Waiting to get in to the El HEMA

At the opening of El HEMA there was a line around the block to get in. Director Willem Velthoven in his green Kosher / Halal T-shirt is tired but clearly very happy with the big succes.

El HEMA was an arabic language and script version of the ubiquitous Dutch HEMA department store. It started as a spoof project that got a lot of attention when de real HEMA organisation tried to block it at first and then turned around to support the project. It attracted over 50.000 visitors at its first version at Mediamatic to be later presented in Utrecht, The Hague and Rotterdam. It was awarded a Dutch Design Prize.