From 1952 to 2016, the KV13 electrical distribution substation provided electricity for the city of Dordrecht in the Netherlands. After it was decommissioned, the KV13 building was bought by two doctors and transformed into a medical center serving Dordrecht, while preserving its original industrial authenticity.
Amsterdam-Noord (Amsterdam-North) has been our home for almost 7 years, and we’ve decided it’s time for a change! Blom & Blom is growing, and that means a bigger space to keep doing what we do best - bringing you our exciting selection of lighting options - from our carefully chosen and restored industrial authentics to our own unique creations featured in our Editions collection.
If you’ve ever visited our shop or followed us on Instagram, you may have noticed that we make a special place... for greenery. We love the contrast of nature within man-made environments, as an essential element - not designed but expressed according to its own rules.
From the start of Blom & Blom, we have been fascinated by Kandem lights because of their simple and functional designs. These designs were generated by Kandem’s collaboration with the Bauhaus school of design starting in 1928, and are striking examples of the leading Bauhaus design principle - Form follows function. The lighting designs produced during Kandem's alliance with the Bauhaus school continue today as modern classics you’ve probably seen - but don’t know by name.
Just around the corner from our Blom & Blom store in Amsterdam North, a new Yotel opened its doors in November 2019 as a recent addition to the worldwide city-centre hotel chain. Besides being our new neighbors, the new Yotel has also joined our client list. We had the pleasure of producing two spectacular custom-made lighting fixtures as the crowning touch for Yotel’s impressive communal areas. In this blog post, we take you inside this truly unique assignment.
About a year ago, SLA salad bar opened its doors in Rotterdam. Interior design firm Standard Studio wanted to create an interior that reflected the pure and healthy identity of SLA alongside the vibrant, industrial character of Rotterdam. Standard Studio approached Blom & Blom to craft bespoke lighting fixtures as the final touch in delivering a distinctive ambiance for SLA Rotterdam. Besides the selected fixtures from our Heritage Collection chosen for SLA Rotterdam, we also designed a bespoke lighting installation as the central element of the interior above the salad counter and focal point of the restaurant. In this post, we will share more about our working process and how this lighting installation challenge took shape.
Our adventure began with our dream and, like a lot of start-ups, the next step was to workout how and where we could make it come true. For us, it started in a small outbuilding on our parents’ property in Ilpendam, a rather remote village 15 kilometers north of Amsterdam in the Netherlands. The shed was home to our first workshop where we worked with our small team of dedicated craftsmen. In the first year, we grew from a staff of two to four. It was freezing in the winter, but luckily, we had a small, wood burning stove to keep us warm. Humble beginnings for our big plans, but we were driven by a ‘Can do - Make do!’ spirit that has since led us to bigger and better things.
It is our pleasure to introduce you to Volta, our one and only four-legged employee at Blom & Blom. Volta joined our team in June 2013 when she was just 9 weeks old.
Many of the lights in our Heritage Collection were made by the legendary East German manufacturer EOW, known for their expertise in explosion proof lighting. EOW excelled as leaders in the development and production of lighting for truly extreme environments. So we thought, why not dive a bit deeper into the story behind EOW’s amazing products.
The Hackney Mews house in London has recently been transformed into a home that now feels bright and spacious. This two-story brick London mews house was anything but that when architect Craig Hutchinson, founder of architecture and interior firm HUTCH Design, first saw it. Hutchinson recalls, “It was dark, confined and claustrophobic, with low ceilings in both the kitchen and living room.”
Whilst shopping for outdoor or bathroom lighting fixtures, you may have noticed the term ‘IP rating’, but what does this rating actually mean? This guide helps you to understand what lighting IP ratings mean, how they are defined and how to apply IP ratings in the bathroom.
It has been a hundred years since the revolutionary Bauhaus perspective was first introduced by German architect and founder of the Bauhaus School, Walter Gropius. In 1919, architect Walter Gropius founded a revolutionary way of thinking for architects, artists and industrial designers in Weimar, Germany. The Bauhaus Academy was all about a new perspective and it opened up the way for experimentation in arts and crafts, design, architecture and education - driven by the power of intuition.
Our Heritage Collection continues to grow with some exciting additions that we are proud to present. We’ve been working on our own unique new lighting creations, on lights that we’ve restored to their original glory, and on other fixtures that we’ve given our own touch to - introducing extra dimensions in design and function. Curious? Keep on reading!
Lighting has come a long way. You now have more choices than ever, but that also presents a challenge when it comes to choosing what’s right for you. We’d like to walk you through some of the considerations that may help you choose the lighting source for your needs. Prepare for what you might find ‘too much information’, but when it comes to lighting, it’s better to know too much than too little.