Netherlands trip 2008 - part 3

Walking around the old city of Utrecht is a fascinating experience, even if the weather is not the best you can get. One of the classic tourist attractions is the old Dom tower. This is the only part left from the old cathedral, but that is not what interests us today.


The cathedral's nave was torn down in 1674 by North Sea Winds (remember Cyril last year and it will not sound improbable). Only the tower and the transept remained. So today there is a big gap between the tower and what passes for the cathedral in these days. Filled with trees, in the summer it must be a lovely place to walk, enjoying the surroundings. This winter it is an eerie landscape of green tree-trunks (a result of the moss that covers them), looking strikingly otherworldly against the earthly and reddish hues of the chancel.

The impression that stays with you is of a surreal painting, where, instead of green leaves, you have green trunks and branches. And with that sense, comes another: one of isolation, loneliness, sadness. Despite the few people walking by (or on bicycles), I felt completely deserted there...

The tower is 112m tall, with 465 steps taking you up to see the view, and it is the tallest church spire of Holland. Its mechanical carillon has a huge repertoire of tunes that can be heard through the centre's cobbled streets, but I think only the tourists find them charming (try living next to it, playing a deafening melody each half hour and you will find out why).


You can go under the tower to the other side of it through a small tunnel at the base. I did not have the time to climb the stairs but will do in the future!


Walking away from the tower, the view from the canal is sublime... actually the tower serves as orientation so that one does not get lost in the narrow streets of the old city.

Netherlands trip 2008 - part 2 - Zussen in Utrecht

Zussen is now ranked amongst my favourite places to have a drink in Utrecht. An eclectic mix of various styles and materials, it is a bar-restaurant with a youthful clientèle, tasteful food and interesting music.


Located at Korte Jansstraat 23, Utrecht, in the centre of the city, it was a welcome haven on a humid and cold Monday evening. Although it was the start of the week, there were enough people there to make it lively and vibrant, aided by the eccentric decoration.

Wood is the main note in this neo-baroque concert of materials, either in rough, raw looking planks on the floor and walls...


...or dark looking wenghe with an 80's revival feel in the bar area:


The lighting is another interesting parameter of this establishment. Colour changing lights are used in the wall opposite the bar (it changed constantly from fuchsia to red, yellow, orange, green, blue)...

...to the use of tree branches, big and small, to light the seating areas...

...and a couple of huge lamp shades to finish off the look:


Swirling patterns on the fabric of the chairs (also used as wallpaper in the wooden grid framing the colour-changing wall) and huge painting reproductions on the walls, along with the use of polished stone on the floor, complete the picture. I will definitely go again on my next visit to Utrecht!

Netherlands trip 2008 - part 1

I was again lucky to visit the Netherlands this January, as I had done last year. I was supervising the set up of the Greek National Tourism Board in the Vakantiebeurs Fair in Utrecht. We did a similar design to last year's successful one, a bit lighter and airier this time around. Check it out:


We changed the colour of the main construction to maple instead of wenghe, limiting the dark wood to floor covering only. Combined with white frames and the intense colours of the new campaign for tourism in Greece, it made the stand look fresher, cooler and more inviting to the visitors.


The main concept again was water: from the bubble prints on the plexiglass boxes framing the seating area of the cafeteria, to the backlit "water" print inside the rectangular white sofa in the middle to the blue transparent fish hanging from the ceiling (I threaded them all myself and Sakis artistically hanged them in random swarm movement from the ceiling), "swimming: between silk thread columns, the whole stand tried to evoke the blue Greek seas.


The new GNTO campaign fit perfectly with the chosen colour scheme. The campaign photos (with the worst photoshop editing I have seen in years - rushed job?) show a new, contemporary Greece, very attractive to visit and with a variety of things to see and do (and not only ancient ruins to admire). I hope it helps the Greek tourism industry in a positive way (i.e. attract more "good" tourism to Greece)


Once again, kudos to my crew, who did an excellent job in difficult environmental circumstances and tight time restraints, to our Dutch collaborators (TAO, our electricians and riggers (thanks Patrick and Peter!) , Atelier van Zijderveld, our graphics set up crew, the Vakantiebeurs team (thanks Marloes!), the Jaarbeurs Utrecht people, the GNTO Amsterdam office (thanks Sotiris!) and everyone else that contributed to our success.

Netherlands - Interesting shop window

Starting here, I will be posting photos from my recent trips to The Netherlands and Belgium. I will post photos of things that are of interest to me in arts/design/architecture. Later I might also post other photos from the trips.

This is a shop window I first saw in Utrecht (photo is from Utrecht too) and later also in Amsterdam. I loved the use of the price labels as decoration and the overall styling and lighting is very theatrical. I do not know if they sell the actual outfits!!!

Great way to start a new year

I was in the Netherlands for 10 days, supervising the set up of the Greek stand at the Vakantiebeurs exhibition in Utrecht. The show was a success and so was the stand - many people, professionals and visitors alike, commented that it was the most beautiful of the whole show. You could see many people getting photographed within the stand's premises, especially under the main attraction, the hanging "postcards"! You can see below many photos of the stand, including a detail of the "rainfall" of postcards, which I made one by one, taking me slightly more than a whole evening, and then one great guy from our crew hang them from the false ceiling, again painstakingly one by one, working almost at a 5 meter height. Their movement from the air drafts, combined with that of the floss curtains, made for an exciting vision in the middle of the stand!
Kudos to all of my crew and the collaborating crews (electricians and graphics crew) for setting this up in time despite many problems, all the people from the show that helped us enormously and the GNTO people from the Amsterdam offices for their support.
In a next post, I will comment on the rest of the Netherlands trip, architecture etc. Happy new year to all of you.