Things I Thought About x Prince.s De Villes: Carmen Atiyah De Baets co-founder of Carmen Amsterdam.
In this week's installment of our collaboration with Prince.s De Villes, we meet with Lebanese stylist Carmen - co-founder of the eponymous guesthouse project Carmen Amsterdam.
Carmen is a 3-in-1 hospitality business founded by Carmen Atiyah de Baets and her husband Joris. It features a guesthouse, a test kitchen (soon turning into a fully functioning café) and a shop; all in the heart of Amsterdam.
Inspired by the early days of the Ace Hotel, its founders aim to create a welcoming environment to foster creativity and connection to counter the rise of pricey short term rentals and big hotel chains.
Tell me about Carmen, what is it and how was it born?
CARMEN is a guesthouse, test kitchen and shop in the heart of Amsterdam. It was born when my partner Joris’ grandmother passed away 10 years ago. She was an artist and took over these two houses in the ‘80s, when Amsterdam was going through some tough times and lots of unrest, especially in this area. High unemployment and lots of vacant buildings led to a big squatters movement. Fast forward to nowadays, the city is still facing a housing crisis but with the influx of tourism the city has been overrun by Airbnbs, hotel chains and tour groups.
We wanted to keep the space but also make it financially viable without fuelling the overstocked market. We took a lot of inspiration from the early days of the Ace Hotel where they would host screenings, work with local chefs and also have rooms for rent.
Joris has a background in cooking in London and I studied art history & politics at SOAS after which I worked in fashion also in London. So we kind of merged our backgrounds and passions!
What brought you to Amsterdam and what made you stay?
The house and the house! We have this beautiful opportunity to create something that truly reflects the kind of world we want to see and to share this with people.
Was it easy to integrate into the city’s dynamics?
Yes! I think when you move to a city and are setting up a project you have a reason to meet people.
We moved in spring time as well which is when the city comes alive so it was so fun.
Name your favorite things about Amsterdam.
Connection with nature for sure. There is water and greenery all around yet, it still feels like a city.
What are the reasons, in your opinion, that make Amsterdam so prone to fostering young creativity?
Although housing prices are ridiculous, other things like cost of living like food or schooling are a lot more digestible than bigger cities like London or Paris.
Everything is a bike ride away so you can really do whatever you want, that provides a kind of sense of freedom to create.
Amsterdam is known as a very free city in terms of mindset.
We had a friend from Beirut stay with us and she was looking for a grocery store and bumped into the founder of @middleastarchive and brought her back to the house for drinks - I mean that sort of thing never happened to me in London, it's just too big.