Droog

Droog — Dutch for 'dry,' as in the humor — began in 1993 when Renny Ramakers and Gijs Bakker assembled young Dutch designers' work into a Milan exhibition that changed design history: Tejo Remy's chest of drawers strapped from salvaged drawers, his rag chair, Rody Graumans' chandelier of 85 bare bulbs — conceptual, ironic, anti-perfectionist objects that made Dutch design the world's most discussed movement of the decade. The Staalstraat premises in Amsterdam serve as store, gallery, and archive of that legacy: Droog editions and re-editions alongside newer conceptual work, in a canalside setting with courtyard garden. The objects are arguments as much as products — design about design, wit as material. The 85 Lamps chandelier and Remy pieces remain the icons; the smaller editions make portable conceptual souvenirs. Few stores anywhere sell a movement this directly.

Walk through to the courtyard garden behind the store; the premises are half the exhibit, and the small editions by the till make the movement portable.