Known for its focus on experimental, speculative and social design, Dutch Design Week returns from 19 – 27 October with a special urgency. This year’s theme is ‘If not now, then when?,’ and the projects share a focus on innovative sustainable materials that can be scaled up, becoming part of circular or low-waste systems. The show delves into new technologies and concepts that can also help make our lives less resource-intensive.
Throughout the showcase, products made out of agricultural and industrial by-products such as dung, nutshells and bauxite feature, and the latest generation of products made from bioplastics, but there is space for more poetic installations too.
With 2,600 designers in attendance, 120 locations involved (including an atmospheric renovated former Augustine monastery), 450 events and themes ranging from artificial nature; bio design and material innovations; circularity; healthy textiles; privacy and gender/identity on the programme, the 2019 edition of Dutch Design Week is set to be big, exciting and very zeitgeisty. Here are five launches and shows not to miss.
Red Mud
Four designers from the Royal College of Art in London have transformed an industrial residue into functional tableware pieces and structural items that can be used for construction, such as pipes. Red Mud ( Red standing for ‘residue enabled design’) is the by-product of refining bauxite ore into alumina and its fiery colour reflects the fact that it is composed mostly of iron oxide. Over 150 million tonnes of ‘red mud’ are produced every year and currently left unused in giant pits around the world. Joris Olde Rikkert, Guillermo Whittembury, Kevin Rouff and Luis Paco Bockelmann worked with KU Leuven and Imperial College London to explore the potential of the material both as a ceramic and as a building material and developed their own clay bodies, slips, glazes, and concretes.
Rethinking Plastic
‘Rethinking Plastic, design with a mission’ is an exhibition that will show 25 projects and products by designers around the world who are approaching the plastic crisis as an exciting and crucial design challenge and keen to create a more circular way of life. From egg cups made of old waste egg shells to razors made of lemon peel and bio-resins and plates made out of corn, ‘Rethinking Plastic’ will focus on alternatives to plastic and showcase the latest developments in bioplastics.
Alissa + Nienke
A+N is a material research and design studio founded in 2013 by Alissa van Asseldonk and Nienke Bongers. At DDW they present their take on the future of window coverings, which will feature an alluring blend of craft and high-tech solutions including responsive woven window coverings that open and close based on the light of the sun. The pair will also show the outcome of a 3D weaving research project into the use of woven textiles for large-scale interior applications.
Stilled Life by Rive Roshan
Experimental design studio Rive Roshan will create an immersive experience for Dutch Design Week, a poetic space in which the sound of silence will be captured and ‘the beauty of a fleeting moment'. This contemporary Zen-like garden installation will feature water, glass, sand and sculptures through which the visitor can walk and enjoy a moment of reflection and tranquillity. The studio worked with German start-up Sandhelden to make collectible stools, chairs and vases out of 3D-printed sand and with Moooi Carpets to make water-patterned and geometric rugs.
Studio Drift
DDW19 Ambassadors Studio Drift will show an interactive light installation that is inspired by the behaviour of flocks of birds and the patterns they make in the air. Flylight will take pride of place in a new venue for Dutch Design Week – Domusdela – a former monastery transformed into a vibrant cultural complex. Over at the van Abbemuseum, the artist duo will be showing a new project in its ‘Materialism’ series. ‘Materialism – The bag project’ will be an evolving and haunting sculptural installation made of blocks of extruded plastic bags that will bring to life the quantity of resources that go into the products we use every day
INFORMATION
Dutch Design Week; 19-27 October 2019. ddw.nl
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A revamped Edinburgh apartment combines Californian-style modernism with modern craftArcher + Braun have transformed an apartment in a historic house with finely tuned contemporary additions and sympathetic attention to detail
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Formafantasma’s biodiversity-boosting installation in a Perrier Jouët vineyard is cross-pollination at its bestFormafantasma and Perrier Jouët unveil the first project in their ‘Cohabitare’ initiative, ‘not only a work of art but also a contribution to the ecosystem’
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Gingerbread City: architects sculpt London out of the season's favourite treatUntil December 29 in Chelsea, see London brought to life in a seasonal-appropriate medium by leading architects and designers
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‘R for Repair’ at London Design Festival displays broken objects, re-formedIn the second half of a two-part exhibition and as part of London Design Festival 2022, ‘R for Repair’ at the V&A displays broken objects, re-formed
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Inside Bali’s new Circular Design WorkspaceAt Museum of Space Available in southern Bali, creative director Daniel Mitchell reimagines the possibilities of plastic waste
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Solar light and modular cabin win Life-Enhancer of the Year: Wallpaper* Design Awards 2022Marjan van Aubel's ‘Sunne’ solar light and the Space of Mind cabin, by Studio Puisto, Made by Choice and Protos Demos, are the joint winners of this year's Life-Enhancer category
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Design Museum exhibition puts waste front and centre‘Waste Age: What Can Design Do?’ at the Design Museum, London (until 20 February 2022), presents design’s proposals and solutions to the issue of waste
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Best of Dutch Design Week 2021After a virtual edition, Dutch Design Week is back for 2021 (until 24 October) with a physical showcase of creative talent across the city of Eindhoven celebrating the design event’s 20th anniversary
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Ten years of Muller Van Severen, at Design Museum GhentA new exhibition by Belgian design duo Muller Van Severen (until 6 March 2022) features a retrospective of the studio’s ten years as well as a curation of pieces from the Design Museum Ghent collections
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Rossana Orlandi presents Guiltless Plastic at Milan Design Week 2021Guiltless Plastic is Rossana Orlandi’s thrilling exploration of the material’s potential for recycling and upcycling in design
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Bird baths and bee beaches invite nature to Marcel Breuer’s Marshouse‘For the Birds & Bees’ (until 18 September 2021) by design gallery R & Company and landscape designer Edwina von Gal aims to bring back wildlife to Marcel Breuer’s Marshouse, and increase awareness on the importance of birds and pollinators
