Yes there is slow design in Amsterdam! An amazing socially and sustainably responible design project investigating slow creative potentials of people, place and time! In 2010, the design research organization slowLab (US/NL) began a partnership with the Lloyd Hotel & Cultural Embassy in Amsterdam to explore the potentials of a ‘Slow-er’ Lloyd.

“As a further development of her project, Lekker Vies, designer Marijke Annema conducted two workshops with local children, creating pom-pons out of used plastic bags. The pom-pons are based on a design found in an outdoor Morocco marketplace, where they are commonly used for swatting away dust from goods in market stalls. In the context of Slow Lloyd, these festive, convivial tools serve the dual purpose of cheering for and cleaning their neighborhood. Children from the 8th Montessori school in the Eastern Docklands collaborated with Marijke in creating pom-pons to march with in the Slow Lloyd Parade, performing ‘cleaning dances’ as they move through the neighborhood.”

Slow parade, then cupcakes and drinks. Marijke Annema with pom-poms

Marijke Annema helped children male pompoms to clean the street with