Tag: Travel

  • tom àdam’s Berlin

    tom àdam’s Berlin

    Tom Adam Vitolins is the founder of tom àdam, a responsible and conscious men’s underwear and swim shorts brand based between Paris and Berlin, and manufacturing in a small factory near his hometown in Latvia. A family business – above all, a friendship between a son and dad – tom àdam‘s vision is to create garments that allow ethics and aesthetics to co-exist.

    We asked Tom to share his favourite places in Berlin with us.

    www.tomadam.fr

    Bichou

    My favourite French cafe in town – watch out for Marion & Thomas because they are the sweetest. Their brioche orange is impeccable and it’s the perfect place where to go for an espresso with friends or lunchtime coq-au-vin with your parents.

    www.instagram.com/bichou.berlin

    Schönstedtstraße 14, 12043

    Rosa Wolf

    Perfect if you end up in Prenzlauer berg, and have forgotten to take your favourite indie magazine with you. I tend to have a problem, to go out of this place with only one magazine in my hands. The photo is misleading and I took some other magazines as well. Nonetheless, both Record Magazine & Rosa Wolf, are highly recommended.

    www.instagram.com/rosawolf_berlin

    Eberswalder Str. 33, 10437

    Michelberger Hotel

    From playing table tennis in their courtyard during the day to having a glass of “Jaspidem- Rosato di Sangiovese” and catching up on the book which I always carry in the pocket of my jacket to listening to their concerts on the weekend and having some proper, fine-dining experience. Anytime, any day. They don’t disappoint. It serves as well as a very nice hotel, which I tend to forget about.

    www.instagram.com/michelbergerhotel

    Warschauer Str. 39-40, 10243

    Körnerpark

    When you want to see Jardin de Luxembourg in the middle of Neukölln, this is the place. Perfect for playing Pétanque in front of their art gallery & café.

    Schierker Str. 8, 12051

    König Galerie

    It was founded by Johann König in 2002. It’s located in a former church, St.Agnes, which is a great example of “brutalism” architecture and the very high ceilings give a very unique surroundings for the artworks.

    www.instagram.com/koeniggalerie

    Alexandrinenstraße 118-121, 10969

    James Turrell Lichtinstallation

    *Insert a lot of praise for James Turrell here*. Although my favourite was his exhibition in Jüdisches Museum, this one takes place in a cemetery (I am seemingly a big fan of churches & cemeteries) and starts half an hour before the sunset. Perfect for immersing yourself in the shadow-less beauty that James Turrell has crafted.

    Chausseestraße 126, 10115

  • Travelling to Svalbard with Parajumpers

    Travelling to Svalbard with Parajumpers

    Adventure, tradition, culture, exceptional pursuits and extreme professions all meet in the latest project from Italian luxury outerwear label Parajumpers. The combined creation of Ape S.P.A. and designer Massimo Rossetti, Parajumpers has just released ‘Stories’, a travelogue that tells stories of  lives outside the ordinary in the remotest corners of earth.

    To find out more about this project, we spoke with the label about the inspiration behind the campaign and the character we can meet in the first video.

    www.parajumpers.it

    The chosen destination for the first story is Svalbard, a Norwegian archipelago located just 1,000Km away from the North Pole. Here is where nature can be experienced at its most extreme, with extensive white landscapes, incredible wildlife and the contrasts between the midnight sun during summer and the long, polar nights in winter.

    Its inhabitants embrace isolation and enjoy an extraordinary lifestyle, thanks to its enticing mix of 51 cultures, sense of community and eerie beauty.

    Wiggo Antonsen, a local taxi driver is the protagonist of the first story. He came from the mainland in Norway and has no intention to leave any time soon. In this video, we discover his story as he take us on a ride around Longyearbyen, the largest settlement in Svalbard.

    Can you tell us more about how Parajumpers started and what was the inspiration behind it?

    The luxury outerwear brand was inspired by the men of the 210th Rescue Squadron, who are highly trained to execute extreme recoveries in the wildest, most remote and hostile corners of the globe. Designer Massimo Rossetti developed the product, drawing from military uniforms, firemen’s gear and the technical functionality of accessories such as backpacks. Each Parajumpers’ collection closely references hardware, with the removable metal hook that is a brand signature being developed from a quick release Parachutist hook. Parajumpers’ perfectly fuse style and function, paying close attention to developments in technological advancements and intelligence of construction.

    Why did you choose Svalbard?

    Svalbard became a natural choice for this season of Parajumpers Stories as it is an area of great beauty and also true conditions to highlight the performance levels of the Parajumpers’ product.

    The Parajumpers Stories speak of lives outside the ordinary, lived in the remotest corners of earth where powerful forces of nature make everyday survival a challenge. Longyearbyen is the largest settlement and administrative centre of Svalbard. Once an active coal-mining town, it is now better known for its university, the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, as a base to see breathtaking glaciers and the Northern lights, and for scientific research. As such a unique area we were blown away by its beauty.

    How did you come across Wiggo and his story?

    Whilst we were working on the Stories campaign, we came across a lot of interesting characters. Wiggo Antonsen, was one of these and we chose to feature him as the introduction to the campaign as he has such an appealing narrative and vibrant personality.

    Wiggo is a local taxi driver and sightseeing tour operator, who told us that the best part of Longyearbyen are the people and the sense of community. “In this town, we are 2,304 citizens, but we come from 51 different countries” he says. “What I like best about this place is the combination of peace, no stress and no crime”.

    In Svalbard there is virtually no such thing as a “local” inhabitant. Like Wiggo, who came from mainland Norway over a decade earlier, many have left behind more hectic lives for a chance to live in the icy north. It is an enticing mix of cultures, religions and beliefs that makes it uniquely colourful and inclusive.

  • Good Hotel, London

    Good Hotel, London

    We recently had an amazing stay at Good Hotel in London’s Royal Victoria Dock. Good Hotel is part of Good Group, a social business which has community and not individual at its core, providing premium hospitality with a cause.

    www.goodhotellondon.com


    The concept

    Founded by Marten Dresen, Good Hotel is the manifestation of his social business dream. The first Good Hotel popped up in Amsterdam during 1 year and trained and re-integrated 70 long-term unemployed locals who were living off welfare. Good Hotel now has locations in London (the floating hotel was transported from Amsterdam) and Guatemala (Marten founded a NGO called Niños de Guatemala there in 2006) and plans to open 5 new properties by 2020, focusing on destinations where touristic demand meets the needs for development.

    There’s one common point in all the Good Hotel properties: the contribution they make to the local community while offering a personalised, authentic experience. The Good Group has created an in-house training program called Good Training, offering long-term unemployed locals custom-made hospitality training and the chance to build a new future. Rooted in the local community, the ingredients, materials and labour needed at Good Hotel are all locally sourced from small business owners and craftsmen.

    Good Hotel also invests in the education of children of low-income families in Guatemala through the NGO Niños de Guatemala founded by Marten – in its first year it has donated $80,000 and is now working towards a goal to donate $500,000 per year).

    If you’re running a similar project and need guidance in social care, you can find organisations like CBAT that can help you in this process.

    The hotel

    Located in the Royal Victoria Docks, an up-and-coming area in East London, Good Hotel London is a floating hotel with an innovative design in a unique waterfront location.

    The modern rooms (4 types with different bed sizes and views to the dockside or waterfront and River Thames) have a minimalistic design, with Scandinavian-style wooden furniture and special details that make the stay even more pleasant, such as the fair trade toiletries, tooth brush and shaving kits, sockets for EU guests and a little doll handcrafted by Guatemalan artisans and designed to help you have a good night sleep.

    On the ground floor guests can find The Living Room, an open space with sofas where you can relax, big tables to work and meet other people staying at the hotel and a bar serving locally inspired cuisine with an international twist. On the top floor, guests can also find a roof area overlooking the River Thames and London, whilst enjoying drinks and café classics.

    When you book direct with Good Hotel, £5 will be donated to their NGO Charity partner, per booking, per night. When you book with Booking.com, they have partnered to created a unique ‘boosted’ link whereby if you book to stay anywhere with it, Booking.com will donate a percentage of your booking to Good Hotel’s NGO.
    Find out more here: www.goodhotelbooking.com

     

  • Porto Instants

    Porto Instants

    We’re back from spending 4 great days in Porto, exploring the city and visiting a selection of cafés, restaurants, shops and places to include in our new City Guide. While we work on the guide, here’s a little preview of some of the images we shared on our Instagram profile during our trip.


    Porto views from the Douro river.


    Casa de Serralves, an art deco mansion and park that now houses a contemporary art museum.


    Inside Coração Alecrim, a beautiful shop stocking a curated selection of clothing, homeware and other new and vintage objects.


    Porto’s typical tiled facades.


    BOP Café, great music and some of the best burgers we’ve ever had.


    Douro views from the Granja de Baixo district.


    Capela das Almas, one of the most visited chapels in Porto, known for its walls covered with tiles painted with scenes from the lives of various saints.


    The walls of Ó! Galeria, a shop and gallery selling artwork by illustrators from around the world.

     
     

  • The Jaunt, art and travel

    The Jaunt, art and travel

    The Jaunt is a project by Jeroen Smeets sending artists all over the world to find inspiration and create a new artwork which is printed in a limited edition. Before the trip, you can purchase the print sight unseen only knowing about the artist and their destination – a place they’ve never visited before. During the trip, you can follow the artist whilst they get immersed in the destination and get inspired to produce their artwork.

    In this short interview, Jeroen tells us about how the idea behind The Jaunt started, how people have reacted to this innovative project and the last trip with artist Kristin Texeira.

    www.thejaunt.net

    Photos by The Jaunt

    Jaunt #021 – Scott Albrecht – Masaya

    Can you introduce yourself and tell us about how The Jaunt started?

    My name is Jeroen Smeets. I’m from the Netherlands originally, but living in Copenhagen these days with my family. I’ve been working with artists for a while now through different jobs and projects. Ranging from editor-in-chief, creative director, art agency, gallery manager, publisher, journalist and everything in between.

    The Jaunt started about five years ago when I first started talking about this project with friends and artists, trying to shape this idea I had of sending artists on trips all over the world to find inspiration. After a year of conversations we organised our first trip in April 2013, and have been running ever since up to trip number 35.

    Jaunt #030 – Jean Jullien – Marfa

    The Jaunt is an innovative take on the traditional artist residency. Can you explain briefly how it works?

    We send artists on trips all over the world with the sole purpose of finding inspiration. There is no agenda and no briefing. The artists make their own trip and their own adventure. Once the artist returns from their trip, they create an artwork which we then produce as a limited edition silk screen print. We sell this print before the trip takes place. Meaning you have no clue about the outcome of the artwork until the artist has returned and you receive your print at home.

    This way when you buy a print you become part of the experience and make it possible for the artist to go on their trip.

    The Jaunt #007 – Jordy van den Nieuwendijk at work on location in Los Angeles

    We love the surprise element of buying the print before the artist travels to their destination, without knowing what they’re going to create. How did your first customers react to this? Can you share some of the feedback or comments you’ve received since you started The Jaunt?

    We work with a variety of established and upcoming artists, and this way we get to introduce artist whose work we admire to a new audience. One of the things I personally enjoy hearing the most is when people order a print from an artist they did not know before, but are very pleased with in the end and the artwork ends up hanging on the walls in their house.

    The screenprint studio of Joris Diks where the artworks are printed

    Your last trip has been with artist Kristin Texeira, whom we’ve interviewed before. Why did you choose Kristin and her destination, Newfoundland?

    I actually just stumbled upon her work by clicking through different hashtags on Instagram, and it immediately captured my eye. Her work is to me a great example of an artist putting her own feelings and experiences into the artworks. Meanwhile she is able to tell a vivid story with her quite abstract work. So I got in touch with her and two weeks later her tickets were booked.

    Originally I was looking into the Caribbean islands for her trip, but Kristin expressed a bigger interest in less tropical climates, enjoying the different elements of the weather and nature. Newfoundland, Canada seemed like a perfect fit for her.

    Jaunt #012 – Cleon Peterson – Athens

    You have published a book about your first 10 artists and their trips. Are you planning a second volume or other ways to expand the project outside of prints?

    It’s in the works. The first book was self-published which is a big challenge, especially on the distribution end of things. So ideally I would like to collaborate with a publisher on the second book and make sure it gets the proper international distribution.