Pandemics, crises or changes of direction aside, there have been many setbacks in the airline sector in general and in KLM in particular, although none of them have managed to dissuade the preferred way of celebrating the airline's birthday for seven years. decades, creating a new one of their Delft houses . This year, to commemorate its 102nd anniversary, KLM has dedicated the last of his miniatures to Tuschinsky Theater from amsterdam . There are plenty of reasons.
A CURIOUS STORY
Delft Blue, Delftware, Delft Pottery or simply Delft is the name of a Dutch city , but also a generic, but characteristic, that applies to the pottery scene in the netherlands . A term that although it is not well known in Spain, its creations of blue and white pottery , very popular in different Dutch cities.
And although the KLM Delft houses have never been made in Delft, but were first made in Gouda and then in Drenthe, their name does refer to the characteristic ceramic. In an unexpected plot twist, Delft houses are today, and since 1995, 'Made in Taiwan' , something that was not a drama either for the airline or for the country.
The Tuschinski Theater has been the building chosen to celebrate the company's 102nd anniversary.
And it is that, standard bearer of Dutch culture around the world, KLM's mission to create a miniature Delft that gift your business class passengers while commemorating his birthday, it is fulfilled. What the airline did not imagine almost seven decades ago was that its coquettish houses would become a collector's item, and a cult, throughout the world.
As if it were a state secret, it probably is, only a couple or three people in the entire company know which house is assigned during the current year, whose design is always based on real houses found along the canals of amsterdam . On some occasion, although not many, these aftershocks have also corresponded to other historic buildings in the netherlands.
But here it is not only the characteristic blue and white house that counts. Each miniature house is filled with gin distilled by Bols Distillers , the main producer of Dutch gin. And it is that in 1952 there were rules and limits regarding the value of gifts for passengers, even if they were first class, so the airline refilled the houses with gin so that technically were not gifts but free cocktails They were served in souvenir containers.
Due to its continent and content, this genius is one of the most creative ways to promote the nation's culture both in heaven and on earth, as there are also Amsterdam tours to visit some of the houses that have served as inspiration in subsequent years.
Also for the creation of an App that helps passengers and collectors to track KLM houses they have or still need to complete their collection. Not to mention, of course, the solid second hand market in Amsterdam shops and also online , with prices starting at 15 euros (you can also buy on the website itself KLM) up to almost 600 for some of the most coveted editions.
Tuschinski Theatre, the new addition to the collection of Delft houses.
Over the years, KLM's miniature houses have represented everything, from the house of the spy Mata Hari, to that of Anne Frank or the Rembrandt House . In 2014, the KLM miniature house portrayed the Heineken brewery in Amsterdam.
He too Rotterdam Hotel New York , in one of the few recreations outside of Amsterdam, or the house in haarlem home to Dutch aviation pioneer and aircraft manufacturer Anthony Fokker were honored with a replica.
THE TUSCHINSKI THEATER
“Now that the world is starting to gradually reopen we hope to take our clients to special cultural places, such as the Tuschinski ”, said the president and CEO of KLM, Peter Elbers , on the airline's birthday and at the time it was revealed that the building of the mythical Tuschinski Theater was house number 102 of the collection of thumbnails.
Located near Rembrandt Square, this multipurpose movie theater was founded during the roaring twenties , an influential period in the society and culture of the city and the airline, as this decade witnessed of KLM growth after its foundation.
Like KLM, the Tuschinski also has a long history. The philosophy of Abraham Tuschinski, who also designed several movie theaters and theaters across the country, was to create a warm feeling of home and provide customers with a memorable experience , which is, in the words of Elbers himself, “what KLM also represents”. There are therefore plenty of reasons why the Tuschinski Theater is today the last of the ceramic miniatures that make up KLM's collection of Delft houses.