story
Bennett Cordon
Amsterdam, NL September 1
Nalden.net. An interactive playground for visual, auditory, and mental stimulus. Nalden.net has been conceived, ran and operated by none other than a young entrepenuer of the same name, Rognvaldr Nalden Hansson. Within this electronic playground, one is exposed to anything and everything Nalden deems worthy and hip to expose to others, with a strong emphasis on positivity. Positivity is a word that came up frequently while speaking to this Netherlands-born native. His attitude towards sharing ideas, exploring new interactive worlds, and collaborating is always to keep a positive outlook on things. In fact, it was this same attitude that helped Nalden stray away from a lawsuit in 2005 by Universal Music. He was able to confront the company with examples of how they could use his sharing of music as a marketing tool, and ironically, the same company that tried to sue him, now advertises on his blog. Positive attitude at its finest. Whether Nalden is at home or at "work" (work being very loosely used term, as his life is spent doing the things he loves, so work does not necessarily apply to him), he is always making sure that his intentions are sincere and ernest. His drive for connecting to other people throughout the world and his insatiable appetite for all things new and fresh have made his website a very popular host for up-and-coming artists, fresh gear, top of the line electronics, and new films, just to name a few. Nalden has sought to reinvent the word-of-mouth by reaching those which otherwise would be unreachable. The internet is his medium, and it has been without a doubt a very successful venture for him. Nalden caught the internet world at a very early age. At the tender age of 10, when most young children would be trying to figure out how things work, Nalden had already built his own website, and by age 16 he realized that he had too many ideas and creative insight to go unnoticed, and thus began to blog about the world as he saw it. Now at the age of 25, Nalden's curiousity about the world around him has driven him to realize his dreams of using the internet, to provide a stepping stone to connect the world to itself. Through this, Nalden.net has been a successful marketing tool. Upon arriving to Amsterdam, having visited before, I was once again drawn to its splendor in what would become another great experience. Thanks to Nalden's very hospitable nature, he was kind enough to have me stay at one of the most chic hotel rooms I have had the pleasure of staying at, called the CitizenM. This was a room that I could see Nalden himself staying at, with its moody lightning and soft color changing circular panels almost hovering above the rectangular polished metal shower and contemporary bathroom fixtures in a tubular cylindrical sort of way, where you feel you may be teleported to another location after your shower is over. About three fourths of the room was covered in plush white bed and linen; this is most certainly how a comfortable young entrepeneur spends his time recovering from his travels. Ahh yes, it was quite nice being able to somewhat live the life of this jetsetting internet socialite. Internet socialite, a term I just conjured up, but a very good one at that, seeing as how Nalden's cyber playground allows him to travel throughout the world and meet and greet with the modernistic of young minds alike.
So what makes this blogger different from the thousands of others out there? In this case it is attainability and perception. The way Nalden views the world, is the same way he exemplifies it on his site. His site has the ability to grab you and comfortably sit you down with what is going on at the moment without overfeeding your senses, as the internet is notorious for. It is very easy to navigate through his site, and once in it, one has the ability to go to and from his world with the different mediums he has provided. Easily one of the most functional and visually expressive sites online. But, what has made Nalden successful is his networking skills. His ability to stay connected has created a brand for Nalden himself. That is to say, companies seek advertisement and/or promotion of their products, with the Nalden stamp of approval, these products tend to reach a wider and more distinct audience. Such companies include Philips, Nike, Vodafone, Pernod-Ricard, NBC Universal, and Apple. Nalden.net has cleverly honed the use of wallpaper advertising as a ingenious business model, that adds a unique and creative framework for the site, while at the same time creating an innovative and stimulating way to market a company's concept. Speaking with Nalden, there was an immediate response as to one of the main focal points in his writing and blogging, which is music. It becomes immediately clear the impact the internet has had on the world, especially when we began talking about a San Francisco based electronic electronic/hip-hop group by the name of Lazer Sword that we had both been exposed to. Apart from living in different cities, our common interests were more or less the same, and our topic of music eventually led us to our discussion of the internet as a medium for the exploration and discovery of new music. Having admitted, that we both had...hmm..."streamed" music from the internet, we began to express our own bit of how the internet has shaped music and what a blessing it was to able to have this kind of access at our fingertips.
Nalden's view on the creative world, has allowed him to be sought after as a advertising tool by different groups, brands, and agencies. With all the meetings and collaborative opportunities going on in his life, it is no wonder that he is stays active. Nalden even fit in some time to start up a record label on the side, by the name of Appletree Records, but unfortunately due to some legalities with Apple, he discontinued the venture. With such an active and busy lifestyle, his newly hired operatives make sure that his itineraries and agendas are met and fulfilled. After we had spent some time in the lobby of CitizenM, Nalden took me out to one of his hangouts, called the MiniBar. I have been to some creative and hip bars before, but this ranks high up there in terms of uniqueness. On one side of the bar there was a wall completely covered from floor to ceiling with numbered, locked, and boxed containers which had a set of alcoholic beverages. Upon reception, the hostess would provide you with a key to the individually numbered "minibars" and anything that you discover within your designated numbered box was ready for your consumption. Finally, a bar without a bartender! This bar was located within the Leidesplein square, which isn't as populated with tourists, but generally much cooler to hang out around. After chatting a bit with Nalden, and his two friends that had already been upon our arrival, we left. From here we would bid farewell, as Nalden wakes up early to begin his day. Having only spent a few short hours with Nalden, I came to understand a lot about the online world as an interactive community. Positive observation and distribution of ideas are creative outlets which can help bring communities from all genres of life together, and it is for this reason that Nalden.net stands out among the others, in being able to have a focal point for all of this to coalesce. His take on the internet provokes those who are attentive to the shifts in culture, the cutting-edge and the contemporary to keep their eyes, ears, and minds open. Whether it is a spotlight on an album, a new travel bag, a documentary, an artist, a movement, or a film trailer (which he has many of on his site), Nalden has something to share about it. Positive vibes and community is what this guy is about.
