IBM has designed special innovative billboards to promote its ‘Smart Cities Program’ in partnership with Ogilvy & Mather France. These billboards do not only have an informative function but function as useful surfaces as well. The billboards can be used as a bench, a shelter from the rain or a ramp over stairs. The aim of the project is to encourage smarter thinking when it comes to the development of ‘solutions’ for the city.
The ‘Variation in the kitchen’ foundation stimulates consumers, restaurants and caterers to cook healthy, sustainable and creative without meat or fish. This year the foundation organizes the competition ‘Variation Chef of the year’ for the third time. The foundation is looking for the chef that prepares the best vegetarian dish of 2013. Per region a winner will be chosen during the five regional qualifying rounds and the final winner will be chosen at restaurant Librije’s Atelier on October 16. The ‘Variation Chef of the year’ wins an internship at the 100% vegetarian restaurant Joia in Milan.
A nice gimmick for vacant shop-premises! German artist Niklas Roy developed the Public Painting Machine in collaboration with Kati Hyyppä. The Public Painting Machine was placed in vacant shop-premises in Poland. People on the street could pull the ropes to create an artwork. This pop-up art store causes a lot of fun and bustle in the shopping street.
The Gourmet Bus in Barcelona combines a sightseeing tour with a haute-cuisine lunch or dinner. This combination makes the bus with modern interior and a panoramic roof unique. The Gourmet Bus offers a sightseeing tour through Barcelona along the main attractions. The guests will be provided with an iPad containing additional information (in eleven languages) and pictures. The bus has a top deck with 30 seats and the lower deck features the kitchen, toilets and an extra table. During the tour the guests will get a lunch or dinner served by the famous Spanish restaurateur Carles Gaig.
‘Waternet’ organizes activities on the water in Amsterdam to ask the attention for the importance of clean water in the canals. During Queens day the ‘Emergency Boot’ with toilets was launched. This boot prevented that people would pee in the canals or on the street. Three islands with toilets floated at the center of the water. Useful during the watersport season or when there are events on the water!
‘Waternet’ will do an activation on the canals to launch the ‘canal website’ on Saturday June 15. A photo boat of ‘Waternet’ floats around in the Amstel River in Amsterdam and takes photos of people with their boat. The pictures can be found on the ‘canal website’ and the most popular photo will be enlarged on canvas. The canal website contains tips, experiences, photos but also information about terraces and water events.
A nice and simple Father’s day action of hotel Taj West End Bangalore, India. Followers can share one of their dad’s favorite sayings and quote them with #MyDadAlwaysSays on Twitter. The best quote will win a father’s day lunch in the restaurant.
A bottle of Corona with a slice of the moon? Corona and advertising Carmer-Krasselt have made a large billboard in New York City, where on certain nights in the month the crescent moon look like a slice of lime in a Corona bottle. Great campaign!
The ‘Pilot store’ opened last April at shopping mall Hoog Catharijne Utrecht. The ‘Pilot store’ is a temporary store where consumers can test products. When consumers order a sandwich they are asked to participate in a taste test. If they cooperate, they will get their sandwich for a reduced rate. Consumers aren’t required to cooperate with the test. Based on the results, the producer will improve the tested products before they will be available in the supermarket. Consumers can influence the products that will be available in the supermarket. The store will be open until July 13.
It happens to everyone.. you are too late because you were stuck in traffic. A new app that can prevent you from being too late. The ‘NeverLate’ app sends you a message, when you should leave for your appointment. The app has access to your agenda and calculates road constructions, accidents and any other unforeseen aspects to estimate the travel time.
Domino’s pizza is testing to deliver pizza’s via a helicopter drone ‘DomiCopter’. The ‘DomiCopter’ delivers the pizza in a heat wave bag to keep the pizza hot. The drone can travel hundreds of meters without refueling and is environmentally friendly. The ‘DomiCopter’ is created by drone specialist AeroSight, Big Communications and T+Biscuits. The ‘DomiCopter’ is a prototype but might be used more in the future.
Ice cream shop ‘eyescream and friends’ serves ice creams in a funny and visually appealing way. The ice cream (available in seven flavors) is served in a tray with two containers for toppings, like cookies, jams, chocolate sauce and caramel. Two sugar candy eyes are added for a creative twist and to bring the ice cream alive. There are pictures of little funny dolls to reflect the ice cream flavors. These characteristic ice creams are fun for children! The first ice cream shop was opened in Barcelona in September 2012 by Joad Lopez and Federico Mendoza.
Café ‘The Ground of Alexandria’ is located in an old pie factory from the early 1900’s in Sydney. ‘The Ground of Alexandria’ has a coffee research center and a garden with vegetables, fruit and herbs. In the coffee research center they experiment with different roasting profiles and techniques based on individual types of coffee and beans. Several classes are organized for people of all ages to learn more about the journey of coffee and food from seed to plate. A bakery is located in the café where they make fresh bread and sweet pastries every day. The café has an extensive coffee menu and serves a rustic menu of sustainable ingredients, mainly from their own garden. ‘The Ground of Alexandria’ is nominated for the ‘Restaurant and bar design award’.
On June 16 it is Father’s Day again. The steakhouse ‘Midtown Grill’ of the Marriott Hotel in Amsterdam organizes a nice photo shoot. Fathers with sons can take a picture in cooking clothes, surrounded by cooking utensils in the kitchen of Midtown Grill. They will pose with the famous dish of the restaurant, the sea salt grilled T-bone steak of 3.5 pounds. After the shoot they can eat the dish together.
On a regular basis we hear that the ideas we show at our website are too far from the daily reality of the restaurant or hotel entrepreneur. There is too little time to bring ideas, with your own twist, in practice. We recently visited Paris and at two restaurants we had the opportunity to enjoy one dessert for the whole table. A giant profiterole filled with ice-cream and topped with chocolate at Le Comptoir de la Gastronomie. Not a great dessert in looks but delicious chocolate sauce and vanilla ice cream. Based on the sharing part I made a ‘Meringue Peche Melba’ this weekend, fresh peach and raspberry combined with meringue and fresh strawberry sauce and ice-cream, for 4 persons on one plate. And if you prepare this dessert on the table, by breaking the gigantic meringue, your dessert becomes even more spectacular! This idea is based on the video of the dessert for the whole table of Alinea, Chicago. Watch the video once again on what they do with the chocolate ball! This is an example of how you can use ideas and make them your own, enjoy being creative! Your guest certainly will with a dessert like this! ^Marjolein
Just to show you how immense popular the éclairs are at the moment in France. In February we already reported about the savory eclairs being popular in Paris. This time we spotted them during the Rolland Garros French Open. French sportswear brand Lacoste celebrated its 80th anniversary during this tournament with limited-edition éclairs by French bakery Fauchon. More iconic French brands were invited to participate at the event and each came up with a unique product inspired the Lacoste crocodile logo.
We couldn’t find an immersive Christmas Light Maze in Europe yet, howevere correct us if we are wrong. But we love the idea, another fun read more
We have been sharing inspiration on our website since 2007, inspiration that we find in the hospitality industry or by online spotting of what our read more
We have been sharing inspiration on our website since 2007, inspiration that we find in the hospitality industry or by online spotting of what our read more
A new souvenir shop in Paris, called “I was in Paris”, tries to promote the city with these trendy souvenirs for young and older people.
You like the benefits, but not the burden of a vegetable garden? The Young Urban Farmers take care of your vegetable garden for you. From sowing to harvesting. Do you prefer to do some activities yourself, but you don’t know how to do them? The Urban Farmers also teach people how to work in their garden, and how to take care of their crops.
In Sydney they also have a cave restaurant (The Cave restaurant), but artificial. The design is reminiscent of a cave and is designed by Koichi Takada.
At Alux Restaurant in Playa del Carmen (Mexico) you can dine and lounge in natural caves. Several areas can be found in the cave, from private dining areas to bars that can be rented separately.
At the Brooklyn Brew Shop in New York, everybody can now buy a brew-your-own-beer-kit. The kit is designed for people who don’t have a lot of room in their homes.
You can now visit the most beautiful cities without getting up from your chair. With the “24 hours in” movies you can see all cities without traveling. Watch the video for more information.
Chocomel came up with the campaign, “Do you still have it in you?”. They organize various ‘childish’ activities like this water fight in Amsterdam.
New liqueurby Bols. Yoghurt liqueur made of 100% natural ingredients.
A little sign on the bottom shelf of a closet, but it can also be placed under the bed.
New way to play youtube videos. Perhaps an opportunity for owners of restaurants to interact with guests about what ingredients to use or not. Or in the future, to determine the colors of the hotelrooms with the help of guests. The movie is briljant.
Liqueur from the Cognac region, combining cognac, vanilla beans, honey and Vietnamese ginger. Delicious with ice and it can be used in various cocktails. Recipes can be found on the website.
The next shoe designer getting into the foodbusiness is Patrick Cox. This week Cox Cookies & Cake launched. For the true fashionista!
Update: The shop closed, the book is still available.
Duvel designed three special glass in collaboration with various artists. These glasses are for sale this month for € 8, =. Each glass is a limited edition of 25,000 glasses.
Do you ever forget when you opened a bottle of wine? Designer George Lee made this wine stopper which indicates the date.
Regal & Sense Cosmetics added a culinary line to the assortment. There are over 400 products consisting of oils, waters and sprays, such as lavender water.
The 15,000 people in The Netherlands that have gluten allergy can now safely order a beer. Mongozo is the first beer brand that produces gluten free and organic beer and has a Max Havelaar fair trade label.
Sharp has developed a system for guests of a restaurant to order with an iPad. Watch the movie for more information.
As with wine, people who drink beer would alsp like to taste their beer, before ordering a glass or a bottle. In Bierobar beer bar in Melbourne guests have that option. The restaurant also regularly organizes beer and food combination nights.
Mark Zamble created something special. Deep fried snacks filled with beer! The snacks are made from pretzel dough and are then filled with beer.
Sometimes it is oh so easy to create the ultimate feeling of hospitality. 4 people in one room, why don’t you give them 5 large towels!
A roof terrace on top of a design hotel in East Berlin. Sofas are more expected in a city like Marrakech than up here in the north. Caransa hotel has a kind of roof (at the entrance), just like the Mövenpick Hotel in Amsterdam. It remains a special place, usually with a nice view.
Starting out as a paint manufacturer, Pantone now owns a hotel in Brussels. The design of the hotel is clearly based on the color chart of the paint manufacturer.
At Hotel Seven in Paris the furniture in the room floats.They also made extensive use of perspex. Besides the 28 rooms the hotel has seven themed suites inspired by 007, Alice in Wonderland and Marie Antionette.
Crowded Ink gives you the opportunity to put all your online friends on a mug.
Ilgar Rustamov has teamed up with Nespresso for a very sporty version of the popular espresso machines!
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