Hotel Droog, housed conspicuously in a 17th century building in the heart of Amsterdam, is one of THE design destinations in the city, let alone The Netherlands. It’s a high-concept, playful store where you can go for a drink, a bite to eat, shopping, exhibitions, a stroll in the garden, a lecture series, or even a bed for the night (despite the name they only have one single suite, after tight planning rules meant that they couldn’t expand their existing shop into a hotel). As Renny Ramakers, co-founder and director of Droog says:
The concept of a hotel has been reversed. Whereas a hotel is usually mostly about sleeping, here we have enlarged and emphasized all the aspects that many hotels also offer and made them central to the hotel experience—and it even has a room to sleep in. Hôtel Droog brings all of our activities under one roof—from curation to product design, exhibitions and lectures—and invites people to plug in as they choose.
I paid a visit while in the city for the weekend and had a tea in the vast, beamed dining room. The dining room itself is based on the premise that Hotel Droog doesn’t want to throw anything away. Since they started Droog in 1993, they have created numerous exhibitions, design projects and products. They have used all of this history to create an eclectic atmosphere with iconic Droog ‘rag’ chairs, second hand furniture and brand new designs from up-and-coming designers. For example, the shelves next to the rag chairs were originally used in their shop in New York, while the tables with Corian tops, designed by Sloom, were used in the Go Slow Cafe in Milan, Tokyo, London and New York. Many of the objects in the space as well as most of the tableware are on sale in the Droog shop downstairs if you wish to take a piece of Hotel Droog away with you. I for one loved the bold, graphic signage and quirky teapot set below.
