Milan Furniture Fair

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I shouldn’t really have gone to Milan this weekend because of schoolwork.  I’ve been spending a lot of time on things other than school recently, but this was an opportunity that I just couldn’t pass up.  I had bought a ticket with RyanAir, the ultra-budget airline from Ireland, for under €70 a month ago, so it wouldn’t have been a huge financial loss.  But I had been wanting to go to this international furniture fair, the Salone del Mobile, in Milan for as long as I can remember so I threw caution to the wind and went for it.  I couldn’t have gone under better conditions, as my friend Marcello (who is from Milan) was also going, and would be taking us on a guided tour of the city and the fair.  Being not only a local, but a design student at Politecnico Milan, he was the best person to see this city with.  Sharon, a student at TU Delft from Singapore, and her sister Kelly, were also traveling with us.

We flew from Eindhoven, the town where the Design Academy is located.  Jon Igharas, a classmate of mine from Emily Carr, is on exchange there, and met us at the airport to go to Milan as well.  A short flight later we were picked up by Gio, Marcello’s father, at the airport.  He took us to his house, about 30 minutes outside of the city where we met Marcello’s mother (Donata) and sister (Lydia), before dropping us off in the center of Milan.  By sheer coincidence, Marcello’s roommate  in Delft has an apartment 10 minutes walk from the Duomo in the center of the city, and she offered it to us for the weekend.  More stars were aligned that I thought possible. 

So with our base established, we spend the rest of the night in an area called Zona Tortona where many design studios and shops were open late to the public for this week.  This is where the madness and inspiration began for us.  So much clever and elegant design within such a small area.  The streets were packed with design-tourists well into the night.

The next day, Saturday, we headed early to the main conference center where the Salone was taking place.  I can only describe the excessive amount of space taken up by the exhibitors as obscene.  In this, the largest exhibition/conference center in the world, there were about 16 american-football field sized buildings full of furniture on exhibit.  In 6 hours, we got through nearly five of them, often at running pace.  It was mind-boggling, exhausting, inspiring, disgusting and more.  I took about 500 pictures during this day, and some of the best can be seen by clicking on the picture below (this link is only to the design-related photos, the rest of the trip photos are linked at the top of this post):

After the Salone we visited the Design Trienale, a design museum that had recently been renovated.  An exhibit here featured a show about what Italian Design is, and outside there was a Kartel garden display featuring huge plants in the shape of furniture.

Sunday was spent walking around the city visiting more exhibitions and stores, including a stop at the Boffi showroom.  For those unfamiliar with Boffi, it is the premiere luxury kitchen and bathroom manufacturer in Italy.  If you wanted a decent set of kitchen cabinets from them you could easily spend over $100,000.  So this was like design porn for someone who likes this kind of design – like me.  Dinner was spent with more friends of Sharon’s, who she had met when they were on exchange in Singapore.  Fantastic food was everywhere on this trip – I won’t go on about describing it.  After dinner we went to another restaurant for drinks and to just hang out, and guess who I ran into?  The whole crew of my classmates on exchange to various places from Emily Carr College.  Caine, Ranine, Jon, Jhon, Stephanie, and Zain had stumbled upon the same place we had chosen.  It was quite a trip sitting in a small Milanese eatery comparing notes with other students from Canada.  After that night I didn’t run into them anymore.

Marcello showed us the Politecnico on Monday, and we had lunch with some friends of his.  The school had some amazing architectural projects on display, but not too much industrial design.  It looked like a fun campus for sure though!  Some shopping followed, including the purchase of both a Louis Vuitton and a Prada bag by Kelly.  That night Marcello’s family treated us to a fantastic multi-course meal that lasted well into the night.  A true Italian family experience that we found out was actually quite short by their standards.  

In the morning Gio took us to the old city of Bergamo, on top of a hill, before dropping us off at the airport for another lovely (groan) RyanAir experience.

Jen in Holland!

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Arriving back in Amsterdam on Friday night, I was fortunate to have been offered the use of Timo’s apartment for the entire weekend.  I met him at his bother’s house, where he was staying, and we had a nice dinner.  He had decided not to go out dancing with me, so I took off solo for a club called Melkweg.  Steve Lawler (one of the best dark progressive house DJs on the planet, and one of my all time favourites, for those of you who don’t know) was on the decks and the timing was perfect for me.  Fly in from Morocco, see an awesome DJ, pick up my fiancé the next morning….. life is good.  At the club I made friends with a group of people who really reminded me of my friends in Vancouver.  They accepted me into the fold, and we all had a good time dancing our asses off.

The next morning I picked up Jen from the airport.  Waiting at the arrivals door, the anticipation was intense.  I hadn’t seen Jen for over ten weeks, and when she walked out into the hall, it was like a dream. She dropped her bag and book, and ran towards me.  At the last second she jumped into the air, and I caught her in my arms.  Real fairy tale stuff, I know!

We spent the weekend in Amsterdam riding around on rented bikes doing tourist stuff.  Canal boat tour, Red Light district, museums, etc.  On Sunday night we visited relatives of Jen’s north of Amsterdam, Gert and Susan.  They were fantastically nice, gave us dinner, and we chatted for a couple of hours.  Very nice hospitality.  We’ll look them up again for sure.  A late night train then took us home to Delft.

On Monday we picked up a friend’s bike for Jen and we explored Delft.  Jen had found the number of people and bustle in Amsterdam quite overwhelming, and was much more comfortable in Delft.  Part of the purpose for her visit was also to get a feel for what it will be like to live in the Netherlands for a while.  The rest of the week was mostly devoted to biking around Rotterdam and The Hague.

On Wednesday we visited The Hague on bicycle, and found it to be a very pretty town with lots of old buildings and beautiful neighborhoods.  We biked up to the beach north of the city, and saw many of the Consulate mansions along the way.  By the end of the day we had a pretty good feel for the city, and headed back to Delft.  The process was repeated on Thursday for Rotterdam.  This is a totally different city, and felt much more like Vancouver.  Most of the city was destroyed by bombing in WWII, so there are a lot of modern, tall buildings are found in the center.  We found a nice neighborhood to live in called Kralingen, which reminded us of Shaughnessy.

Friday we went back to The Hague to compare it again to Rotterdam.  This time we got a much better feeling for it, and came very close to deciding that this is the place to live.  We checked out the M.C. Escher museum too. Escher is Jen’s favourite artist so it was exciting to see originals here.  His work is unbelievable in its detail simplicity.  It blew my mind!  That night we went to a club to see what dancing was like here.  The music was OK, but it was mainly nice to be dancing together again.

On Saturday we hung out in the sun at the market all day, went to a movie, made dinner, and prepared for taking Jen to the airport the next day. The airport experience was a gong show though.  After a cancelled flight, changed flight, and overbooked flight, KLM finally gave Jen a hotel room for the night, some money, meals for a day, and a flight on Monday.  WOO HOO…. Another day with my girl!  I stayed at the hotel with her, and went back to Delft on Monday morning.

Morocco with Armel and the Castellans

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The end of the quarter (half a semester) saw the dawn of some more great adventuring for me on this side of the globe.  I took the plane on Friday to Casablanca, Morocco to hang out with my best friend Armel (and his girlfriend Sarah and his family) for a week.  The Castellans have a very good family friend from Morocco named Abellah who is the master of hosting in high style.  The occasion was for the wedding of his son, Cassim.  We stayed with Abdellah’s sister Latifah in a house big enough for three families.  It had four living rooms, a swimming pool, and was a ten minute walk from the beach.  Truly luxurious.

It was the biggest wedding I had ever seen, with around 600 guests.  It was a traditional Moroccan (Muslim) wedding and was very dramatic.  No alcohol of course, but the bride and groom had many different costumes and were carried around the room severeal times by troops of men,

Throughout the first two days in Casablanca we ate enough food for a week.  There was always a lunch to go to somewhere or dinner to enjoy with a different party of the family.  I’ve never eaten so much or so well in such a short time before.  I vowed to live on bread and water when I got back to my regular student life.  This was more like the life of VIPs or Diplomats.

We left Casa for Essaoira on Monday, a beautiful town further down the coast.  It has a very pretty old town right on the water, with an active fishing industry and tons of shops lining the streets.  We made a trip to the beach the next day, and enjoyed body surfing, fine sand, and a nasty blowing wind.  I’m still finding sand in my shoes and clothes from that day.  I have vivid memories of crunch teeth.

From there we drove inland, past Marrakech, and into the Atlas Mountains.  What a change of scenery along the way.  Until just after Marrakech it was all desert, but then we saw big mountains looming in the distance.  Everything became greener, and the mountains kept getting bigger.  I think the highest ones were up to 4000 feet high.  After sleeping in a hotel in the foothils, Sarah, Armel and I went for a run in the morning.  We crossed a river and ran up into a village that didn’t have roads big enough for cars.  It was like stepping back in time, and was perhaps the richest experience of our busy trip.

Following some more driving through the mountains, we returned to Marrakech for Dinner with Abdellah and another sister of his, Sekina (at whose house we slept).  But just before dinner we managed to insert a whirlwind trip to see the big mosque, the market, and the location for the second wedding which would happen the next day.  The location was the fanciest restaurant I had ever seen.  Too bad I had to leave the next morning.  Armel and I got up befor sunrise the next day and he took me to the train station.  Three hours later I was in Casablanca airport, waiting for the pland back to Amsterdam and reflecting on the wonderful week that had passed.  But it wasn’t time for school yet. Jen would be arriving the next day!

Copenhagen - Short and sweet!

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This weekend I had the pleasure of going back to my home country, Denmark.  The occasion was my aunt’s 60th birthday party, and my parents flew to Copenhagen to help celebrate.  I flew out of Amsterdam on Friday afternoon, and my dad picked me up.  We were sleeping at the beautiful country house of a part of my family that I had never met before, the family of my mom's cousin.  They have four daughters (who were not home), nine horses, three dogs and two cats.  The dogs are Great Danes (literally – you know, the breed!) and they are enormous.  I think they weigh about 125 pounds. Before we left the house the next day, Karsten showed me his two amazing collectors cars.  One 1952 Rolls Royce and one 1958 Jaguar XK150 R convertible.  Both in immaculate showroom condition.  I didn’t dare to ask how much they were worth.  We took a drive through the country roads north of Copenhagen with the top down – what a car.

Anyways, this day was actually about the big birthday party, with about 24 people in attendance.  This was a very efficient way to get to see everyone, all in one go.  After seven mind-numbing hours of speaking Danish, I was finally thinking in the damn language.  By this time, everyone had gone home except my cousin Lena, her boyfriend Rasmus, my other cousin Tina, and her boyfriend Even.  As it turns out, Rasmus owns four bars throughout Denmark, and we all five headed out on the town.  This was the first time I’ve ever spent time with my cousins in an adult setting, outside of family events – so great.  I can now sort of imagine what its like to have a brother or sister of similar age.  Friend, but also more than that.  Strange for me as an only child, and I really enjoyed the night.

Sunday was also about a family lunch, this time on my father’s side.  While it was only ten people this time, the food was incredible.  A classic Danish lunch with pickled herring, rye bread, breaded and fried fish, and pate.  This weekend I’ve had enough rich and fatty foods so that I can avoid cooking until at least the next weekend.

On Monday we took a boat cruise tour around the harbour.  Check out the photos to see how much new building they are doing in Copenhagen.  So many modern buildings and new construction that I can hardly believe it.  Almost none of it was there in 2002 when I last visited.

Tuesday was my last day in Denmark, and we used it to check out the best gallery/museum in the country.  Louisiana (as its called) was showing a retrospective of both Paul Gaugin and Roberto Giacometti.  The former was a big influence on the latter, and to see them together was a treat.  Giacometti’s thin sculpted figures are immediately recognizable, yet there was so much more to his career.  I recommend a trip to Copenhagen to see this show.  ;)  The pictures show that the building and grounds of Louisiana are worth the trip alone!

The sad moment finally came when I was dropped off at the airport by my parents.  They are off on Thursday to Rome, where they will rent a car and spend two weeks visiting friends and driving up to Paris.  They haven’t done a trip like this in decades, and they deserve it.

More Rotterdam

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Last Tuesday there was supposed to be a good jazz night in Rotterdam, so a bunch of us took the train to see if it was true.  The club was called Dizzy, and featured a big painting of Dizzy Gillespie on the wall.  The ten piece band was great, but the place was so crowded that it was difficult to breathe.  Still fun to hear live jazz though.  On our way back to the station, we detoured to look at a public square that featured four big red crane-looking lights.  They weren't working at the time, but you can usually control them with buttons mounted on their base.  Check the pics..

Then on the weekend Yann, Richard, Sara, Januska and I went to a club called Waterfront for the 10th anniversary of a club night called Sound Architecture.  It was all minimal techno.  I didn't realize how much I like minimal techno until this show.  Fun times....

Amsterdam and Den Haag (The Hague)

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Friday/Saturday Feb 22 & 23

The adventure this weekend began with a solo trip to Amsterdam.  I went to check out an audio/visual festival called Sonic Acts that Ed had recommended.  In particular, the group to see was called Signal.  I arrived in time to see two other performances before they began, and they were both quite abstract.  The first one was two grey haired guys playing ambient noises on a large collection of hardware while a film recording of a garden played with no apparent change the whole time it played.  They must have been good, because there was a large round of applause when they finished.  Or maybe people were happy it was over.  Either way, the next act was even more out there.  Leafcutter John was a long haired guy and his girlfriend from London.  They began by squeezing and crackling a water bottle in front of the microphone with a big echo/delay.  Then some crazy screaming sounds and later they strummed a slinky with a microphone attached.  More applause at the end.

When Signal finally came on, I understood why Ed had told me to go. Although they played what most people would call noise, the squelching, static, banging and lack of notes or tones added up to an incredibly pleasing noise-scape.  This was supplementd by black and white, barcode-inspired visuals that were synchronized to the sound.  The result was stunning and mesmerizing and everybody was bobbing their heads.  Adding to the scene, these three German guys (Signal) wore matching white jackets and two of them were definitely about 50. Totally worth it.

At 11:00, I ran out of there to get in line for Escape, one of Amsterdam’s fanciest clubs.  I had tickets to Tiesto.  Now normally I wouldn’t go to this kind of DJ, but I’d heard too much good stuff about him to pass up the opportunity.  The timing (with Sonic Acts) was perfect.  I met up with some Greek girls from my class who I knew were attending too, and we had a blast dancing to the best trance I’ve heard.  I don’t love trance, but this was as good as trance gets.  Even bigger than the sound was this guy’s ego.  Instead of a DJ playing before the big act, they had a huge curtain set up, onto which footage of a big festival that Tiesto had DJ’d at was projected.  He was also on the 10 plasma screens that were at the sides of the dancefloor.  When the time was right, they dropped the curtain, and there was Tiesto at the turntables, pumping his fist, already in the mix.  Quite a show!

I took the train back to Delft at 4am, and fell asleep on the train.  The scariest part of it was that when I woke up, the train was going in the opposite direction from when I had fallen asleep.  All sorts of thoughts went through my head, but a fellow passenger assured me it was ok. I hadn’t missed my stop, I had just slept through a stop that was a dead end (from which the train had to pull out the other way and continue backwards).

After about five hours of sleep, the adventure continued with a trip to Den Haag.  This city sits near the coast, about ten minutes from Delft in the opposite direction from Rotterdam.  It is the seat of the government and administrative center of the Netherlands, and the International Court of Justice is based here.  Again, it was a group of about eight international students that I went with.  We trekked around the city by foot for about five hours in total, taking in the atmosphere of this old center. I had forgotten my camera again

Rotterdam Touristing

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A great trip that we (the international students) organized was to Rotterdam, about 10 minutes by train from Delft.  It involved lots of walking around until... a friend of Juan's picked us up in her new VW Touareg and drove us around the town.  Lia gave us a wonderful tour that included lunch at the New York hotel and a trip up the Euromast (like the CN tower, but smaller).  An interesting side note is that Lia's husband is Ferry Corsten, the internationally famous trance dj and producer. 

Rotterdam has so much energy compared to Delft.  Its very vibrant, has modern buildings mixed among old ones, and tons of interesting cultural events.  I think that I would choose to live here if I am to stay here for the full Masters program.  Its only about 20 mins from the Rotterdam station to the university.