Hotel The Exchange, Stock and OPTIONS! is a design destination in central Amsterdam. Launched in 2011, the trio are located in interconnected buildings on the Damrak, one of the liveliest and oldest streets in the city. The concept is by Suzanne Oxenaar and Otto Nan, initiators of the Lloyd Hotel & Cultural Embassy in Amsterdam and the Llove Hotel in Tokyo.
Hotel The Exchange is an independent design hotel that playfully weaves together fashion and architecture in unique rooms ranging from one to five stars. OPTIONS! is a boutique department store featuring fashion, interior and student design collections. Stock cafe serves an indulgent all-day breakfast and hearty, locally made snacks. The hotel forms part of an urban rejuvenation initiative in Amsterdam and like Oxenaar and Nan's other projects, the approach was entirely collaborative. The pair commissioned students from the Amsterdam Fashion Institute to create rooms using the theme Rooms Dressed as Models. Through this lens the sidewalk becomes a catwalk. Lights and tables are no longer ornaments but body accessories. Creases and pleats aren't fabric features but structural form.
Studio INA MATT collaborated on the design of the rooms and was solely responsible for the communal spaces, Stock restaurant and OPTIONS! store. Every one of the 61 rooms of Hotel The Exchange is completely unique. Amongst others, the Eighties Room is dressed to impress in bold and fun eighties retro style, fi tted with an oversized black and white patterned sweater and a tight-fitting rainbow-coloured skirt. The Marie-Antoinette Room is dressed in 18th century costume drama style, featuring a rich mix of romantic and luxurious fabrics and era-specifi c details like the corset. The fabrics are all embellished by hand with stitched or stamped fl ower patterns in a bouquet of pink tones. The Pleats Room is inspired by the pleats and folds in a simple white T-shirt, resulting in a surreal composition of giantsize concrete pleats moulded into the room's walls. The Rembrandt Room offers an entirely contemporary interpretation of the retired luxury fashion item - the millstone collar. The pleated collar encloses the bed like a high-tech, remote-controlled, three-dimensional origami structure, resembling the oldest example of the collar from the collection of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. The room is accessorized with contemporary 17th century-inspired furniture.
OPTIONS! is Hotel The Exchange’s boutique department store for lovers of beautiful things, fun, handmade, good design and interesting stories. Named in a tongue-in-cheek homage to the neighbouring former stock exchange, OPTIONS! has an extensive range. The store stocks design gifts, stationery, ceramics, furniture, magazines and bespoke products from upcoming and established international and Dutch interior and fashion designers. Stock cafe caters to the paradox of fast living and slow food. The menu quietly acknowledges the vibrant nightlife of the city with an indulgent all-day breakfast and a hit-and-run selection of soups and sandwiches. The cafe’s mission is locally made and healthy produce. True to the creativecollaborative approach of the hotel, the walls are fi lled with hand-drawn illustrations from every contributor. Local foodies were especially selected to craft Stock’s offerings including a bespoke Miss Marmalade range titled “pret a porter”, ice tea, Bocca coffee, locally brewed beer, Frozen Dutch ice cream and freshly baked bread by local baker Menno t’ Hoen. Hotel The Exchange is proud to work with Onswerk, commissioned architects for Hotel The Exchange.
HOTEL THE EXCHANGE: Damrak 50 - STOCK: Damrak 5 oh - OPTIONS! • Damrak 49 • www.exchangeamsterdam.com
