Gina Lauren Interiors In Germany and Amsterdam

A few weeks ago, Gina Lauren Interiors was invited to attend Nobilia’s Kitchen Experience Show in Germany. we learned all about their unique products and offerings and what German cabinetry manufacturing is all about. Read below for some of our favorite trip highlights.

Five designers from across the US gathered in Berlin, Germany from Sept 17 to Sept. 23, for a weeklong design and architecture tour learning about the art and design of Germany, the history of its dramatic World War II era and the European kitchen design experience, starting with the modernism movement.

We started in Berlin where we took an architectural walking tour of the main historic points of interest including seeing Checkpoint Charlie, just one of the checkpoints during this time period of East Berlin being occupied by Russia. Later we had dinner atop the Berlin TV Tower, at a rotating restaurant where they served delicious German delicacies. We also toured a kitchen design museum and saw the first-ever installed kitchen. Then we began making our way North to Dessau, where we toured the Bauhaus Architecture School, seeing the incredible beginnings of the world’s Modernism design movement was straight out of a design school history class. Seeing this was just one of the highlights of our trip and it was a day that GLI will never forget. This important movement enabled an entirely new design movement to be born and which now influences the world and today’s artists and designers.

From there we headed North to Verl, Germany where the headquarters of Nobilia are located. We took a tour of Nobilia’s manufacturing facility, their stunning showroom and Hettich, their partners in cabinetry inserts. It was an incredible week filled with everything German Design is known for.

Scroll below to find some of our recent photos of our trip and to read about our second week traveling around Amsterdam.

Government Building and Statue of King Frederick, Berlin, Germany

Checkpoint Charlie, (a piece of the Berlin Wall) Berlin, Germany

First installed kitchen, Berlin, Germany

Bauhaus Architecture School, Dessau, Germany

From there we headed to Amsterdam for a six day travel journey where we visited the Van Gogh Museum, the Rembrandt House Museum, the Rejks Museum and we took a canal river cruise, and went out to the countryside to tour the windmill farms and the clogmaking workshops.

Our most memorable experience was the Anne Frank house. Securing tickets was very difficult as we had to call at least six weeks in advance. Once we got the tickets, and we had arrived, we decided to walk by this historic landmark. Touring Anne Frank’s hiding place in the heart of Amsterdam’s Jordaan neighborhood was an experience I will never forget. The heartwrenching story of Ann and her family and those she hid with was revealed in superior detail. There wasn’t a dry eye on this tour.

Another highlight of our trip was the Van Gogh Museum and the Rembrandt House Museum where Rembrandt lived and painted. The Van Gogh Museum took the viewer on an artistic tour of Vincent’s life, starting with his childhood. We saw every major painting here and you couldn’t help but wonder through in awe at the way Van Gogh used color and the study of light in each of his masterpieces.

At the Rembrandt House Museum, we toured through each room of the house he lived in when he became a world renowned painter. Rembrandt was actually a well-known etcher first and he etched stunningly detailed landscapes and portraits into copper plates and sold them to the regular townspeople who couldn’t afford his master paintings. Since etching was more affordable to purchase than a large-scale painting, many of Amsterdam’s citizens were able to acquire their own original Rembrandt masterpiece. Self-portraits of the well-to-do were exactly what Rembrandt would paint when he wasn’t busy teaching his students, or etching his designs.

From there we took a beautiful canal river cruise and went to the countryside to experience the world- renowned windmills and clogmaking factories. Overall it was an incredible experience and I feel blessed, renewed and recharged.

See some of the photos from our trip below…

Self Portrait of Vincent Van Gogh, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam

Entrance Rembrandt House Museum, Amsterdam

To wrap up one of the best two weeks we’ve had, travel is one of the best ways to broaden our experiences and to see things that we might never get to see if not for taking this trip. And sometimes when we least expect it, we are moved beyond our own daily life of routine and into another time and place where history, art, culture, food, and people open our eyes to something new and something wonderful. So book that trip, schedule that time off and enjoy your travels!

Cheers!

xoxo

Gina and the Design Team