DUTCH DESIGN WEEK

Jules van den Langenberg is currently graduating at Design Academy Eindhoven. His fascination for how design arises has led to establishing a nomadic production house in which he initiates and curates design products and projects. In collaboration with designers, producers, craftsmen and experience experts of all kinds Jules carefully intertwines the potential, qualities and dreams of all individuals involved in co-creation processes.

During Dutch Design Week 2012 - a major event hosted in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, committed to showcasing the country's burgeoning design and technological innovators -  Jules will share with us some of his discoveries and "coup de coeur".

Amongst the crowded exhibitions during Dutch Design Week’s last opening days the ‘at home’ exhibition by Studio Maarten Kolk & Guus Kusters is a pleasant stop to catch one’s breath. Visitors of the design week can visit the private show on request and get the chance to see recent projects along with the body of work Kolk & Kusters created in the past years. In the intimacy of their home the designers manage to create a gallery like context. Walking through the apartment it becomes apparent that the focus of the duo has shifted to doing mainly self-initiated projects and autonomous work.

In a series of porcelain plates titled ‘Marine Snow’ the designers translate the behavior of the ocean in a technique, an imprint of cobalt and copper glaze is affected by the rising- and falling of an artificial tide. Beautifully capturing a moment in time on porcelain.  In the ‘Waddenzee’ series Kolk & Kusters portrays a unique nature area in The Netherlands, their findings in the landscape amongst others resulted in a ‘Seaweed herbaria’.

While wandering along the Dutch coastline the foamy waves of the Waddenzee intrigued the designers. Specifically what was hidden in the water, seaweeds drifting in a white fog. “They are beautiful drifting and flowing through the water. In a way we wanted to catch this moment and bring it home with us, which of course is impossible. By using polyester and special pigments we tried to capture the beauty of the weeds floating in the sea in an object”. Kolk & Kusters work method involves carefully planned manufacturing however integrating a certain uncontrolled, natural, element.

Their craft is distilling nature’s poetry into objects. In the years to come the duo wants to continue working with their fascination for materializing nature, it’s colors and it’s curious phenomena, and use this to enrich the human habitat.

maartenkolk-guuskusters

By now the Dutch Design Week has come to an end and so is this series of reviews concerning Dutch Design. Jules will focus on graduating at Design Academy Eindhoven and will be presenting the very first projects of his nomadic productionhouse during Dutch Design Week 2013.

Jules van den Langenberg

Jules van den Langenberg is currently graduating at Design Academy Eindhoven. His fascination for how design arises has led to establishing a nomadic production house in which he initiates and curates design products and projects. In collaboration with designers, producers, craftsmen and experience experts of all kinds Jules carefully intertwines the potential, qualities and dreams of all individuals involved in co-creation processes.

During Dutch Design Week 2012 - a major event hosted in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, committed to showcasing the country's burgeoning design and technological innovators -  Jules will share with us some of his discoveries and "coup de coeur".

Fascinating things can happen when the visiting public is able to experience the physical- and mental impact of the work of designers. It enriches the imagination of both user and maker. There were some Dutch Designers that managed to achieve this.

Bas Geelen and Erik Hopmans collaborated and present a production method as part of the ‘C-fabriek’ exhibition. They propose a scenario in which crafting objects equals shaping bodies. “Nowadays we don’t have those hard labor factories anymore in the Western world. And if production is still based in Europe, automatic machinery took away the hard labor. By the disappearance of physical labor, people started exercise somewhere else to get their physical activity. For example in the gym. We want to bring the physical labor back to production as a workout. The gym is used to stimulate and exploit the desire of the individual to keep fit, have fun and improve them self. This desire we wanted to put in the production, the desire to improve.

We use production methods where time and devotion define the level of quality and the appreciation for the end result.” Geelen en Hopmans adjusted three gym machines in which they visualize their theory; besides exercise the machines can, at the same time, also be used for sanding wood, polishing metal and tumbling bricks. Visitors could literally experience the physical labor needed to craft an object. For now the production line of the designers results in a mirror-like product. The outcome needs to get into better shape over time.

In the same building Harm Rensink created a one centimer deep indoor lake with in it’s center an inflatable sauna space. The designer shares his vision on relaxation for people living in cities with high population densities. With his ‘Urban Spa’ he aims to create a sensory activity that relaxes the minds of city inhabitants. In the grey factory Rensink’s warm cloud of steam enables people to gradually disappear from the hectic urban environment. During Dutch Design Week, at the end of every day, visitors can reserve a sauna visit and enjoy the urban spa experience. Rensink provides them with highly tactile bathrobes, towels, slippers and soaps he created. And let's people dream away from daily work.

Jules van den Langenberg

www.c-fabriek.nl

www.harmrensink.nl

While the Design Academy Eindhoven continues to be DDW's central venue, an array of dynamic design events are taking place all over the city, stretching from Piet Hein Eek's galleries to the Klockgebouw area and the innovative Sectie C.

Lidewij Edelkoort presented the concept for MoBA 13 (next summer's Mode Biennale in Arnhem). She discussed the theme of Fetishism in Fashion in front of a large crowd at the Kolckgebouw on the first Sunday of DDW, outlining the various exhibitions and events she plans as the biennale's curator. The fashion festival will also mark the 60th anniversary of the fashion department at ArtEZ and inspire cultural events all over the city. ArtEZ's product design students showed their work in a creative installation at Schellensfabriek, another favorite DDW venue this year.

At the Design Academy, the graduation show attracted thousands of visitors interested in discovering the school's latest design talent. One highlight was a focus on creative textiles: Anouk Haegens innovated new materials for public spaces, Lio de Bruin processed sheets of leather using old needlework techniques, Barbara Medo was inspired by the iridescence of insects when designing glittering fashion fabrics, and Judith Jans veiled the head in protective new sunwear accessories.

However the most striking Design Academy work was not at the school: Atelier NL delved into the Academy's DNA in 'Curious Minds', mapping the progression of alumni since they have graduated. By tracing the paths of students with a red thread to illustrate how some students become independent designers while others work in the industry or in entirely other fields, Lonny van Ryswyck and Nadine Sterk have opened up a creative dialogue at the crossroads of design education and hybrid living. A series of beautiful films by Mike Roelofs visualized the project's investigation of how creative thinking thrives in different ways after leaving the education system.

Another alumni couple making waves are Maarten Kolk & Guus Kusters: their 'At Home' exhibition invited visitors into the intimacy of their own apartment where they hosted private tours of their recent projects. The design duo have steadily and quietly expanded their powerful body of work, always staying true to their exploration of nature while innovating design processes for textiles and ceramics. A colourcard sampled by the designers from the seascapes in the Zuiderzeemuseum collection will become the institution's new design palette, embedding its interior identity with its own very essence. This fascination with dissecting nature into design statements is intriguing many of their contemporaries, opening up an interesting and poetic chapter in design.

Philip Fimmano

Jules van den Langenberg is currently graduating at Design Academy Eindhoven. His fascination for how design arises has led to establishing a nomadic production house in which he initiates and curates design products and projects. In collaboration with designers, producers, craftsmen and experience experts of all kinds Jules carefully intertwines the potential, qualities and dreams of all individuals involved in co-creation processes.

During Dutch Design Week 2012 - a major event hosted in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, committed to showcasing the country's burgeoning design and technological innovators -  Jules will share with us some of his discoveries and "coup de coeur".

Human kind has never managed to archive scent itself. We do however have records about historical scent containers like perfume pendants, crafted at times of romanticism. Mainly worn by the elite.

In contemporary form: Jody Kocken presents her 'Perfume Tools', a series of fragrance jewels that are meant for wearing scent.

Ironically the Design Academy Eindhoven graduate created the perfume tools because she has a perfume allergy, her project was thus born out of the personal wish to find a way to still wear fragrances. The tools she developed are of remarkable utilitarian aesthetics. Refined industrial objects. Jody's expresses her practical nature and describes the function of her works: "all tools can be attached to the opening of a perfume bottle. The tools absorb the scent and work as fragrance diffusers that can be worn. In places where the skin is most vulnerable, the precious metal is warmed up so that the scent can travel. Any skin contact with the perfumed liquid is thus avoided."

Jody hopes to make her work available for the world soon, preferably by further developing the project in collaboration with an established fashion label.

Jules van den Langenberg

www.jodykocken.com

Jules van den Langenberg is currently graduating at Design Academy Eindhoven. His fascination for how design arises has led to establishing a nomadic production house in which he initiates and curates design products and projects. In collaboration with designers, producers, craftsmen and experience experts of all kinds Jules carefully intertwines the potential, qualities and dreams of all individuals involved in co-creation processes.

During Dutch Design Week 2012 - a major event hosted in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, committed to showcasing the country's burgeoning design and technological innovators -  Jules will share with us some of his discoveries and "coup de coeur".

Marjan van Aubel is a designer, coming from a family of chemists, who managed to merge functionality with innovation and aesthetics in her project "the energy collection" : a series of glassware that collects light energy from its direct surrounding. With her specific material use she won the ‘Doen Materiaalprijs’ award this week, an award that is created to promote the sustainable design practice.

Van Aubel developed a system that is based on solar cell technology that is integrated in glass objects. Whether you're drinking from one of the glasses, or put it aside, electricity is constantly being generated. Thus, an everyday object becomes a solar cell. The tableware comes with a specially designed cupboard, which is also the battery. At the bottom of each piece of tableware there are copper rings that correspond with the electronic circuit that is visible inside the cupboard. Through this connection, the object releases its collected energy to the cupboard where it's stored or will be used to for example charge your phone or make a light burn.

With her project Van Aubel introduces us to a domestic world in which we would be surrounded by effortless sustainability.

Jules van den Langenberg

www.marjanvanaubel.com

Jules van den Langenberg is currently graduating at Design Academy Eindhoven. His fascination for how design arises has led to establishing a nomadic production house in which he initiates and curates design products and projects. In collaboration with designers, producers, craftsmen and experience experts of all kinds Jules carefully intertwines the potential, qualities and dreams of all individuals involved in co-creation processes.

During Dutch Design Week 2012 - a major event hosted in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, committed to showcasing the country's burgeoning design and technological innovators -  Jules will share with us some of his discoveries and "coup de coeur".

The current economic situation has led to a changing relationship between designer, producer and consumer; the exhibition ‘Objects for sale’ reacts on this phenomenon. The featured works of several Dutch designers are created with three price categories in mind.

The exhibited products are sold for less than 50 euros, 50 to 500 euros or more than 500 euros. ‘Objects for sale’ focuses on the value of things.And what value design has.

One of the participants is Lex Pott who created several rings made out of existing euro coins. An everyday object is reshaped and becomes a fun and critic response to the financial state of Europe.

The project shows the transformation of function and value related to the material. Coins are reduced to an outline showing their new value as being jewelry. This everyday object is reshaped and repurposed to create an entirely different item using a small intervention.

Also participating is the design collective "de Intuïtiefabriek" who present "Sum project": porcelain tableware in which the quantity of raw materials, the amount of labor put into a product and the different finishing techniques define the price of the objects.

The consumer gets insight in why thing cost what they cost and assemble / curate their own tableware.

These two projects from the 'Objects for Sale' exhibition represent an open attitude towards the public by communicating the development of their work as well as their working methods. By doing this the designers define the value of their profession.

Jules van den Langenberg

www.objects-presents.com

www.lexpott.nl

www.deintuitiefabriek.nl