Hasta La Ideas

What do you get when you take 5,135 household items from bankrupt companies, 14 leading designers, and one Dutch design juggernaut? Saved by droog, a project that is poised to take Milan by storm. Next week, during the Salone del Mobile, droog will debut a collection of 19 products born from reimagined surplus goods that the company harvested from liquidation auctions in Amsterdam. Drawing upon a cache of deadstock that included 448 wallets, 102 wooden spoons, 50 life preservers, and 14 dog baskets, droog matched designers with “raw material for creative re-interpretation.”

The finished products are still under wraps, but we have some sketchy details: Marian Bantjes inscribed an intricate message on a dining table and took to folding chairs with nail polish, Studio Makkink & Bey are embroidering headlines on handkerchiefs (take that, iPad), and Stefan Sagmeister stamped a fiscally responsible Sagmeisterism on the aforementioned wallets. Erna Einarsdottir transformed her stack of dish towels into a colorful knotted necklace, while Eric Klarenbeek spiced up his salt shaker by turning into a vessel for an all-natural perfume of his own concoction. Other designers who were up to droog’s challenge include Atelier Ted Noten, Marije Vogelzang, Ed Annink, Roelof Mulder, and Maison Martin Margiela, which retrofitted coffee cups with “moustache guards.” Come next Wednesday in Milan, all of the reimagined items will be “immediately available for sale in editions dictated by the limited liquidation lot quantities,” notes droog. And this time, don’t expect any leftovers.

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