Dutch Design Week 2022
A new generation of design
The theme of the Dutch Design Week 2022 was Get Set, a call to action that signals a shift in mentality and vibe; a shift from preparation to actually doing something. The call to action was answered, materials that had been concepts years before were in production and ready to be used. Creating a problem too, if the Dutch Design Week goes from an ideas and design festival to companies presenting their products it loses some of its initial intentions.
This contrasted with the new generation graduating from the Design Academy. A generation that is not bothered by difficult questions, that experiments based on values and that is not bothered by commerce and aesthetics. The projects were extremely varied and each asked something of the viewer, time to understand, to talk to the designer and to go with them to their world and way of thinking.
Tomorrow’s design world has many questions to answer. We are in a phase where everything needs to be reinvented. The new generation of designers emphasized the areas that will be important tomorrow, access and democratic power, community and communication, AI and us, circular design and material knowledge and the role of escapism and fantasy.
You can download the PDF of the report here
Solar Power
Democratising energy
There is an abundance of sunlight that needs to be used more; there is so much potential. How can we capture that energy, turn every surface into energy harvesting, and make every object and building harvest its energy? If that becomes possible, solar provides a democratic energy source that can be everywhere, on every big or tiny surface.
Designing for a future of solar democracy means that future objects can become self-sufficient and powered by the sun. Democratising solar energy and using the heat of the sun can solve today’s energy challenge.
Top to bottom, The Solar Metal Smelter by Jelle Seegers, Stick by Nils Tarukoski & Linus Brorsson, Sunne, solar-powered light by Marjan van Aubel, Playing with Power by Julian Gresham
Who Can Afford To Be Critical? by Afonso Pereira de Matos
Future Visions 2050
Visualising tomorrow
Will there still be a supermarket or cars as we know them today in 30 years’ time? Will we still be going out for groceries, or will we have everything delivered to our homes? At DDW the Supermarket of The Future showed how food could be hyper-personalized. A regeneration of humanity’s food system is needed. What will our cities look like, how will mobility change our streets when it becomes autonomous?
We can learn from our past as well as our future dreams. How do we envision our future, and what do we think future generations will dream of? Making prototypes and speculative installations makes people think about the future and create a much-needed vision for tomorrow.
Top to bottom, Deeply Personal Vending Machine by Tom Schouw and Sjoerd Legue, interactive visualisation of the weight of the gut microbiome, Dream Sequencer by Dan Lockton, Julieta Matos-Castaño, Ioana Mereuta, Jamila Blockzjil and Yeun Kim, Citybot by Edag
Re-enchantment
Creating poetry
New production methods and visualisation techniques make it possible to create any shape you want. Combined with the quest for dreamlike escapism and exploring worlds without stereotypical thinking results in fantastical objects that seem out of this world. The artefacts are something unknown, blurring the boundary between the natural and the artificial, not referencing the familiar.
The objects are created to visualize a feeling or a state of mind, to create something that makes us question reality and investigate the relationship we have with ordinary objects in our daily lives. The objects re-enchant and recover lost poetry in the everyday objects that are common, overlooked, unnoticed, replaceable or disposable.
Top to bottom, Reliques of the Plasticene by Coline Le Quenven, The Hypermemetic Garden by Alex Werth, Don’t Leave Me Hanging by Yesum Yoon, Tales of Mountains and Seas and Dusk Dokkaebi by Woo Jin Joo
Inter-organism Communication
Connecting worlds
Technology and Artificial Intelligence will fundamentally shape our future societies and transform everyday activities and experiences, products and the design practice. Therefore, exploring technology and understanding AI as design material is essential for moving forward. How do we interact with these new forms of technology?
Designers explored the relationship between technology, AI and the natural and human world. Communication through sound generation, visual symbols and digital twins create bridges between the digital and physical world. How do we create relationships with the world around us and how can non-human communication add something valuable to our lives?
Top to bottom, Sonic Driving by Laura Papke, Inter-organism Receiver by Anna Resei, Spiritual Accelerationism by Teresa Fernandez Pello, EFI by Malou Sandig
Temporary Value
Experience time
In a response to consumption and materialism, the temporary state was explored at DDW. Through our constant pursuit of time, we have lost touch with the present moment. Designs at DDW asked people to stand still and observe time passing.
How do you symbolize time? Humans experience the passage of time as the position of the sun or material changes like ice that is melting. Time passing and the idea of history can be embodied in objects. The object can be an experience of time and an appreciation of the present, rather than something to own. The temporary state questions ideas of ownership, responsibility and value.
Top to bottom, The Bittersweet Memory of the Plantation by Yassine Ben Abdallah, Dichroic object by Studio Sodalime, Dawn to Dusk by Claire Cherigie, Last Fall by Sander Hagelaar
Dyland Rug by Liselot Cobelens
Craft & Identity
Re-engage with making
Natural dyeing, weaving, hand printing or sewing is a slow process. It goes against the drive for efficiency and digitization. The materials that are used are not valuable per se, it is waste, leftover material. The time invested and the skill and attention make the process and the design valuable. Utilizing every part, without creating waste and creating something beautiful and meaningful.
Craft has an important role in a community. Artisans and craft traditions are lost due to the mass production of products. Young designers are trying to revive heritage crafts in a way that combines sustainability and a community-driven approach. Reviving crafts can give us new perspectives for the future and our societies.
Top to bottom, Circular Material by Studio Viverdie, Waste Hair by Savine Schoorl, Preservation of Decay by Micky Yael Nooitgedagt, (Home)Land Gunya coat by Atelier Dasha Tsapenko
In/un becoming by dieDAS fellows Adrian Pepe, Giulia Pompilj, Steffie de Gaetano and Nico Alexandroff
Natural Dyeing Loops
Nature produces no waste
When you utilize every state of a material, all steps in the process become an ingredient, a starting point for something new. Natural dyeing loops aim to generate no waste, uses all components and considers water consumption.
Natural dyes, dyes or colourants derived from plants, invertebrates, or minerals have a limited colour palette. Designers at the DDW were experimenting with these pigments and the colour of the natural state of the material to create materials and objects that show the origin of the process and create no waste.
Top to bottom, If A Tree Falls… by Lewis Duckworth, OKHRA-Workshop by Victoire de Brantes, Ligning as colourant by Pia Johansson, Pine soap printing by Sonja Dallyn, Aalto ARTS and Anastasiya Yurievna Grachova
Simplicity
Material knowledge
Quite and honest, balanced constructions symbolize the tension between craft and the handmade and the modular mass-produced. Design is driven by the material and its characteristics, it lets materials behave in their own distinctive way without forcing it. Honest constructions and mono-material designs can be recycled more easily.
Simplicity in design isn’t just about simple lines or using only black or white, it’s about designing with the material and getting rid of all extra and unnecessary elements. It is not easy, it involves digging through the depth of complexity to come to the most simple form.
Top to bottom, The beginning by Ties de Vos, Tailored Ceramics by Anna Mareschal de Charentenay, Linoleum by Lina Chi, Stencil Glass by Bryan Stoel
