Chocoa festival | March 6-8 Beurs van Berlage























The 3rd edition of Chocoa Festival, the Amsterdam chocolate festival for all chocolate  lovers, will take place from March 6th to 8th at the Beurs van Berlage, in the heart of Amsterdam.

For this occasion I collected some of the best chocolate addresses in town, and personally tried and tested some, not really the worst job to be honest! Find a selection here on the blog, and a list of all my favourite places to get your daily dose of chocolate in the highlights section of my Amsterdam City guide APP

Chocoa Festival
Tasting, enjoying and discovering new flavours is key during Chocoa Festival. Other products complimenting the chocolate will be present as well such as wine, coffee, tea and craft beer. Take a journey trough the cocoa chain and learn how chocolate is being made from bean to bar.  

Learn to recognize the qualities of good cocoa and discover the wide variety of flavours that exists. There are no less than 700 different flavors which can be tasted in better chocolate. Develop your senses and appreciate extraordinaty pairings. Chocolate makers from Brazil, Peru, Mexico, England, Italy, Hungary, the Netherlands and many more will tell you about the origins of their products and how they contribute to positive changes in living conditions of cocoa farmers and their environment. Buy your early bird ticket at the Chocoa Festival website

Chocoa festival
Beurs van Berlage
Damrak 243
1012 ZJ Amsterdam

Website: Chocoa festival
Area: Dam  




Pucinni Bomboni
A chocolate tasting at Pucinni Bomboni may easily let you forget all other chocolate you ever tasted before. Chosen in Europe’s top 10 list of best chocolatiers, Pucinni Bomboni offers a variety of flavours from ginger to mint and from caramel to cognac and spicy or sweet. They have the best sprinkles in town... you might know we Dutch love our chocolate sprinkle sandwiches. All chocolate is without any preservatives, handmade in their own kitchen and for sale at 3 different locations in town.

Pucinni Bomboni
Staalstraat 17  
1011 JK Amsterdam

Opening hours:
Monday noon  - 6PM
Tuesday to Saturday 9AM - 6PM
Sunday noon  - 6PM

Area: Waterlooplein

Pucinni Bomboni

Singel 184
1016 AA Amsterdam
Opening hours:
Monday noon  - 6PM
Tuesday to Saturday 11AM - 6PM
Sunday noon  - 6PM

Area: Dam 

Pucinni Bomboni

Oudekerksplein 17A
1012 GX Amsterdam
open every day from 10AM - 10PM
Area: Dam 
website: Pucinni Bomboni




Metropolitan Deli
Bonbons, pastries and authentically delicious Italian ice-cream. As soon as you enter the store you'll smell their 70% pure home made chocolate. The place to have a warm chocolate, cacaotea or taste a cacaobeer! Check the website for different choclate tasting workshops.


Metropolitan Deli
Warmoesstraat 135
1012 JB Amsterdam
Open 7 days a week
Website: Metropolitan deli

Area: Dam



Lite dark
Healthy concept based on fresh fruits and healthy dark chocolate in any form and combination

Lite Dark Choclate
Utrechtsestraat 22

1017 VN Amsterdam
Opening hours
Monday to Friday 8AM - 7PM
Saturday & Sunday 10AM - 7PM

Area: Utrechtsestraat

Lite Dark Choclate
Zeedijk 59A

1012 AS Amsterdam
Opening hours
Monday to Friday 9AM - 7PM
Saturday & Sunday 10AM - 7PM

Website: Lite Dark
Area: Dam




























Urban cacao is the place for where refined chocolates are produced, celebrated and sold. Chocolate bars, pralines, cake, ice-cream and coffee with a large factory at the back

Urban Cacao Amsterdam
Rozengracht 200
1016 NK Amsterdam
Opening hours:
Monday Noon-7PM
Tuesday to Friday 10AM-7PM
Saturday 10AM-6PM
Sunday Noon-6PM
Area: Rozengracht
Website: Urban Cacao






ArtiChoc
The finest chocolate in combination with fresh fruit and cream, nuts and alcohol and wine from their neighbour all made in the open kitchen in the back of this stylish store in the South of town, a great place also for customers with different allergies or food intolerances.. we personally tried the ‘truffels with cream’ and ‘Cherry liqueur’ bonbons 

ArtiChoc
Koninginneweg 141

1075 CM Amsterdam
Opening hours:
Tuesday - Friday 9:30AM - 6PM
Saturday 9:30AM - 5PM
closed on Monday and Sunday

area: South | Museum district
website: ArtiChoc






Dutch Homemade
When walking in at Dutch Home made this store with a large selection of Macarons might look a macarons only store but is also an address for bonbons, pies and coffee. The picture of the interior of the Haarlemmerstraat store, which I really like is made some months ago on a quiet moment. You can sit for a coffee and try the macarons, the beautiful pies or bonbons. I tried the 70% pure 'Vietnam' bonbon!

Dutch Home made 

Haarlemmerstraat 122
1013 EX Amsterdam
Area: Haarlemmerbuurt


Dutch Home made 

Vijzelstraat 69
101 HG Amsterdam
Area: Dam Spui Munt

Dutch Home made 

Oude Hoogstraat 31
1012 CD Amsterdam
Area: Dam Spui Munt
Website: Dutch Homemade





Find all my favourite places to get your daily dose of chocolate in the highlights section of the Amsterdam City guide APP  tips are welcome, just sent me an email

Tenue de Nîmes Haarlemmerstraat | Haarlemmerbuurt


With two stores downtown, the one in Haarlemmerstraat being my favourite, and not just because they pour out some really good wine on weekend afternoons, Tenue de Nîmes is a really accessible store for both the denim lover looking for selected brands 
including their private label, but also think Blue Japan, Momotaro, Orslow Jeans, Big John The Real McCoy, L.V.C, as well as the tourists from all ages, looking for something new to wear or buy.

Both the store at Haarlemmerstraat and Elandsgracht have amazing interiors with a mix of fashion, shoes, books, jewellery and a selection brands for your interior. I am madly in love with their collection of Mad et Len, candles & lava rock stones in black handcrafted metal design. 

Tenue de Nîmes
Haarlemmerstraat 92-94
1013 EV Amsterdam
Area: Haarlemmerbuurt


Tenue de Nîmes

Elandsgracht 60
1016 TX Amsterdam
Website: Tenue de Nîmes 
Area: 9 straatjes














pictures © Amsterdam Next

FoA. Fragments temporary store | Pijp area


End of Januari First of August opened FoA.Fragments at Gerard Douplein 15, a temporary space where the multiple elements of First of August come together: a Store, Stock&Sample Sale and Showroom. I popped in the other day and not only fell in love with their bags collection but also loved the space, an overall white ambience with a dark black painted ceiling. FoA temporary store is open till the 1st of March!

First of August is an Amsterdam-based fashion company of Karlijn Boersma. She graduated at the Amsterdam Fashion Institute and gained a Master degree in Cultural Sociology, with a strong focus on the relation between fashion and sociological trends. The inspiration out of moments in Karlijn’s daily life assembled into the three elements that First of August exists of today; a clothinglabel FoA, an online store and a platform FoA. Academy. First of August invites you to shop, learn and visit!

FoA Fragments

Gerard Douplein 15
1073 XE Amsterdam
Website: FoA

Area: De Pijp







pictures © Amsterdam Next

Antique mirrors by Anouk Beerents | Nine Streets area

Today a sneak peek in the world of Anouk Beerents, who is specialised in the import and export of antique, and authentic quality mirrors, the majority of which are of French and Italian origin with gilded gold or silver leaf. Anouk has an amazing studio downtown, a real hidden gem on Prinsengracht at the nine streets area

I looked very often through the huge industrial doors to drool over the 450 m2 refurbished factory where Anouk accommodates her collection of more than 300 mirrors from the 18th and 19th century. You can even park your car inside the studio when visiting, and how cute is the little black Fiat 500 parked behind the wood stove.

When working on my city guide APP I made a picture from the outside of her studio and decided to sent her an email asking her if I could come and visit her studio. Not much later she invited me over and sitting at the big table, surrounded by hundreds of mirrors, a red burning stove, a sleeping dog and the smell of coffee I felt in heaven for a short while.


Anouk gave me a little tour through her workspace and showed me where she, if necessary restores the mirrors in her own workshop, where all possible restoration is done according to the traditional techniques. If necessary, the mirrors will be gilded with gold leaf or silver leaf while always preserving the original antique mirror glass. If you ever decide of purchasing an authentic mirror for your home, you know where to find Anouk's studio... by appointment only.


Anouk Beerents
Prinsengracht 467
1016 HP Amsterdam
+31 20 6228598
+31(0)654708030 
by appointment only Area: Nine streets | 9 straatjes














pictures 1-3 © Anouk Beerents |  other pictures ©Amsterdam Next - Vosgesparis

Nomess Pop Up Store at De Bijenkorf | Join the Instagram challenge



For today's post I teamed up with Nomess Copenhagen and Dutch department store De Bijenkorf.

For my interior design blog Vosgesparis, I travel around Europe with an International team of influencers to discover new design, or even design ourselves! | We designed a range of candles in beautiful black called KOTO with Scandinavian brand Skandinavisk | and
work at different fairs. 

This is also how I got to work with Nomess and their products at Designtrade, now called Northmodern where we build up a Bloggerzone. I am in love with their smart storage solutions and they are definitely one of my favourite Scandinavian brands!

Nomess Pop-up shops at the Bijenkorf

Starting this Monday February 16, 
Nomess will open several Pop-Up shops in four different Bijenkorf stores, kicking of in Amsterdam, 3rd floor, till April 7. Come and visit and join us on Instagram!  

Join us on Instagram
Make a picture showing your favourite product from the pop up shop and use the hashtag 
#Nomessvosgesparis to win your own Nomess goodies in next months giveaway party on my blog Vosgesparis!

Wanna follow us... find us here  
@Nomesscph | @debijenkorf | @vosgesparis 
Use #Nomessvosgesparis  


Bijenkorf
Dam 1
1012 JS Amsterdam
0800-0818

Opening hours:
Monday 11AM - 10PM
Tuesday to Wednesday 10AM - 8PM
Thursday to Friday 10AM - 9PM
Saturday 9:30AM - 8PM
Sunday 11AM - 8PM
website: De Bijenkorf
area: Dam | Spui | Munt





Nomess Copenhagen was founded in 2007 by Suzanne Potts, due to her own demand for organising, simplicity and aesthetic indulgence. 
All products are designed for the single purpose of making everyday life easier. For Nomess the functionality in organising objects can’t stand alone - it simply needs aesthetics to function. Those two qualities are the foundation of Nomess Copenhagen - and the vision.



AMS INSPRD | Souvenirs inspired by Amsterdam


When visiting a town for a short, or if you are lucky longer, citybreak, we all have our favourite stores where we just 'need' to shop before heading home. Whenever I am in Paris myself I never leave the city without visiting my Parisian favourite 'Merci'. I wrote endless blogs about the store on my other blog Vosgesparis, which you can read here

You and Amsterdam!
Leaving Paris, kinda feel nostalgic every time and sometimes I wish I could bring a bit of Paris with me. This made me think of you and Amsterdam and about bringing a real piece of Amsterdam with you! Which made me decide to select some really great souvenirs made by inhabitants of Amsterdam and inspired by the town we love. With this new feature AMS INSPRD I love to show you different and unexpected ways to take a piece of Amsterdam with you when travelling home.

AMS INSPRD
Bring the scent of Amsterdam with you in a perfume, or cutting board made out trees that has been growing in our streets, and given us shadow for years... or get yourself a bike shipped home, rebuild from a recovered frame of one of the many bikes you see in Amsterdam! Enjoy our AMS INSPRD selection.



Design Icons 2015 | Vintage design and raw industrial

Like last year I had a quick visit to Design Icons, with the new ferry departing from the Eastern Docklands where I live, I literally only had to cross the water this year. Even though I am not a huge vintage fan, I do appreciate the iconic Scandinavian and Dutch design pieces and particularly love the few industrial. 

The Industrial hall where the event takes place has one of the best Photo backdrops I know which make every piece stand out. Showing you a few pictures on the blog, for more have a look at the slideshow above.... with a small focus on the many work-desks I spotted today!



Pictures © Amsterdam Next

Amsterdam City of bikes & Rain-dresses | Press event

Last month I wrote a short report on Vosgesparis about The Unfold, an event where selected brands shared their stories at the beautiful location of the playing circle event space at Prinsengracht, you might remember the location from The Loft. Living in Amsterdam is definitely a plus as many events take place in my hometown and most of the time I can just bike downtown. To be honest I hate biking in winters though.... I am not that die-hard Dutch girl who bike no matter what. And in winters I love to take the bus, put in my earplugs and just enjoy the ride. 

Even more then biking on cold days I definitely don't like biking in the rain and I refuse to wear ugly plastic rain gear. Of course that is okay if you visit Amsterdam, rent a bike and discover the city like a local!

Can you imagine I loved the Rain
dress by BYBROWN spotted at the event. Creative director Melanie Brown told me most women, just like me, actually prefer to just get their clothes totally wet by the rain then wearing ugly rain gear. Which brought her to design an elegant 100% water- and windproof Raindress to fit over your normal clothing and engineered for the bicycle, that would fit in any high end fashion store. 



 

Roetz - not just a bike -
Let's stay in Amsterdam and talk some more about bikes! In the Netherlands over one million bikes are sold each year. And as many bikes are thrown away! In Amsterdam we kind of recycle them... ask any Amsterdam inhabitant if they ever 'lost' their bike! Fact is, many get stolen but also many are left behind when not functioning anymore... and many end up thrown in the canals.

Now this is where Roetz comes in, a young bicycle brand with a mission! By recycling as many components as possible, they want to reduce this mountain of waste and make beautiful 
sustainable and robust bikes in an environmental friendly way.  


Natural materials & meaningful collaborations
Usable parts are saved and if you think on how many different bikes cycle around every day, you will understand every bike made by Roetz is different! The combination of bright painted frames and the used colours given the bikes a vintage look. Every bike is supplemented with components made from as many natural materials as possible, like wooden mudguards (FSC) coming from a furniture factory in Germany, and cork handles made in Portugal. Although I do not drink beer I loved the beer carrier made out of recycled conveyor belt.




Unfold the untold
Unfold was about meeting, about listening, about storytellers and about getting to know... yourself, each other and the stories behind the people and the brands. There was delicious food and drinks by Gewoon eten en meer and the new Amsterdam gin brand Vørding’s put together by De dronken vegetarier.

The Story of Roetz
I thought the story of Roetz was really interesting, t
heir collaboration with sheltered workshops forms an important part of the making of a Roetz-Bike. By doing so they help people to have a useful daytime activity and make bikes to be proud of. Every bike comes with a card and the name of the person who made it for you .... the card can be sent back to the creater, and you can let him know how much you love your new bike.

Roetz Bikes - an Amsterdam Inspired souvenir
Being a real Amsterdam product I selected Roetz Bikes for the new Amsterdam inspired collection on the blog, other selections can be found here AMS INSPRD



The Unfold is an influencer event where avantgarde influencers got introduced to brands untold stories with adidas Originals|adidas Performance|adidas StellaSport|ByBrown|Farrow & Ball|Guess Jeans|Ibiza Art on Canvas|ITEM m6|Kikkerland|New Look|NOOSA-Amsterdam|The School of Life|Reebok|Undertøj|WDSTCK 


Pictures 1-4 via Press Only | 5-7  Sascha Luna



MARIE-STELLA-MARIS X GUP MAGAZINE Exposition at Kahmann Gallery


Through a collaboration with GUP Magazine, MARIE-STELLA-MARIS found an inspiring approach to share their social story with the world. Talented photographers were facilitated to shoot documentary images and autonomous work, whilst visiting one of the clean drinking water projects supported by the MARIE-STELLA-MARIS Foundation.  

Portrait and documentary photographer, Linelle Deunk, visited the clean drinking water project in Uganda. Till February 14, 25 of her black and white images, will be exhibited in the Kahmann Gallery, Lindengracht 35, Amsterdam.




MARIE-STELLA-MARIS openede haar eerste expositie in samenwerking met GUP Magazine. Portret en documentair fotograaf Linelle Deunk vertrok naar Oeganda om het schoondrinkwaterproject ‘Water for Mukono’ van de MARIE-STELLA-MARIS Foundation te bezoeken met als resultaat de intieme zwart-wit serie: 'This world is not mine'

De expositie is onderdeel van een structurele samenwerking met als doel op een inspirerende manier aandacht te schenken aan de projecten van de MARIE-STELLA-MARIS Foundation. Met de huidige projecten hebben zij inmiddels al ruim 10.000 mensen structureel aan schoon drinkwater geholpen. 10% van de opbrengst van de verkopen gedurende de expositie komt ten goede aan de MARIE-STELLA-MARIS Foundation.


More about the Marie Stella Maris Store 
Blogpost: Marie-Stella-Maris Archives