Iconic Dutch Design is recontexualized by a younger generation in the jubilee exhibition of contemporary design publisher Thomas Eyck. In collaboration with Zuiderzee Museum and curator Jules van den Langenberg this section is first to publish a series of new projects.
 
To mark his jubilee ten product series were selected from Thomas Eyck’s collection, which are exemplary for the collaborations the publisher & distributor has developed with designers and producers since 2007. Accordingly, ten young designers, artists and architects were invited to create a project in which the iconic t.e. objects are studied and recontextualised. The retrospective exhibition reviews the past decade and forecasts a potential future for the t.e. collection.  Installation 04/10 is a reflection on the ‘Flax Project’ series of utensils created for Thomas Eyck in 2009. The series was developed by designer Christien Meindertsma in collaboration with Touwslagerij Steenbergen and Kuperus & Gardenier.
 
Flaxity

Flax is an ‘old’ material with a rich history. Buro BELÉN builds on designer Christien Meindertsma’s flax items, which are also on display in this installation and show that flax will continue to be very much at home in the future. BELÉN focuses on the rich tactility of flax. The designers developed the ‘Oiled cape’, a rain cape made using linseed oil, which is derived from flax. They used traditionally-made bell rope to knit the ‘One thread hammock’, a hammock made of a single long thread. They also developed a ‘Combed couch cover’ of woven linen, another flax product, and roughened the fabric to give it a soft texture. To finish there is a ‘Go through’: a huge wall, which is also a passage, made of hairy, strokeable flax.

Buro BELÉN reflect on a serie of Christien Meindertsma. Designer Christien Meindertsma explores the life and origins of objects and materials. She uses these to portray production methods which industrialisation has pushed into the background. In 2009 Thomas Eyck commissioned her to design a series of utensils made of flax, ‘Flax Project’, which consists of a flax candle, tea-towels, napkins, a tablecloth, chair, rug, pouffe, three types of hanging lamps, and an extension cord. The items are made by Touwslagerij Steenbergen in Gorssel, where rope has been hand-made from natural materials such as hemp and flax since 1900. Lelystad carpentry business Kuperus & Gardenier manufactures the wooden components of this series.
 
The exhibition 10 Years of Thomas Eyck is open until 14 May 2017 at Zuiderzee Museum Enkhuizen