DDW -Dutch Design Week (19-27 October 2024) – a ‘must see’ in the calendar of design exhibitions in Europe – industrial, bio, social – the list is long, my reporter’s article is short. Eindhoven is the brain port of the Netherlands. Our press tour guide Matilde Stolfa, an Italian, when asked why she chose to study at the Eindhoven Design Academy, replied with a smile: ‘if you want something crazy, innovative and futuristic, you should go to the city of Phillips company. Which, having moved its workshops to Asia, as many big companies did in the 1990s, gave its workshops to young designers for free. And how it worked! Eindhoven has become the Mecca of design and students from all over the world are eager to get into its Academy (teaching in English as well). I personally regretted that the Graduation show of the Academy was the final point of our press tour – the brightest projects were from Eindhoven graduates.
DDW 2024’s theme, “Real Unreal”, is about how we navigate the different realities that make up our modern world. What is real and what is not, and where do all our very different perspectives meet? Designers explore and question what we accept as true, and show us paths we didn’t even realise were there.
We got a laugh from a project by Blxsh, a graduate of the Sint-Joost School of Art from the Dutch city of Hertogenbosch, the birthplace of Hieronymus Bosch, quite in the spirit of the creator of the grotesque and prophet of hell. ‘Saddle of Omens’ – a saddle that foretells your fate. ‘Your ass sees what your eyes do not see. In times of uncertainty, the ‘Saddle’ will help your navigation into the future. But remember, only you can shape your future.’ I still regret that we were in a hurry and I didn’t got my destiny at the Saddle.
Navigating the DDW depends on your preferences and goals: if your children are planning to go to a design academy and are deciding which one to choose, the Klokgebouw Hall of the different academies in Europe can help. The festival is for those who love ‘mind games’ – meeting smart designers and their amazing innovations will help you understand what meaningful, crazy, beautiful, useful, encouraging, cautious, unexpected, impressive and simply great design is. These are all epithets about DDW.
Destroyed almost entirely during World War 2, Eindhoven, like Rotterdam, went on a total urban reconstruction in constructivist and high-tech style. And for the sprawl of a large port city, this makes sense. But how can a small city like Einhoven be populated with skyscrapers? In my opinion, the architects did a great job by leaving the old buildings and scaling the new high-rises. Urban design is still embedded in Eindhoven’s DNA to this day. Every year you see new projects, graffiti, sculptures, reconstructed barracks, mills, sawmills.
In this context I will tell you about one project at DDW: The pavilion, created by designers from the Dutch Bamboo Foundation, studio akēka and Vinc Math Bamboo Consulting, first appeared in Uganda to show what local bamboo can do. The success was such that he was invited to Brussels for the New European Bauhaus festival in 2024. Now he’s rocking it at Dutch Design Week 2024 in Eindhoven, combining natural beauty with modern urban style.
Sustainability (what an obscure abstract term it seems) in action: the Trilix Bamboo Pavilion is pure sustainability. Everything, from the materials to the construction itself, is made to minimise harm to nature. The main bamboo harvested in Georgia (!) and the Netherlands. This project shows how traditional materials can be hip in today’s world. In its third version, the pavilion continues to inspire people to take care of the planet and lift the spirits at Dutch Design Week!
Why it’s important to go to DDW for at least one day. I liked one of the questions that this total design festival asks ‘Will the future design us?’. I think the search for an answer is more important for the thinking homo sapience today than ever before, I am not being alarmist.
