Mercure hotels has been a proud supporter of the Dutch cultural industry for a number of years now, for example through its sponsorship of the Amsterdam Uitmarkt (annual cultural market) and various theatre productions. Given the current economic climate, the government is seeing itself obliged to reduce its support for the sector. We at Mercure Hotels see this as an opportunity to step up our involvement.

We have therefore decided to launch the Mercure Cultuurprijs last year, a national competition to be held annually. The competition is intended both to send out a challenge to Dutch artists and designers and to serve as a showcase for their work.

Last year Dutch designers were challenged to come up with a complete table concept suitable for a hotel environment: everything from crockery to linen, candlesticks to cutlery. The Mercure Cultuurprijs was an immediate success, with many talented artists entering in the first year.

The judges, including Renny Ramakers, Ron Blaauw and Kees van Twist, faced a difficult task in assessing the entries. In the end they chose Mieke Cuppen from Rotterdam as the proud winner. The results were announced by Halbe Zijlstra, Minister of State for Education, Culture and Science, at the Awards evening attended by several hundred guests from the Dutch business and cultural sectors.

“Entering this competition was a very enjoyable and instructive experience,” says Mieke Cuppen. “It has brought me a lot of publicity, good contacts and even some new commissions. On top of that, it’s been fantastic to see part of my design actually go into production. It will soon be in use at all the Mercure hotels in the Netherlands.”

Mercure wishes all those taking part every success and looks forward with great pleasure to seeing all the designs!