DUTCH DESIGN WEEK

Last year I took a quick look at the Dutch Design Week. This year I come back for more, and for a change I managed to turn it into a business trip. It also means scanning the dutch style landscape with a higher resolution. A journey through Eindhoven with the right equipment; the perfect car and a charged camera. Three objectives in my bag, ready for the broad perspective and the microscopic view. The Dutch Design Week summed up in pictures.

A city is changing. Over the last couple of years a bunch of new architecture has formed something one could call a skyline. Creative blobs in between industrial complexes. Philips, the industrial player, might have left the building, the creatives have taken over. Big chances for start ups. New content in old packages.

A late night party with pumping music trying to fight the vibrations of passing trains. The office of EDHV is clean and displays work of several artists. All of them worked with the same starting point. 600 years old wood, found deep down under ground when the center of the city had its make over. Great exhibition, almost feels like a laboratory.

The pivot point of the DDW used to be the graduation show of the Design Academy. More and more schools from the Netherlands gravitate to this event to showcase their studies and projects. A compact exhibition in one of the many abandoned Philips buildings. The mechanical modules are functionally spoken worthless, but truly fascinating in this digital age. Lots of crafty things.

The "light tower" in the center of Eindhoven always fascinated me as a kid. The lights were always switched on. In my naive view, this was the place were light bulbs were being made. This week it displays sustainable materials. Industrial players in a rather dry set up. Nevertheless worth a quick scan. Raw and honest, wood out of paper, lots of hemp. No smoking though.

Between forklift and Lambchop. A nice contrast between work in progress and almost religiously displayed projects. Last year I paid a private visit to Kiki and Joost in their studio in Stryp. Today the big rooms are packed with visitors. "The people from Wallpaper are delayed, but on their way". Dutch designers colaborate with Italian companies. Amber colored glass with silver coating and soft looking ceramics.

Entertainer, activist, advisor, inventor, entrepreneur, nutritionist, researcher, innovator, catalyst, connecter. The Design Academy and its students have found a lot of words to label themselves. Call us everything but designer. Less color, less jokes, but more subtle and subdued. Concept above form. Sustainability and a hang towards the human factor.

A lot of projects deal with interaction between human and products. Moulded vases, as in made out of mould. Bacterial research, lamps celebrating and welcoming dust. Design beyond the clean and perfect. Fusion of functions. Wearable furniture, a carpet couch.

Before I head to Eindhoven I make a few of phone calls. The Dutch Design Week has expanded over the last couple of years. Getting a feel for the highlights. Where to go, what to see and what to leave out? A couple of days won't be enough to grasp the vibe of every little exhibition. Choices, priorities. My local friends independently say I definitely have to see the complex of Piet Hein Eek. Bigger, better, stronger.

On friday night I find myself at a wooden table, picking different choices of cheese from a wooden plate. The restaurant is about to close. An eclectic mix of furniture and chandeliers fill the industrial complex. A wide bar made out of colorful old pipes. Cool and warm, a relaxed atmosphere. I wander through a dark showroom on my way to the toilet. Have to come back tomorrow.

Piet Hein Eek graduated at the design academy in the early nineties. He has been a successful designer, transforming old materials into new products, giving a new context to the known. After almost twenty years his company has moved back to Eindhoven, settling in an old building, 13.000 square meters in size. The outline is clear. A fusion of workshop, showroom, shop and restaurant. Design as an experience. Furniture and food. His own work is at center stage, but other designers and new talent have been given room too. Bikes from Japan, a flea market-esque collection of new-antique, revamped ceramics and glass," blown to life".

Strolling through the different rooms of the complex one can feel the central theme. A scattered, remixed, blast from the past, the familiar in a new jacket. The label of a woolen spread instantly draws you back to your childhood. It is all about patina, the used rearranged in a fresh perspective.

A red carpet connects one building to the next one. As I pass a spray painted brick building as the rumbling sound gets louder. Area 51 surrounded by design. I get up the stairs, open the door and stare at a multiplex landscape in disbelieve. Another example of the rejuvenation of a formerly industrial section of the city. Kids on skateboards, ramps and half pipes as far as the eye can see. In Stryp, Eindhoven smells like Berlin, the no mans land is alive, fertilizing new culture and niches.

Stryp, the Clock Building (Klokgebouw), one of the central locations during the DDW. Growing up under the smoke of Eindhoven I vividly remember the big clock and the Philips trucks parked next to the impressive building. The smooth fly over, cutting through the endless Philips site. Steaming pipes crossing the road.

Nowadays a dead building, but not this week. It houses a collection of renown dutch design offices, independent artist and young designers. There is even an automotive section, highlighting the electric revolution. I went back there several times for a quick impression. So much to see. Lots of details. The design landscape is bright, positive, but after a day of input my head starts to steam.

Renewable, sustainable, recyclable, green. Lots of wooden stuff. Ceramics, glass and steel. Tongue in cheek, witty. Arts and craft. Prototypes, one-offs and small solutions.

The wrap up. Summing up the impressions, one could boil down the DDW to a well known quote put in reverse. Act local, think global.

Comments

[Geert]

Not to be missed in 2011. Thanks for the excellent overview Mat, this is next best to being there!

[Rik]

Was caught up in the 'Clock Building' most of the time. Only other sites I've seen were Piet Hein Eek's and Kiki & Joost's, in your good company by the way. Looking at your overview the DDW really has really amounted to something, gotta spend some more time there next year. Thanx.

[Steve]

Inspirational stuff! Great picture combo's and color co-ordination like always. Thanks Matt. I might even have to go myself next year, Now! where did I leave the keys to my R8!

[huib]

Looking and reading trough your excellent report I've found out I missed quite some interesting items, although I visited the DDW. Thanks. PS Strijp = Stryp analogue Spijker = Spyker?

[anja]

Hoi Matt,

Wowwwwwwwwww, you've done it again, thanks! The pictures, the story.
I am proud, not Mary but Anja. Are you coming home next week? In case you want to know: for christmas I ask a book of your pictures!