And Just like that, the weekend is over…

Today more than ever, our team is feeling the Monday Blues, not because we have been feeling the winter cold but because, last Friday (Nov,14th) part of the Shake to Win team was invited by Visit Brabant to an “Urban and Design Tour” in the Province of Brabant in The Netherlands. The tour was an itinerary of the most groundbreaking places in the area related to design, art, and architecture. The Province, apart from being Vincents Van Gogh’s Homeland, is full of culture and history as well as rich in art and design. The Province is recognized for its creativity, innovation and manufacturing good reason why Eindhoven is the Dutch Design capital,

Starting in The City of ‘s-Hertogenbosch, with a typical Dutch breakfast at Brasserie Christoffel where Rolf Pepers, Trademanager of Visit Brabant welcomed the group and proceeded with a walk to from there to one of the most special ceramic store and workshop called Cor-Unum. Here is where high-end designers come to manufacture their products in a socially responsible way since the workshop strives to employ only people with disabilities allowing them to develop themself personally and involve them in society. The designs that you can find here are mind-blowing beautiful and represent the design level of handcraftsmanship and design of the area.

Another iconic place the Urban and Design tour visited was the famous Het Noordbrants Museum recognized as the Van Gogh pavilion with original Van Gogh paintings where the visitors can learn about the life of Van Gogh and other important artists of the region like Jheronimus Bosch Art Center. This museum also tells the story of Brabant, making it an excellent learning experience. St. John’s Cathedral, the biggest dutch, is also part of the charm of this city. There is no question of why this city has been awarded “Most Welcoming City in the Netherlands”.

After an exquisite lunch in The City of ‘s-Hertogenbosch, we headed towards Eindhoven. We were especially excited about this city for its reputation of being the Dutch Design Capital. This lively city is said to be recognized as “the most inventive city of the world”. Strijp-S Area has definitely represented the later title, this area used to be the old Philips industrial area, and now it is the creative and cultural heart of Eindhoven, for it’s designer communal markets and regions.

In Innel Hotels, where Visit Brabant arranged our hotel rooms, Ronal Ramakers, Art director of the Glow festival, walked us through the process and concept behind the Glow Festival.

“The match industry established itself in 1870 and Philips opened an incandescent bulb factory in 1891. This is how the city formed a source of light for the whole world. It is not without reason that Eindhoven is known as the City of Light.” Glow Festival Website. 

 This Festival looks to connect people in the city through the usage of public space through art. In this Festival Architecture Art and light become one, and we are Witnesses of that. The Glow festival takes the art of lighting to the next level transforming the city of Eindhoven into a playground of light. The theme this year was “Color” and has left us anticipating next year’s Festival themed “Urban Skins,” we highly recommend everyone to attend.

The Next day, Saturday 15th of November, the group headed to Tilburg, where we visited hands down the most fantastic library in the world, and oh boy we are not afraid to say it. The Lochal is a former locomotive shed that has been transformed into a public meeting place with a distinct railway theme. This place was truly amazing to see and proof of the innovation level in the Province.

The Visit was followed by a quick stop at Breda, where a street art walking tour taught us about the history of the area with the storytelling painted on their walls, a very enriching experience, and a fun way to learn about the history of culturally rich Province. 

This Urban and Design Tour has not only left us wanting to see more but also has motivated us to continue with our mission of connecting the world and breaking barriers of language. We believe that it is our responsibility to make sure that more people can experience this part of the world that is such an inspiration to our spirits of innovation and invention. 

We would love to Thanks Visit Brabant for teaching us so much and we hope that along Shake To Win we can teach more Chinese travelers about the charm of this area and help the businesses of the are connect to the independent Chinese Travelers without having to learn Chinese or even unde4rstand how to enter the complex Chinese market. Shake to Win will be launching for the first time is SaaS Platform to help tourism businesses tackle the challenges of tourism, aiming to create a decentralized and more sustainable tourism. To learn more about Shake to Win, contact us at info@shaketowin.net or just let us know what you think about Brabant after this piece, we are happy to share our experience and also recommendations!

Happy traveling!