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

Dutch Design (37) : Marcel Wanders Designed Mondrian Miami Southbeach open

Recently the $200 million 335-room and condos hotel Mondrian Miami South Beach opened during Art Basel. Its design is by Dutch designer Marcel Wanders.

The Hotel site of the Mondrian starts wit the same video you can find on Youtube:

Luckily you can skip the intro. I do not like video’s on a Hotel website as a starter. First and foremost I like photos and lay out plans of rooms. For one reason or another the photos on the Mondrian Miami hotel site are still images from the design stadium…no real photos yet.

The video is part interview with Marcel Wanders. IMHO he should take some English presentation lessons.

An extensive interview in Fastcompany‘s online magazine gives more insight about Marcel Wanders, Fast Company’s designer of 2008.

Off course the opening party was enhanced by the Happy Hour Chandelier about which project I reported earlier here

I wonder Wanders, why didn’t he built on the name Mondrian? The Dutch Style Icon that was the inspiration for Morgan’s first Mondrian Hotel in L.A. Then maybe the plain outside of this Hotel at least could have been a bit more … flamboyant…or flashy

Before the LA Mondrian became a Morgan Hotel Group Hotel, it was family owned and featured a real Mondrian painting that inspired its name…probably lost underway…..

Merry Christmas

Santa brought us a new Asus EEE Netbook and a Delft blue Santa for our Santa collection. So your humble writer can add posts when on the road. In addition he can upload photos while on the road and even crop them to fit in here. I hope it enhances the possibilities of writing more interesting stuff for you.

Merry Christmas to you all!

High Five (7): Tools, Translating your Blog posts, Abandoned Cities, Hotels and a Love Letter

Gorilla High Five

Time for a new High Five (6):

  1. 15 Tools for Monitoring a Website’s Popularity, if you’re interested.
  2. In Building a Tourist Community Website With WordPress: Multilingual Contents and Translations Guest Blogger Amir Helzer gets the podium from Lorelle on WordPress to advertise his affordable I Can Localize human blog translation service. OMG this reminds me I have abandoned the translation plugin in entirely because it didn’t work well.
  3. Abandoned cities, in case you would like to visit them…sometimes the result of economically poor times..
  4. Lonely Planet’s founder Tony Wheelers lists his 10 Hotels of 2008 Interesting, from a room at $ 12.- and upward.
  5. Love letter to a reluctant traveler. Com on couples do travel to energize your relation!

About Happy Hotelier’s High Five
It is meant as a gesture of appreciation to fellow (Travel) Bloggers (sometimes referred to as members of the “T-List”) or other Web- or Travel Personalities.

The arms are usually extended into the air to form the “high” part, and the five fingers of each hand meet, making the “five”, hence the name, although Happy Hotelier’s High Five will always be a left handed one.

I will not publish it on a scheduled date. I will publish it each time when I have found five persons or sites or posts that I deem worthy a High Five. It even may imply me echoing old news here.

If you want to draw my attention to a post, please use the Contact Page or give me a message at Twitter

The Category here on Happy Hotelier is High Five.

About The High Five Logo

I borrowed the photo of a sculpture from Lisa Roet, a sculptor born in Australia and currently living and working in Melbourne, Australia, because one of the main items on my passport is that I miss a big chunk of my right thumb, so my right hand is much alike that of an ape:-)

Dutch Group Travel Blogging initiative "Spotted by Locals" wins People Award in Mashable's Open Web Awards Travel Category

Spotted by locals has won the people’s vote at Mashable’s open Web Awards in the Travel Category. Congratulations!

What is Spotted by Locals?
Spotted By Locals is a series of cityblogs for travelers who like to experience cities ‘the local way’. On every cityblog, handpicked locals (”Spotters”) write about spots they go to.

Who’s behind Spotted by Locals?
Spotted by Locals was started by two Amsterdam locals and travel addicts, Sanne & Bart van Poll. They handpick all Spotters in all cities, only after having had a face to face meeting.

Much more important than the initiators are the Spotters! Check out who they are here.

Does the world need this?
Certainly! Paper guidebooks just can’t keep up with cities: the moment they are printed, they’re already outdated. And there are many reviews of spots in cities on the internet, but they are often difficult to find or trust.

Sanne & Bart have often experienced going to a restaurant, and seeing many people with the exact same city guide on their tables. Or going to a “hip” club or bar that had been closed for a long time already. We have seen this (too) often. And we know many travellers have the same problems.

So, yes, the world certainly needs trustworthy often updated information about places real locals visit! We will make sure you can experience cities like the locals do.

Runner up in the public voting to Spotted by Locals was Geckogo.com.

About Geckogo:
GeckoGo thinks sharing travel experiences should be easy and fun. So they built a collaborative travel planning resource for independent travelers (those not interested in resort vacations).

Spotted via Ludolf Stavenga’s Reisportals:

Interestingly the Blogger’s Choice Winner in the Travel Category is Tripit with as runner up………Geckogo.com.

Alas for Couch Surfing: They lost in both instances.