Ever since I first visited the Netherlands, I have been a huge fan of the Dutch Design Week (aka DDW). For almost twenty years long the DDW has annually taken over the city Eindhoven in each October. Numerous events, lectures, debates, workshops and exhibitions are arranged in more than eighty locations. It is then not surprising to hear that DDW is the biggest design event in Northern Europe in which more than 2400 designers from home and abroad are present.
My eyes were first caught by Bottle-up project in which six young Dutch designers travelled to Zanzibar to up-cycle the glass waste that had taken over the island. The resulting products are beautifully made, and look very chic indeed. I could imagine having them at home!
Another interesting work is the Cornwall project by Kirstie van Noort. During her roadtrip in Cornwall in England she researched the local porcelain and mining industry. As result, 40 different raw materials were found with which she created a colour palette of 250 colours. I especially loved the minimal design of the ceramics, and the story behind their colours makes them very special.
The larger Mind the Step exhibition offered a view of ideas that are currently going on in the design world. Also a few theme's could be spotted.
3D printing has been a hot topic for a couple of years now, and this year a few design with this technique were again presented. This time we saw examples of not only 3D printed plastic, but also clay and concrete (!).
Many designers had a very playful approach in their work. What do you think about the face jewelry by Ditte Trudslev Jensen for example? The German designer Silvia Knüppel had also playfully combined two iconic stools, the Alvar Aalto stool 60 and Max Bill Ulm Stool, into one object. Further her Indoor trash-bag of leather offers a humorous alternative for a bean bag chair.
The teapackages designed by Salvage Press in collaboration with Distillers Press and Solaris tea really brought a smile to my face (and some ideas how to ask someone for a cup of tea next time - fancy a quick cuppa tea?).
The designers at the moment have a huge variety of materials to experiment with. Sam Linders reuses beautiful wet blue leather shavings in her designs. A study which reminded my childhood in Finland, was Cynthia Oegema's Betula project in which only materials from the Birch tree are used.
In addition to 'dead' materials, some living materials were present as well. The shoe designer Kristel Peters explores the possibilities for sustainable ways of shoe-making and new materials with low/no impact on the environment. Her Growing shoes are built up by living organisms of mycelium. Mycelium has recently been used for many interesting biodesign projects, but I will write more about this topic later.
So here are some of my picks from the Klokgebouw! Do you have any favourites?
Photos by me.
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