By Editor Design.nl / 07-04-2008

CODE Gallery Store opens in Amsterdam's Red Light District.

On Friday, 4 April 2008, Code Magazine opened the CODE Gallery Store in the middle of Amsterdam's Red Light District.

Art & Fashion at the Oudezijds Achterburgwal 121
The CODE Gallery Store features a constantly changing mix of fashion of designers participating in the Redlight Fashion project (among others Bas Kosters, EnD, LEW, Jeroen van Tuyl and Jan Taminiau) and international designers such as Swedish Henrik Vibkov and Berlin based Starstyling.

Sneakers, shoes, watches, accessories and art complete the CODE store. The art on sale will be photography, varying from high-end quality limited editions to very affordable art prints in numbered editions.

Show off
The original character of the space was kept intact during the reconstruction, so in some cases original beds and lighting can still be seen. Web cams have been positioned throughout the store, so visitors have the possibility to exhibit themselves in front of the window or in front of a camera if they wish.

Design
Zowie Jannink and Cris Bartels, both graduates of the Eindhoven Design Academy, were responsible for the interior design of the store. Jannink is currently participating in the exhibition 'Design and the Elastic Mind' at MoMA New York. Bartels has been nominated for several design awards.

Brand Installation by Bjorn Borg
CODE will introduce the concept of a 'brand installation': every month a brand can present itself with an art installation in one of the rooms of the former brothel. Swedish lifestyle brand Bjorn Borg takes the lead and presents a 'work space for business women' referring to recent discussion about the Red Light District. Bjorn Borg characterizes itself by an ironic, humorous and naïve view of the world. Arthur van Rongen, marketing manager Bjorn Borg: "To us, the Red Light District has become a very inspiring environment because of the presence of young design talents. We're not selling our product in the CODE Gallery Store. The brand installation is an autonomous object which will seduce visitors into becoming a 'window girl' for a moment."

Code Magazine
Quarterly magazine CODE was founded in 2006, and is distributed in the Netherlands, Belgium, Paris and Tokyo. In 2007 CODE initiated the bi-annual fashion event Off Schedule which is held during Amsterdam International Fashion Week.

Redlight Fashion Amsterdam
The Redlight Fashion Amsterdam project launched in January 2008 is a collaboration between the City of Amsterdam, NV Stadsgoed and fashion recruitment & consultancy agency HTNK. Last year, in the fight against criminality, the City of Amsterdam, together with NV Stadsgoed, bought 16 former prostitution properties in the Red Light District. These have been made available to top Dutch fashion talent for one year to use as ateliers and workspaces. This way the City of Amsterdam is offering creative talent the chance to develop and grow. The opportunity is there for them to showcase their latest creations to a large audience in one of the most well known city-areas of the world.

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