Vipp is a 3rd generation family-owned Danish company that makes everything from kitchens and lighting to prefab homes. But it all started with a pedal-controlled waste bin that Holger Nielsen – a metalworker – crafted for his wife Marie’s salon in 1939.
I love their design philosophy. It is centered around “fewer but better products” and around lasting function over ephemeral trends.
But equally interesting is what they are doing with their Vipp Hotels. Instead of large hotels, they offer individual rooms in unique locations, such as this 55 square meter design object in the Swedish wilderness (pictured above).
The rooms they have crafted are, not surprisingly, stunning. And that’s because they are deliberately designed as a tool to showcase their kitchens, bathrooms, bins, and other products.
Here is a quote from their CEO taken from a recent Surface article:
“Traditional retail seems to be losing its power, but what is not losing power is our desire to see or do something interesting. I see our hotels as the experience economy coming alive,” says Kasper Egelund, CEO of Denmark-based Vipp.
Clever.
Image: Vipp
In addition to having an incredible mountain just 12 miles away, the town of Jackson is also a really cool place in its own right. It’s a cowboy town with endless wilderness all around it. But since it’s such a big tourist destination, the town is filled with great restaurants, art galleries, and the obligatory real estate brokerages trying to sell vacation properties.
Here’s what the town looks like from the top of Snow King (the in-town ski mountain). Photo credit: David Stubbs for the New York Times.
But from a land use standpoint, I also find the town really interesting because of its network of fine grain alleys. Here’s a picture of Gaslight Alley. For those of you who are regular readers of this blog, you’re probably aware that I’m a big supporter of laneway housing in Toronto. I think it’s a hidden opportunity. It could be another—more intimate—layer to the city.
Today, building a laneway house is virtually a non-starter with the City of Toronto. Whether it’s issues of utilities or the fact that laneways don’t easily accommodate service vehicles (maybe we need smaller service vehicles), the city has a litany of reasons for why they just won’t work.
But I’m absolutely certain that we could figure out solutions to all of the obstacles if we really put our minds to it. It’s not a question of not being able to do it, it’s a question of not wanting to do it.
Vipp is a 3rd generation family-owned Danish company that makes everything from kitchens and lighting to prefab homes. But it all started with a pedal-controlled waste bin that Holger Nielsen – a metalworker – crafted for his wife Marie’s salon in 1939.
I love their design philosophy. It is centered around “fewer but better products” and around lasting function over ephemeral trends.
But equally interesting is what they are doing with their Vipp Hotels. Instead of large hotels, they offer individual rooms in unique locations, such as this 55 square meter design object in the Swedish wilderness (pictured above).
The rooms they have crafted are, not surprisingly, stunning. And that’s because they are deliberately designed as a tool to showcase their kitchens, bathrooms, bins, and other products.
Here is a quote from their CEO taken from a recent Surface article:
“Traditional retail seems to be losing its power, but what is not losing power is our desire to see or do something interesting. I see our hotels as the experience economy coming alive,” says Kasper Egelund, CEO of Denmark-based Vipp.
Clever.
Image: Vipp
In addition to having an incredible mountain just 12 miles away, the town of Jackson is also a really cool place in its own right. It’s a cowboy town with endless wilderness all around it. But since it’s such a big tourist destination, the town is filled with great restaurants, art galleries, and the obligatory real estate brokerages trying to sell vacation properties.
Here’s what the town looks like from the top of Snow King (the in-town ski mountain). Photo credit: David Stubbs for the New York Times.
But from a land use standpoint, I also find the town really interesting because of its network of fine grain alleys. Here’s a picture of Gaslight Alley. For those of you who are regular readers of this blog, you’re probably aware that I’m a big supporter of laneway housing in Toronto. I think it’s a hidden opportunity. It could be another—more intimate—layer to the city.
Today, building a laneway house is virtually a non-starter with the City of Toronto. Whether it’s issues of utilities or the fact that laneways don’t easily accommodate service vehicles (maybe we need smaller service vehicles), the city has a litany of reasons for why they just won’t work.
But I’m absolutely certain that we could figure out solutions to all of the obstacles if we really put our minds to it. It’s not a question of not being able to do it, it’s a question of not wanting to do it.
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