The machine is a Rube Goldberg machine which can serve you an omelet, coffee and a toast with jam. Yuri and Masa invited other designers and the public to help build and design the machine. They’ve used recycled remnants of previous Platform21 projects to solve all the different problems to get to their goal. Last weekend the machine was ready and served all-day breakfasts to the visitors.
Did I mention I want one? Like, really badly? Full video over here. My Dutch is a little rusty, but damn it looks awesome.
We’d like to think that we’ve built a little street cred for our knowledge of denim. But Tenue de Nimes is rapidly becoming the Mecca of denim — made from denim. Starting in December, not only can you buy the best jeans there, but you can also get special Japanese washing powder for your Japanese raw. The list of brands they carry is basically a who’s who in the denim world, including a few exclusive items. They’re so proud of their collection that they claim to have a pair of jeans to fit every man and woman in the world. The smartass in me wants to take the 1,000-pound man from Mexico that got married a few weeks ago to see what they do. But their point is well met. Get yourself to Amsterdam and find that perfect pair, or stay where you are and take a peak at their blog to see the progress of the store.
If you happen to be in Amsterdam in late October, you would do well to check out an exhibition of Evan Hecox’s Urban Abstract, a collection of city life close-ups from cities across the world. You might remember hearing about the Urban Abstract book here earlier this year. The show, which opens on October 24th, features work representing two cities out of the many Evan has already depicted in this series: New York and Amsterdam. The realistic snapshot style offers a unique streetwalking view of the cities. Check it out at Chiellerie.
You know how a walking stick isn’t really a stick, its an insect. Well a memory stick isn’t really… well the people at OOOMS have made a memory stick into a stick. As you can see the wooden memory stick is a USB flash drive mounted inside of a piece of wood. Each one is uniquely hand made and should stand out nicely in your coffee shop against all the other computers with techno LED flash drives. Check out the rest of OOOMS product line for some more design focused products from those crazy Dutch.
Leave it to the Dutch to do something completely different. Denim manufacture Glue Jeans does just what their company name implies: instead of stitching the denim together, they've glued it with a super holding glue. What seems like a cleaver gimmick actually looks really cool. Raw denim next to the heavy lines of red glue gives it a sharp look. It’s different enough to turn heads, but subtle enough to leave people wondering. Glue Jeans has tested their product’s durability for the past two years, but if the glue wears off and your pants disintegrate, remember these jeans were invented by people from Amsterdam. A little public nudity isn't one of their biggest concerns.
We like it when our readers travel and keep their eyes open. So, a big shout out to Andy for giving us the heads up on something we really should have been all over: the grand opening of Amsterdam’s new public library, the OBA (that’s Openbare Bibliotheek Amsterdam, for those of you keeping score at home). The Bibliotheek opened up for business on 7.7.07 and it’s typically Dutch, by which I mean it’s modern and gleaming, and by all accounts function follows form wonderfully. You’ll see what I mean if you look through Andy’s pictures. Where else but in Amsterdam would they put high-tech bean bag chairs in the library? Honestly. It looks like the perfect place to start in on some stoned reading and then just fall asleep. The only mistake I can see is that the building looks a lot like the Borg Cube when it’s lit up at night, which will probably lead to about 10,000 American pothead tourist bug-outs a year.
More for those interested: On its official website, the library says it will serve about 7,000 people a day; Fans of Jorge Luis Borges will be interested to know that the library appears to be organized roughly in circles; and there is a hilariously overwrought video featuring the uniforms that the staff of the OBA are wearing here.
With a few free hours on my last rain filled afternoon in Amsterdam I made it over to Droog@Home, the design gallery, shop and offices of what some are calling the Dutch design super-humans. Having seen dozens of pictures of their designs in the past, it was really a treat to see such a wide range of their innovative design in one room. They’ve been going since ‘93, and currently the collection features 300 designs by nearly 200 designers. The studio showed off everything from lighting and furniture to random accessories– designs are witty and idiosyncratic, while still remaining incredibly functional. Describing all the products I saw would be impossible– but let me just say that the Milk Bottle Lights and Joris Laarman’s beautiful ceramic radiator were much better than I would have imagined in person. If you’re a designer or a design fan– this shop is a must see stop while in Amsterdam.
Best described as darlingly innovative cuisine, we had a chance to dine at Beddingtons Saturday evening in Amsterdam. Usually a near impossible reservation to get, we lucked out with a cancellation literally seconds before we called to inquire. Jean Beddington, the well known globe trotting woman über-chef blends nearly half a dozen influences– British, French, Italian, Indian and Japanese. The atmosphere was simple and wonderful, a classic black and white dining room. We enjoyed a few different options off the fixed menu like an unusual fruits de mer platter and beautifully cooked mullet as well as a fresh eel appetizer (served on a skewer over rice and edamame) that tasted more delicious than most offerings at high-end Japanese restaurants. This was excellent world class dining, sans attitude– a refreshing treat and an unusual stroke of luck.
Another gem of a shop I ran into today was Universe on a T-Shirt, a small workshop space on Bloemdwarsstraat, off the busy street of Rozengracht. They primarily sell t-shirt and sweatshirts on which they hand print their sometimes elaborate and always beautiful designs. They hope to help people avoid what they call the H&M effect, AKA going out and meeting 3 other people, all in the same t-shirt. Every single shirt is made right there in the shop, and each piece is unique (or as they say unique messy and colorful). They use the highest possible printing techniques with hand made mosaic patterns– they also believe in fair and ethical trade and all the shirts are made under supervision of the Fairware Foundaiton. The good news is you don’t have to hoof it all the way to Amsterdam to get their stuff– you can check it out and buy it online, they ship worldwide. After we had made our purchase it was a delight to find out that the couple running the shop were actually JoshSpear.com readers!
The best shops in Amsterdam seem to be the ones I stumble in to accidentally. It seems like most of the popular shops readers have told me to go to so far overall are pretty lack-luster and over hyped. For a change of pace, I accidentally found my way into Boutique, a nerd meets design shop on PC Hoofstraat a few blocks away from my hotel without ever hearing about it from anyone (it doesn’t even seem to be checked on Superfuture). The shop reminds me of the ground floor Collete in Paris– an awesome collection of, as they describe it, spoiling technology. Diamond encrusted PSP’s, Black Label LG phones, sterling silver iPods, and other super-luxury items nobody needs but everyone wants. Check out some pictures of the space on their site– and if you’re in the area and have a bulging wallet, stop by and buy yourself something nice– It’s hard not to.
Yamazato is a traditional Japanese restaurant tucked on the ground floor of Amsterdam’s Hotel Okura. Zagat readers gave their nod to the restaurant as being one of the best Japanese restaurants in the whole of Europe– and being the Asian food snob that I am, I figured I had to find out for myself. It was Yamazato that introduced Kaiseki style cooking to Europe 30 years ago– and not far into our appetizers it was clear they knew exactly what they were doing. We enjoyed extremely fresh salmon sashimi, beautiful tofu dishes, exquisite sushi and some of the best rice I’ve had in months– it reminded me of the quality of food I experienced in my travel across Japan. The atmosphere was simple, the staff attentive and very knowledgeable. It’s no wonder Yamazato received a Michelin Star– and the property still remains the one and only traditional Japanese restaurant to receive this accolade across Europe. This place is not to be missed, delicious!
I touched down in Amsterdam late Saturday afternoon, welcomed by torrential downpours and incredibly overcast skies– just my luck! I used some of the evening catching up on emails in my hotel downtown before heading out to dinner at a fantastic world class restaurant called Beddingtons (review forthcoming). Of course as the evening progressed I was given the obligatory walking tour through the famous red light district, passed by dozens of coffee shops, casinos, sex shops, and so on. Earlier today to get out of the rain I made my way around the Vincent van Gogh Museum, awesome as expected. Some of this city (like most cities these days) are so over run with main-stream commercial properties it might as well have been Times Square in NYC–but the magical canals, winding streets and architecture I saw is what makes this place so special. It reminds me of Copenhagen, one of my favorite European cities. Word on the street is tomorrow is supposed to be beautiful– I sure hope so, I have a lot of exploring to do and this rain sucks!
If you happen to be in Amsterdam in late October, you would do well to check out an exhibition of Evan Hecox’s Urban Abstract, a collection of city life close-ups from cities across the world. You might remember hearing about the Urban Abstract book 
Leave it to the Dutch to do something completely different. Denim manufacture 
We like it when our readers travel and keep their eyes open. So, a big shout out to 
Best described as darlingly innovative cuisine, we had a chance to dine at 
I touched down in 
