A Room Of One’s Own: Local Creatives Enliven Hotel De L’Europe

The wave of challenges imposed on the hospitality industry following the pandemic is no secret. Many enterprises however have weathered the turbulence through thoughtful solutions which often expand to collaborations with creative industries to attract guests with experience-based offers. And although independent hotels perhaps hold larger stakes in the game of survival during economic unpredictability, they also have larger freedom in taking creative liberties and immerse guests with unparalleled experiences.

Amsterdam’s iconic Hotel De L’Europe tapped into an experience-forward concept with a suite of rooms customized by the Dutch capital’s key designers, studios, and artists. The project, which is called ‘t Huys (“rooms” in Dutch), occupies the hotel’s 14 rooms, each re-imagined by the likes of Bibi van der Velden, Ravestijn Gallery, KOKKE House, and Salle Privée. Van Gogh Museum is yet another participant with a room designed to zoom visitors into the mindset of the Dutch master by stimulating various senses. “There is an expression that Amsterdam was built around our building,” tells the hotel’s experience manager Lisette de Koning. Although Hotel De L’Europe has been in operation since 1890, the building itself was erected in the 1600s to host guests as an inn. In a meaningful coincidence, the project also overlaps with Amsterdam’s 750th birthday and serves what de Koning explains as a “guardian of local culture and craftsmanship, a role we hold with great pride.” The idea stemmed from the initial plan of launching an artist residency during lockdowns. Once social life started returning to normalcy, the city’s only independent five-star hotel decided to expand the connection they had already established with local creatives through permanent themed rooms.

Hotel De L’Europe Immerses Guests With Themed Rooms

For KOKKE House founder Daniel Beasley, the collaboration was similar to “being a child in a candy store.” They chose design objects by Ruud-Jan Kokke some of which are in the collections of the Rijksmuseum and the Stedelijk museum, in addition to paintings and sculptures by Petra Hartman. The highlights include handblown lamps crafted in collaboration with the historic Dutch crystal maker Royal Leerdam and the canopy bed Pootjes! which reinterprets a playful, both slim and bulbous, wooden chair Kokke designed in 1999. “The collaboration offers guests a rare opportunity: not just to see our design classics, but to live with them,” adds Beasley. “It turns a museum-quality experience into something intimate, personal, and real.”

The possibility to live within a museum is perhaps best experienced in the room created by the Van Gogh Museum. “It is not a substitute for a museum visit, but a special addition,” says a museum representative. The design reenacts the energy of a brightly-hued Van Gogh painting, including an audio walkthrough which narrates stories related to a few key artworks. The room also features museum edition replicas of his four sketchbooks and letters to his brother, Theo. The bathroom is reserved for an olfactory experience with scents of sunflower and almond blossom which were integral in the master’s practice. The main show however is the opportunity to stay with a 3D replica of a Van Gogh. Guests can pick their painting—be that The Bedroom or Sunflowers—before check-in and have the replica delivered to their room with a white-glove butler service. “Staying connected to our community is essential, and through ‘t Huys, we aim to offer guests something truly unique,” adds de Koning. “The project is a groundbreaking initiative that reimagines traditional hotel spaces as multifunctional cultural hubs.”

Stay In Hotel De L’Europe’s Revamped Rooms By Local Creatives

KOKKE House Turns A Museum-Quality Experience Into A Fun Living Space