Amsterdam

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Last week saw us back in Amsterdam for two days, though this was a visit very much focused on meetings rather than leisure*. Fortunately, our meetings tend to include a fair amount of culture and pleasure, so we don’t feel we missed out too much.

First up, we want to mention where we were staying – the Pulitzer. Not least because it was good to be reacquainted with the branding and design that James Joyce was a part of when it was rebranded in 2015 by local creative agency KesselsKramer.

Monday

It was noticeably colder than it had been in London when we headed to our first morning meeting with Angela Lidderdale at Studio Lidderdale. But we received a very warm welcome. We’ve known Angela since she was working at the aforementioned KesselsKramer, where she was responsible for the brand identity work on the Pulitzer, mentioned in the previous para. Though her connection to Breed goes back even further – she and Paula Castro knew each other years ago in Treviso, Italy.

And that was just the start of the morning’s meetings. From Angela we headed off to reconnect with the team at creative agency 180 Kingsday and the ideas people at We are Pi.

From a morning of meeting creatives at agencies, after a short break, we headed off to see some friends at magazines. It’s always lovely to meet Caroline Brugman, Photo Director at Elle, who commissioned Anna Bu Kliewer to illustrate a series for the magazine, with writer Haroon Ali, on the subject of ‘Modern Love’.

Next up was meeting Martien Mellema, freelance contributor to Vogue Nederland and Vogue Man, where we chatted about all things Amsterdam, and contemplated an afternoon rooftop swim.

We ended the day with the next best thing to an evening run – visiting adidas, and their brilliant eight-strong digital team. They handle both creative services and brand commerce and are clearly totally on it.

Tuesday

For our next meetings we’re indebted to our friend Glenn Doherty, ex-Creative Lead for Philips Design and Art Director at iris, who we’ve known for some years. He made the intro to Green Room, where we enjoyed both an inspiring meeting and much office garden envy.

Glenn also linked us up with Gillian Glendinning, Creative Partner at The Brave New Now where we had an enlightening chat.

Another meeting followed, this time at Glenn’s old stamping ground iris, where we talked with Jessica, Jack, Shirin and Grace.

While we were at iris, we spotted that digital design and technology company Your Majesty Co. were based on the floor above and made a mental note – we’ll try to catch up with them next time.

Later that day we were in at branding and creative agency …,staat. Not only were their team passionate and genuinely inspiring, but we fell in love with their office and restaurant at NewWerktheater, an old theatre on Oostenburgergracht.

Our Amsterdam visit finished with a meeting at film production company Post Panic, where we caught up with Executive Producer Ania Markham. Matt Blease is a known face there – he hosted a talk at one of their bi-annual Panic Room talks back in 2012, when he’d just joined Breed, discussing the art of the pun and plays on words.

Before leaving Amsterdam, we have to thank Maud Klarenbeek at W+K Amsterdam for her great recommendation on the food front – if you find yourself in Amsterdam then you can’t do better than feasting at Breda Amsterdam.

*Full disclosure – we did make a quick visit to De Hollandsche Manege, the oldest riding school in Holland, on the edge of Vondelpar. There, we admired both the magnificent horses and the interior style that goes back to 1744. Always a favourite spot.

Photo: NewWerktheater