Photo credit: Lisa Klappe
Reporting by Charles Mathis
Eindhoven may be a relatively small city (population 220,000) in a small country, but this year’s Dutch Design Week was the largest ever, attended by over 200,000, establishing the week long event as one of the largest design fairs in Europe. Although the annual event has taken place for the last seven years, it is primarily a non-commercial, Dutch-focused fair, meant to stimulate cooperation between designers, industry and business. There is, however, plenty of international involvement stemming from Design Academy Eindhoven graduates and foreign design schools.
With over 2,000 participants exhibiting in 350 events spread throughout the city, there was a lot to see, taste and experience. The venues were loosely grouped in three zones: Area Strijp, a large industrial zone; Area East, a smaller industrial park; and Area Inner City. Due to the distance between the zones and the lack of a metro, a free taxi service composed of Mini-Coopers with objects fastened to their roofs cheerfully shuttled visitors from area to area.
Tessel backpack by Aaron Puglisi and Dan Shirley for Wasatch Design Collective. (Photo credit: Jeroen Aarts)
This was my second year attending the DDW, and even with insider knowledge and a tight plan, it was still difficult to see most of the events in two whole days. Following is a light report on a selection of events and designs that were interesting or noteworthy.
Temporary Art Center
In the city center, the Temporary Art Center contained many small group exhibits and projects of all types from Dutch and non-Dutch designers and student groups. Over a dozen various sized rooms snaked around an outdoor courtyard and colorful central eating area. The largest draw in the building was undoubtedly the group show Pepe Heykoop/Lex Pott/David Derkson/Paul Heinjan, who showed old and new projects in a common space.
Vlisco Unfolded
For the first time during DDW, Vlisco exhibited its traditional and festive wax-resist cotton textiles, which until recently have been produced, marketed and sold exclusively for West and Central African markets. The large exhibit was one of the most popular ones of the week, due to the variety of excellent patterns and the company’s remarkable history, which dates back to 1846.
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