Suddenly I was

AT THE MAYOR'S OFFICE

Let me take you back to my first time in New York. To top it all off, my beloved had booked a night at the Waldorf Astoria. When I hailed the taxi to take us there, I seized my moment: “Could you take us to the Waldorf Astoria, please?” I was quite good at that, in that sense.

Last night I had a similar feeling. About six weeks ago, I received an embossed card on handmade paper with a real wax seal on the envelope. I had made it onto the list of the 100 most prominent creatives in the city and was invited to the mayor's residence.

So I sat up straight for this taxi ride as well. “Could you take me to the mayor's residence?” There, that rolled off my tongue in a smooth motion. As if I did it every day and had been doing it for years.

The mayor's residence was still quite empty when I arrived (I was embarrassingly early, not like me, but hey, you don't get to visit Van der Laan's house every day), but it quickly filled up with all sorts of nice people. Of course, I was incredibly curious about who else had been invited. In the past few weeks, I wanted to ask others, but I found it a bit awkward because what if they hadn’t been invited, then... well.

I saw ‘my’ Fiona, ‘my’ Simone, Karin Swerink, Kluun, Isa Hoes, Hanna Verboom, Henk Schiffmacher, Jasper Krabbé, and all sorts of other people I don't know yet, but with whom I would love to have a chat.

What was the case. The A'DAM Tower is almost finished and the most beautiful floor, the one below the restaurant, will become a private club. Think Soho House but in an Amsterdam style.

The idea is to bring together all sorts of nice people which will create a large creative ripple effect. And we can then bring in nice people and they can bring in others so that it becomes a big creative orgasm.

You do have to meet a number of requirements if you want to become a member. It costs something (but really just a fraction of Soho House), you have to be voted in, and you must leave the premises at least once a month in a noticeable (read: drunk) state.

I think it will go well for me and the A'DAM Tower. Will I see you there?