De Haar Castle

Around 1900, a tradition started at De Haar that has since been known as the "September tradition". Every year at the end of the summer, the baron and baroness moved into the castle, the largest and most luxurious castle in the Netherlands, designed by architect Pierre Cuypers. They organize grand receptions there in the form of sumptuous dinners and fabulous balls. Among the many, often wealthy, guests are members of royal families and European nobility, bankers, movie stars and politicians.

In 2023, De Haar together with Tinker Imagineers breathed new life into the September tradition. Two festive soirées, and a month-long exhibition in which visitors experienced how the castle prepared for the arrival of guests. For this, Tinker developed the story lines, and we created a buffet in the old kitchen in which you discover how the kitchen staff prepared the dinners, with dishes after old photographs. For the main hall, we created a "bar with every drink imaginable," with 3D printed castle turrets on the decanters. At dessert, a real pièce de sucre was presented, for which we collaborated with two pastry chefs to execute our design, a neo-Gothic arbor under construction containing a bunch of flowers, in sugar.