GIMME A GUMMO OFFICE

Cupboards and tables and whiskers on kittens

Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens

Brown paper packages tied up with strings

These are a few of my favorite flings

Marktplaats and second hand poodles

Doorknobs and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles

Kringloop that sell the moon and weird things

These are a few of my favorite flings

Girls in black dresses, white masks against splashes

  Paint that stays on their nose and eyelashes

Black from what melts into things

These are a few of their favorite flings

Then there's spraypaint

And the guys sing

When I'm feeling had

I simply remember my favorite things

And then I don't feel bad

Watch that film now

And be amazed

GLASS FARMHOUSE

This shop and office complex by Dutch architects MVRDV is disguised as an old farmhouse, but its walls and roof are actually made from glass.

 The building is located in the market square of small Dutch town Schijndel, where MVRDV partner Winy Maas grew up. The town suffered damages during World War II, and Maas has been campaigning since the 1980s to replace a destroyed structure in the space between the church and the town hall.

Thirty years and six failed proposals later, the architects and the town council agreed to develop the site within the traditional building envelope specified by the town planners.

MVRDV reinterpreted this volume in glass, then compiled photographs of traditional local farmhouses by artist Frank van der Salm and created a collage of images to apply to each surface of the facade. Using a fritting technique the architects were able to print the images straight onto the glass, creating the illusion of brick walls and a thatched roof.

The actual windows and doors don't line up with the printed images, so entrances look like they pass through brick walls and windows appear as semi-transparent blobs.

More information on the Glass Farm's site: Glass Farmhouse

GIDSY GETS YOU TO KNOW THE PLACE

Ze vertrokken van Amsterdam naar Berlijn en gingen daar aanvankelijk klussen voor andere bedrijven. Maar iets zelf maken is leuker, concludeerden broers Edial en Floris Dekker al snel. En zo kwamen ze op het idee van Gidsy, een dienst die past in de trend van Etsy en AirBnB, platforms waar vraag en aanbod op een gebied bij elkaar komen. Bij Etsy vinden artiesten en makers van handwerk kopers, bij AirBnB vinden huiseigenaren tijdelijke huurders. En bij Gidsy? Bij Gidsy tref je bijvoorbeeld mensen die een rondleiding rondleiding door de stad langs belangrijke plekken van de Amsterdamse school geven, of hardlopers die anderen voorgaan op hun loopronde, of een tocht maken per Trabant door Berlijn. Mensen die iets weten of kunnen bieden hun diensten aan. Een percentage van de inkomsten gaat naar Gidsy.

Het verhaal van Gidsy luistert als een gesproken jongensboek. De twee broers zijn super enthousiast, vinden veel heel erg cool en zien met hun goede idee kans om wereldvermaarde investeerders achter zich te scharen. Ze zijn nog maar net bezig, maar de vooruitzichten voor Gidsy zijn goed. En de gunfactor is groot. Floris en Edial Dekker zijn 'good blokes' met een sympathiek initiatief. En ze geloven in de goedheid van de mens. Van het bekijken van deze aflevering van Top Names word je vrolijk. Gegarandeerd.

Hier is Gidsy

THINGS ORGANIZED NEATLY

Jan Heijnen* tipped me about Things Organized Neatly. A site you can visit to see daily uploads of little collections people took pictures of. You can look at it randomly or just follow the stream...

Either it be a holiday collection of souvenirs....

Or a nicely made drawing of your travel kit...

 

Keep us posted if you post an entry! 

Jan Heijnen is a Dutch / The Hague graphic designer doing some neat organizing on his website too...

NOT MY CHOICE

What a tremendous idea, Niet Mijn Keus [Not My Choice].

A present for someone, everyone, always a surprise, also for yourself!

Read reactions of users under this link.

In Dutch, but translated some sound like this:

-On Saturday morning there was a gentleman of Borent at the door with a mini excavator, supposed to be digging trenches for sewers. Hired for one day, but not my choice. My son (12) and I took it for a ride. On fallow land, we built a sand castle. Certainly two meters high, surrounded by a deep moat. Gasoline turned out not to be included, but it was worth the fun. Thanks!

Or

-Got 10 lobsters, but what to do now? Keeping them in the bathtub until I know what to make of it.

IN THERAPIE

The dutch version of In Therapy starts its second season. New therapist and the old one into therapy with the new one. But remarkable is the app that goes with it. Is looking into the therapists consulting room already a sort of sneaky thing, peaking into his telephone ads an extra dimension.

You can choose between three versions and download at http://intherapie.ncrv.nl/applicatiedownloaden

Imaginairy life finds its way even more into virtual life... Former Therapist Paul Westervoort, a fictional figure, has as some of his fellow patients a FaceBook account.

BTW, Paul seems to have mostly female friends...

PLEASE NOOT

These days are much about food... Sinterklaas, mainly about sweets. An attack on childrens teeth is the only thing left from the kind of sadistic Sint of the forties, fifties and early sixties. Luckily for expats there is Typical Dutch Stuff. Nice for the Dutch to take a look from the outside at their inside... [not their stomach content]