Dutch Design Week 2024 hovering between real and virtual

Miriam Van Der Lubbe, cofondatrice della Dutch Design Week al suo terzo anno di direzione creativa della rassegna.

Also new this year is the Grand Project for public spaces, with 90 projects of which 12 will become reality in the Dutch city.

Three ambassadors for this year's edition: Julia Watson (Lo-TEK Institute), Bas van de Poel (Modem) and that André Doxey, now Head of Design and Vice President of Lego, who has a 20-year career at Nike and another eight as Creative Director of Adidas.

André Doxey, Head of Design e vice president di Lego: è stato uno dei tre “ambassador” dell’edizione 2024. Ha sulle spalle vent’anni di carriera a Nike e altri otto come direttore creativo di Adidas.

"We involved very different profiles, with specular but also complementary approaches," explains the artistic director of the event, "from the more commercial one of André to the radical and activist one of Julia, who is very attentive to research on materials and big challenges such as climate change.

Among the goodies scattered around the city, the ten finalists of the Dutch Design Awards, divided into five macro-categories, should be mentioned first.

«Metamorphonic», delicata collezione di complementi firmata dall’ingegnere-designer Yuta Ikeya: è uno dei dieci finalisti ai Dutch Design Awards.

Among them is Metamorphonic, the delicate collection of accessories by engineer-designer Yuta Ikeya, which combines technology with the work of silkworms in a novel 'co-creation' of objects by different animal species.

Alongside the Design Awards is the Crafted Connections experiment, a week-long live workshop in which a log becomes wooden furnishing accessories with porcelain inlays: a hymn to craftsmanship but also to the interaction between man and nature, since in this case it is the trunk itself, with its grain and imperfections, that "suggests" to the carpenter-designer how to proceed with the cutting and sanding, inspiring the creation of the objects.

«Crafted Connections», un workshop dal vivo lungo una settimana in cui un tronco diventa complementi di arredo in legno con intarsi in porcellana (foto di Max Kneefel).

Also worth mentioning is Joris De Groot with his 'industrial shoes', the 2000N line of footwear created with materials and technologies borrowed from car interiors. Or, staying with footwear, the futuristic 3D printed footwear by Kristiyan Hristov, inspired by the evolution of the animal world reinterpreted with VR research.

Un dettaglio della collezione «2000N», le “scarpe industriali” create da Joris De Groot con materiali e tecnologie mutuati dagli interni delle automobili.

Increasingly important is the presence of Isola, the design platform born in Milan and "exported" to the Netherlands and the Middle East, now in its sixth Dutch edition: in Eindhoven this year it brought four exhibitions with over one hundred designers. All grouped under the umbrella of the theme 'This Future Is Currently Unavailable', which cuts across the various exhibitions in 2024.

Elif Resitoglu, direttrice creativa di Isola.

Hosting Isola this year was the vulcanic Area 51, the largest indoor skatepark in Holland: "a huge former industrial space in the heart of the Dutch event," explains Elif Resitoglu, Isola's creative director, "where design and urban culture have found a point of synthesis in the name of the power of community. In our exhibitions we have paid great attention to the product, to create new perspectives in an exhibition that has always been devoted to experimental research".

But let us look at the four exhibitions. Forms Unfolding focuses on the essential elements of functional design by rethinking traditional and industrial techniques.

A review of clean, minimalist lines. Take, for example, the CBAR Hammer aluminium seat, forged by hammer blows, solid and extremely light, or the Bocht chair made from 14 layers of linoleum.

La sedute «Ko To Ko» del norvegese Kogl, ispirata agli sgabelli da mungitura della tradizione scandinava.

But also to the soft lighting of the Blampas collection, with its"cosmic" shapes and interchangeable lamp colours, or the essential Ko To Ko by Norwegian Kogl, inspired by the milking chairs of Scandinavian tradition.

Disclosure, on the other hand, takes place in the 350-square-metre basement of Area 51, involving more than forty designers with unique collectors' pieces that combine digital craftsmanship and innovation.

Nella più iconica mostra «Disclosure» ecco la «Poodle Armchair» dal corpo in acciaio e seduta in velluto, opera di Mati Sipiora (Polonia).

"Compared to Forms Unfolding, these pieces are more iconic and 'loaded'," Resitoglu clarifies, "classic 'collectibles' poised between art and technology. Highlights include the South Korean Prospero series chairs in bioplastic and the geometric Poodle Armchair with a steel body and velvet seat.

Le «Prospero series» in bioplastica firmate da Somyeong-lee (Sud Corea).

But also the colourful collectible bears of the Indian Toi Haus series or the ingenious CoWave: acoustic panels 3D printed after detecting the client's brain waves. Customisation at the highest level.

«CoWave», opera dell’olandese Aga Blonska: pannelli acustici stampati in 3D dopo aver rilevato le onde cerebrali del committente Ovvero la personalizzazione al massimo livello.

On the practice courts of the skatepark, Isola then proposes the itinerant Routes to Roots, a journey through the design of the Middle East and North Africa.

Composta da 120 sfere in acciaio ecco la «Tila Chair» firmata da Shepherd Studio (Bahrain), uno dei pezzi forti della mostra «Routes to Roots» dedicata al design mediorientale e nordafricano.

"An exhibition that belies the cliché of a Middle Eastern design that is loaded, excessive and too tied to tradition," explains Isola's creative director. "Instead, the pieces on display are light, poetic, contemporary.

Intriguing are the Concentric Console table, inspired by the sinuousness of the dunes, and the Medallion lamp that evokes the magical simplicity of Arabian jewellery. Not forgetting the iconic Tila Chair, composed of 120 steel spheres.

But the real novelty in Isola's Eindhoven is The Floor is Yours, set up among the mirrors of a dance studio on the first floor of Area 51.

Uno scorcio di «The Floor is Yours», allestita tra gli specchi di una scuola di danza: da sinistra, i tessuti della collezione «Physis» e le sedie appese «Chair» (foto di Anwyn Howarth).

"A review under the banner of materials research," explains designer Anya van de Wetering, curator together with Karel Bodegom and Wisse Trooster. Enchanting are the Physis lamps, sewn by 3D printers in the name of lightness, but also Stapled, a wooden chair and lamp joined by the stitches of a stapler.

«Stapled», sedia in legno “costruita” con punti da cucitrice, opera del giovanissimo Filip Pista (Romania).

Or the precious Chinese porcelain of The Blob - super white, with its extravagant yet harmonious lines.

I visitatori della Dutch Design Week 2024 hanno sfiorato quota 340mila. Bambini inclusi (foto di Cleo Goossens).