Fast Flash Copenhagen

As the year comes to an end I am clearing the memory card on my small Canon IXY digital which is a standard item in my travel pack.
Just before the snow and ice hits the whole of Europe, I already got a sneak preview in Denmark while I was there to visit two stores for NIKE. In between the visits I stayed at the Hotel Fox in Copenhagen. This hotel is a great design hotel in the city centre. Check out there website to get an impression of what there rooms look like. As the weather turned for the worse and I only had a night to spend in Copenhagen, I did not get to see much of the city. Fortunately there was a great sushi restaurant attached to the hotel. Here are some fast flashes from the trip.

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The Next Dimension

Today I received a cool link concerning projections x retail projects. Both Ralph Lauren and H&M did some amazing stuff on their buildings prior to opening the new flagship stores.
Down below you will see the fusion of art, fashion & technology taking it to the next dimension. These films are made at the Ralph Lauren women’s flagship store in NYC and the H&M flagship store in Amsterdam. Sit back and enjoy the ride.

Westwood x Selfridges

During the recent London trip I ran in to the exclusive Vivienne Westwood exhibition in the basement from Selfridges. The exhibition featured more than 200 pairs of her iconic shoes and showed pieces of great photography and a variety of catwalk shows on a big screen. This is the statement from the Selfridges website concerning the exhibition:

This month Selfridges London is proud to present the latest project from the grand dame of British fashion,Vivienne Westwood. A retrospective of the designer’s most iconic shoe designs spanning five decades. Throughout her career Westwood has taken inspiration from British heritage, including Victorian dandies and pirates, to create collections that capture and inform the zeitgeist. Her shoes have also been the catalyst for some of fashion’s most memorable moments, including Naomi Campbell’s famous catwalk tumble whilst wearing the Super Elevated Gillie platforms in 1993. From the Pirate Boot, first seen in 1981 to the Sahara Plimsoll of 1999, Westwood’s shoes have become fashion icons in their own right.

London Baby!!!

At a recent Nike trip the team and I ended up in London. With only a night and a day to spend in this vibrant city we made the most of our time. A tip for any hungry traveler, try to make it to Momo. Great food in an Arabic ambience with a night club just down the stairs. Some nights the club is for members only but you will have as much of a good time chilling and eating in the restaurant. Down below you will find my London snapshots.

A Shot At Creating

Last Spring I tried to land a job with Dutch Company Bart’s as one of their designers. Bart’s creates a lot of different winter accessories for all genders & ages. As I always have loved graphic design & fashion I wanted to give it a shot. Even though I only had just six lessons in Photoshop and my remaining six lessons in Illustrator had not started yet, I gave it a shot. Did I make the cut?  No, but I had great fun creating the designs and it was a good to meet the people at Bart’s and a valuable lesson.

Down below you will find the designs that I made:

The Rough & Refined theme is a collection of ideas for a women’s set existing of a scarf and a pair of gloves.  To be worn both on the street as on the slopes was the idea behind this collection. Rough materials combined with refined details and graphics based on the street wear which I had seen in Tokyo.  The photo’s in the collage were found in magazines, the internet or are my own.

The Bouncing Bambino’s theme wants kids to leave their game consoles and TV’s behind. Play outside and be true kids again. The collection is made out of strong materials that can withstand a beating. Running through bushes, being left on the streets or being run over on the ski slopes. These visor beanies come in various colors sporting  dynamic stripes and a camouflaged 41B logo. 41 stands for the country code to dial into Switzerland and the B for Bart’s. Reason for this is that the Bart’s logo incorporates a snowflake that looks like the Swiss flag.

When it comes to the Crisis Predators collection I grabbed back to my roots as a skateboarder.The no nonsense mentality of the action sports lifestyle made me come up with the name for this style. Even though we are in the middle of a crisis these athletes are not impressed and keep raising the bar on their performance. Bright positive colors combined with a functional fit and make these beanies stand out of the dark economic news that keep most of us worried. The true Crisis Predator keeps on the move looking forward to the next adventure.

Snaps from Milan

Past summer I helped out during the remodel of the Nike Factory Store in Fidenza, Italy. As the works were completed sooner as expected the store opened a day in advance of the original planning. This gave our team the chance to go and see Milan, a city which had been on my “To see list” for a very long time. Down below you will find random snaps which I took during the day. The main purpose was to go and see shop windows and get inspired for upcoming projects.  The photo’s are random shots that I took of things which inspired me or just put a smile on my face.

Wattnou x Revenge

http://www.vimeo.com/9336574

Guerillastore Wattnou at the Revenge in Utrecht, Holland.
Eco Design vs fresh clothes and a great vibe!
I dropped in to try out my new camera.

Shot on a Canon 7D
Sigma 17-70 F2.8-4 DC OS lens

Music: 7th Street – The Groove Sessions Vol.2 by Chinese Man

Photoshoot Thies Design & Styling

I was recently contacted by Marith Thies from Thies Design & Styling to do a photo shoot. Marith had been working on a new office for Dutch law firm Cooman Advocaten. The firm is situated in a newly built office in Leidsche Rijn, a suburb in Utrecht, Holland. Thies Design & Styling created this project based on a corporate look with a feminine touch.

Here are a few shots from that shoot. To see more results visit the Portfolio Page of the THIES website.

Short Film for IKEA

To explain upcoming ideas from the IKEA Utrecht store I created a short film which captures these new plans for the future. The film was part of a presentation for the Dutch senior management of IKEA. The original idea for the presentation came after a conversation with the Marketing and Interior Design manager, Eva de la Chambre.

Eva opted to show the management team a powerpoint presentation which incorporated photo’s to enhance the story. After a short brainstorm session I decided to go for a short film instead. This would make a stronger impact along with the presentation provided before the film was shown. The movie consists of time laps video’s, created in and around the IKEA Utrecht store, photo’s from the IKEA intranet and a mix of my own photo’s and internet pictures.

After the presentation this video was used for instore staff sessions to present IKEA’s FY11 plans.

Music: Always More by AutoKratz, Kitsune Maison 7 Album