Living in Style: Amsterdam

Cool, creative, and not afraid to buck convention, Amsterdam makes the hearts of architecture and design lovers beat a little faster.

You’ll find furniture that is refreshingly different, yet still functional; hotels where creative minds feel at home; restaurants that are a joy for both the eye and the palate; and museums and concept stores around every corner. Good design is in the genes of the capital city of the Netherlands, visible almost everywhere you look — in part, thanks to pioneers like Marcel Wanders, Piet Boon, and the Droog Design Collective. So it’s no surprise that MENDO (“the coolest bookstore for visual beauty”) chose to make its home in Amsterdam. We worked with interior design insiders to bring you Living in Style Amsterdam, the latest volume in the series of the same name, and share the dare-to-be-different Dutch design mentality.

Selected private apartments, carefully restored 17th-century canal houses, and extravagant high-design hotels and penthouses all opened their doors to us. And what lies behind them? Innovative living spaces and furnishing concepts freed from transitory trends and the talented visionaries who created them. Meet internationally-recognized icons and discover talented newcomers to the Dutch design and architecture scene like Joyce Urbanus, Dax Roll, and James van der Velde. Living in Style Amsterdam is a timelessly beautiful photo book that will provide a wide range of ideas for every design lover and whet your appetite for your next trip to this inspiring city!

If you love one-of-a-kind books and want to pick up some furnishing tips as you shop for new things to read, you
will feel right at home with the trendsetters at MENDO.

The concept store in the heart of Amsterdam, founded by Roy Rietstap und Joost Albronda in 2002, became the instant go-to spot for style-loving bibliophiles. Fans of the store include design greats like Piet Boon. Along with the best books in fashion, photography, interior design, food, and travel, books actually serve as the literal foundation for the store: if you look closely, you will see that the simple, elegant black walls are actually made of precise stacks of books — an idea that is typical Amsterdam!

Curated in cooperation with the Amsterdam experts at MENDO