintings, original prints, photography and sculpture, whilst seasoned collectors can seek out hot new artists. In short, AAF Amsterdam is a fair where you can look at contemporary art, love it and leave with your own piece.

This funky fair’s stunning location is the 19th century gasworks, an impressive industrial monument on the Westergasfabriek terrain, close to Amsterdam Central station and easy to reach by bike, tram, car or foot from the town center.
Affordable Art Fair – Amsterdam – Contemporary Art Fair

"Royally" Fed Up with RandstadRail


RandstadRail. Photo by Dennis Holtkamp

RandstadRail is a light rail initiative to have quick public transport between the two cities The Hague and Rotterdam. The idea is RandstadRail can use both the tram rail and the train rail network. The only problem is that they are much wider and heavier than ordinary trams. A fact that the The Hague Municipality played down heavily when we organized a protest when the City planned to have RandstadRail driving through our very narrow part of the Laan Meerdervoort in The Hague. Then they claimed our protests were mere NIMBY (“Not In My Back Yard”) protests.

My main complaint is that our part of the long Laan Van Meerdervoort is too narrow for Randstadrail.
What happened yesterday evening proved me right again:


RandstadRail crashes two taxis in one

A TV crew was shooting an interview with a foreign Prince in our small luxe hotel, Haagsche Suites, for a BBC series to be broad casted in spring 2009.
After the shooting I had ordered two taxis, one for the Prince and one for the crew. We had just loaded the crew’s gear, cameras, lighting equipment and tripods in the first taxi. We were saying good bye to the party on the sidewalk. All of a sudden we heard two enormous bangs: RandstadRail had crashed into the second taxi with such speed that the second taxi was smacked at least 5 meter further against taxi number one.


The poor driver of the second taxi in dire need of a replacement car.

I am very glad nobody was standing between the two taxis when it happened and luckily there were no personal injuries. This is not the first time this happens in front of our hotel. A couple of weeks ago RandstadRail crashed a car with a whole family inside it….not sure they didn’t have any whiplash injury then.

Now I really can say I am “Royally” Fed up with RandstadRail!

The Hague: 1 City/2 Days/20 Venues/200+ Artists – TodaysArt 2008 (5) Chunky Move

They performed Glow, one of the best dance performances I have ever seen!

About Chunky Move
Founded by Artistic Director Gideon Obarzanek in 1995, Chunky Move has earned an enviable reputation for producing a distinct yet unpredictable brand of genre-defying dance performance. In the performance Glow, the latest in interactive video technologies is used to generate a digital landscape in real time in response to the dancers’ movements. Beneath the glow of a sophisticated video tracking system, a lone organic being mutates in and out of human form into unfamiliar, sensual and grotesque creature states.

Look at this video for an impression of Glow:

The Hague: 1 City/2 Days/20 Venues/200+ Artists – TodaysArt 2008 (4) Man Makes Time


22:51 hr


22:51.15 hr


22:51.30 hr


22:52 hr

Think about this installation: Man makes the clock, or the time. As various lapses of time cost more work to establish, you can better understand how it comes that one minute seems to last much longer than another minute.