sas royal hotel. copenhagen

When we were in Denmark last month we planned one of our days in Copenhagen around a self guided Design walking tour. Our first stop was the 5-star Radisson SAS Royal Hotel designed by Danish architect Arne Jacobsen. Jacobsen's influence can be seen in everything down to the textiles, cutlery and door handles.

If you know to ask and do so nicely you can be escorted to Room 606 of the hotel, the room has been completely preserved and is in the exact state it was when the hotel was finished in 1961. We spent a few minutes sitting in the Egg chairs, Swan chairs, and the discontinued Droplet chair. The gentleman from the hotel was very patient while we took our photos and explored every corner of that space.

This is an absolute must see for any design enthusiast.

claudy jongstra installation

I recently wrote about the work of Claudy Jongstra. I was so glad that I remembered there are public installations of her work in the Netherlands. When we were in The Haugue we visited the Central Government and Library Building where the entire vertical surface of a wall was veneered in hand felted wool. It is a beautiful thing to have such works of art available to everyone in a public building.

The handcrafted installation was a stunning contrast to the sleek shell of the structure. Amazing.

tulips

One of the biggest reasons we scheduled our trip to Holland for late April is so that we could visit the tulip fields. We saw the fields and visited Keukenhof, a park in Lisse with over 7 million flowers in bloom for only 8 weeks a year.

We were surprised to learn that that the tulips grown in the fields are simply a by-product of the tulip industry. Shortly after blooming, the flowers are "decapitated" so that the bulbs can be harvested and sent all over the world.

Our day spent wandering among the flowers was very peaceful, a day I will never forget. It is rare to be surrounded by such beauty.