The Exchange

Special Event

22 September – Victoria & Albert Museum

Globalism results in a huge number of challenges and problems. But it has also indirectly resulted in a number of new opportunities and partnerships that, even two decades ago, would have seemed strange. In a world in which the Global high street of ubiquitous brands and multinationals has reduced the differences between locations and infringed upon regional sensibilities, it would only be natural that there would be a counter-movement; that some key groups of consumers are eager to seek out difference. In a world of instant digital and telematic communication, why bother to travel if the end of your journey only offers the familiar?

Taking the issues implicit in The Exchange as a starting point - and other projects in which certain key individuals have been involved that illustrate new and emergent tendencies in the interface between tourism, design and local economies-, the Cultural Department of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the UK will host a panel discussion and reception at the V&A. It will engage the key partners in this project in a dialogue with UK counterparts responsible for projects in which the intersection of design, tourism and local economies are evident. In a globalised world and, perhaps more significantly, a European Union in which the freedom and ease of travel within members states has never been more fluid for citizens, what can we understand as role the that design plays over and above the traditional? With an increasing awareness of notions such as ‘design tourism’ and ‘cultural capital’ what lessons, if any, can be learned from such pioneering projects to assist policy or the contemporary hotel and leisure industry in aligning with projects that, almost by instinct, understand the ebb and flow of wealth between booming and declining locations and how design can be used as an unlikely driver in regeneration?

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The Exchange

There have always been hotels that engaged interesting artists, designers or architects to produce unique and interesting traveler accommodation. Yet it would also be fair to say that the last two decades has seen a massive growth in ‘design tourism’ manifesting itself in many other ways. The whole concept of the ‘design’ or ‘boutique’ hotel has now entered common language usage. And, as the coffee-table books testify, many hotels adopting this label remain concerned with fairly traditional notions of luxury.

But, in the same decades that have seen the rise of what we readily term ‘globalism’ we have also seen a broadening and increased complexity in the relationship between the tourism industry and design in its broadest sense. As some key examples prove, ‘design hotels’ are no longer purely about expensive luxurious accommodation. A growing number of contemporary travelers actively seek out tourist accommodation of which they have high expectations; both of the realization of the design concept and of their entire experience as a guests, even if on a reasonably modest budget. One might even say that the expectation of the contemporary traveler is one in which design has to perform, has to engage and stimulate rather than merely constituting a backdrop or scenic décor.

Furthermore, as the expectations of the once niche world of the ‘design tourist’ has shifted into the mainstream, the increasingly common partnerships between the disciplines of design and the role of the hotelier have started to make positive impacts on unforeseen economies and growing markets.

The Lloyd Hotel in Amsterdam is a clear example of an unexpected partnership that has blossomed. The unlikely product of a curator’s engagement with a group of local self-organising artists and creatives and the City of Amsterdam’s agenda to develop former docklands close to the centre of the city, the Lloyd and the unique onsite Cultural Embassy has grown in international visibility and as local hub for creative activity. It has received much praise for its conceptual approach to remaking a historic building in collaboration with top international designers and architects. Furthermore, its ethos -with a particularly Dutch sensibility for social relationships- is a prime example that hotels offering excellent design need not only cater for the rich.

Now, the team responsible for the Lloyd Hotel are once again involved in realizing two exciting new projects: a love hotel in Tokyo showcasing the best of Dutch design and The Exchange, due to open in Amsterdam in 2011.

In the case of The Exchange, one would hardly expect the driving force behind The Lloyd to lazily repeat the formula. And, indeed, with The Exchange, Suzanne Oxenaar and her team unveil an exciting new partnership and an entirely new concept.

Given its track record, its only natural that the City of Amsterdam has invited The Lloyd to become involved in its plans to rejuvenate the central area (of dubious repute) immediately in front of the landmark Centraal Station. What might be more surprising is that in realizing this new hotel project, the key partner for The Exchange is the Amsterdam Fashion Institute (AmFI).

Due to open next year, The Lloyd and AmFI are furiously involved in the implementation and realization stages of a unique project that will see very young fashion designers undertaking the rather lateral challenge of ‘dressing’ and ‘styling’ rooms. In a challenging experiment that sees these fledgling fashion designers geared to approach a room as if it were a body and not to simply try their hand at a little interior design on the side, the daring project defies all logic and yardsticks of established hotel design and management. Typical of the kinds of high-trapeze-without-a-safety-net thinking that have made both The Lloyd and AmFI hotspots of experimentation and creative thinking, one can’t help but wonder exactly what the result will be.

But, there is a certain confidence that can be gained from realizing that in a homogenized, globalised world, there will always be people ready to appreciate and support a strong vision from the leftfield, as both The Lloyd and AmFI know from experience.

As a special project relevant to both The London Design Festival and London Fashion Week, NL – The Dutch Cultural Pop-Up Space in London will present an experimental exhibition that offers the visitor a unique insight into the process and thinking that has gone into The Exchange, as the project progresses in actual implementation and nears realization. Exactly what can the fields of fashion design, spatial design and the hotelier learn from each other? The Exchange, inevitably, will unravel some of the answers.