In a city that proudly embraces it’s connection with the Philips brand, Eindhoven is known as the Licht Stad (Light City). For almost 70 years, Philips products were designed and developed, manufactured and shipped from this friendly Brabant location. But when Philips pulled the plug and began moving out of the city around 15 years ago, and manufacturing was relocated to china and other places in an effort to reduce costs, Eindhoven was in danger of losing its identity.

Thanks to a determined city council with a clear vision, the smart and dedicated leaders set about developing and launching a whole new positioning for the city. Brilliantly, Eindhoven was rebranded with a focus on innovation and world changing ideas, and Eindhoven achieved the ambition of becoming the most creative city in the Netherlands in a few short years. It was important to focus on the future, but to never lose sight of the city’s unique and rich history, and as part of the focus, Glow came to town. Now in its 14th year, Glow which is a creatively led and inspiring light show, attracts visitors from all over the world. 2019 saw 770,000 people walk the 5km route.

Catching the eye this year was the incomparable Sunflowers for Van Gogh, by Hugo Vrijdag in collaboration with ASML, Van Gogh Brabant, Qinhuai light festival in Nanjing and the Van Gogh Museum. In 2020 the 69 sunflowers will travel to Nanjing and Amsterdam. Colour Symphony (see film), by Jan Fabel, Dirk van Poppel, Erwin Steijlen in collaboration with Signify, has been shared massively on social media and huge crowds saw the light art works by Ocubo Criativo open the new DOMUSDELA complex.

Author Matthew Phillips

More posts by Matthew Phillips

Leave a Reply

Kom in contact met Brand Junkies!

contactcontact