Dutch Design Week: eine von Lidewij Edelkoort kuratierte Sonderausgabe

Hella Jongerius’s research on colours, materials, and textures is never complete. All her questions are open-ended, and all her answers provisional, taking the form of finished and semi-finished products. These are part of a never-ending process, and the same is essentially true of all Jongeriuslab designs: they possess the power of the final stage, while also communicating that they are part of something greater, with both a past and an uncertain future. The unfinished, the provisional, the possible – they hide in the attention for imperfections, traces of the creation process, and the revealed potential of materials and techniques. Through this working method, Jongerius not only celebrates the value of the process, but also engages the viewer, the user, in her investigation.

jongeriuslab.com     @hellajongerius

Victor Sonna (b. 1977) is a visual artist born in Yaoundé, Cameroon. He graduated from Design Academy Eindhoven and St. Joost School of Art & Design in 2008 and now lives and works in the Netherlands. His artistic practice is formed and informed by his genealogy, negotiating between Cameroon and the Netherlands, constantly occupied with the struggle of holding onto his African roots on the one hand, and integrating a European home on the other. The experience of being in-between cultures is alive in Sonna’s work, which is often born from tensions arising between cultures and styles, resulting in artworks that de-familiarise and test the boundaries.

victorsonna.com   @victorsonna

Brynjar Sigurðarson(1986) is one half of an Icelandic studio, currently based in Berlin, Germany. Since 2011 the studio has been creating a body of work driven by theatrical and natural references. Their practice may often link to anthropology and geology. They use various media such as drawings, photography, video, sound, and objects in order to convey their work in a fruitful and specific way. Currently, the studio is working on various projects ranging from self-produced objects sold from the studio, furniture, and a new instrument, and a musical performance with Fondation d’entreprise Galeries Lafayette, Paris.

biano.is   @brynjarsigurdarson

Hathaway Designs is led by designer Cynthia Hathaway. Hathaway Designs focus includes participatory artistic research (in location and with communities), concept development, prototypes and designs based on social themes such as community and local industry regeneration (Car Mecca), food and city production (XXL City Harvester), design methodologies for social sustainability (The Mennonite and Amish Design Methodology) and the production of public space (The Department of Search). Hathaway Designs designs meeting spaces for marginalized voices and productions that are not always heard and acknowledged, but are vital for the development of resilient communities. The productions of Hathaway Designs are working prototypes placed in a context to reveal and celebrate local material and knowledge resources (human, natural and animal), and kick start self-organization. The prototypes (whether it be a sweatershop and wool organization, a corn field or a miniature train track), are built in collaboration with local inhabitants, and upon shared values. Hathaway’s designs create open, public spaces for interaction, production and debate, and a new sense of citizenry in places of disconnection.

hathawaydesigns.org

BOKJA was established in the year 2000 and founded by Huda Baroudi and Maria Hibri, born from the female duo’s shared passion for furniture, textiles, art and design. While Huda has spent her life collecting fabrics from the Silk Road, Maria is an expert in antique pieces of furniture with a hidden beauty. The two married their expertise and knowledge of traditional craftsmanship and started Bokja by reupholstering vintage furniture found in antique stores and flea markets with precious fabrics from the region. Since its inception, Bokja has grown into a multi-level design studio building the story of Beirut’s numerous co-existing cultures through their famous assemblage aesthetic, establishing itself as a disruptive and innovative brand, breaking down barriers and weaving human connections. A Beirut-based design studio, crafting meaningful narratives through embroidery and textile to create personable objects, from furniture to fashion. Their signature is its assemblage aesthetic, bringing together textile fragments of a time and place, situating them in unusual arrangements to communicate a unified message. The integrity of each piece is upheld as it is connected, layered and ultimately integrated and juxtaposed. It is through the juxtapositions of disparate surfaces that the importance of each component becomes magnified; a rich and unexpected visual language is created.

bokja.com   @bokjadesign

German-born designer and researcher Julia Lohmann investigates and critiques the ethical and material value systems underpinning our relationship with flora and fauna. She is Professor of Contemporary Design at Aalto University, Finland, and directs her eponymous Helsinki-based design practice. Julia studied at the Royal College of Art, where she has also taught and completed an AHRC-funded collaborative PhD scholarship between the RCA and the Victoria & Albert Museum. As designer in residence at the V&A in 2013, she established the Department of Seaweed, a transdisciplinary community of practice exploring the marine organisms‘ potential as a design material. Julia Lohmann’s work is part of major public and private collections worldwide and has received awards, bursaries and support from the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, the British Council, Jerwood Contemporary Makers, D&AD, Stanley Picker Gallery, the Arts Foundation, Wellcome Trust and Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum.

julialohmann.co.uk

Li Edelkoort is a trend forecaster, publisher, humanitarian, design educator and exhibition curator. From 2015-2020 she was the Dean of Hybrid Design Studies at Parsons in New York where she founded a Textile Masters and the New York Textile Month festival. Her thought-provoking writings and podcasts have become increasingly popular at a time when she is regarded as an activist and champion for change. In 2020, she founded the World Hope Forum as a platform to inspire the creative community to rebuild a better society. She is also on the Creative Council for all of Gap Inc.’s fashion brands, advising the group on creative innovation and sustainable practice. In 2022, Edelkoort collaborated with Polimoda in Florence to establish an innovative new textile masters called From Farm to Fabric to Fashion.

@lidewijedelkoort

Co-Founder World Hope Forum

Philip Fimmano is a trend analyst and consultant, contributing to Trend Union’s forecasting books, magazines and strategic studies for international companies in fashion, textiles, interiors and lifestyle. In 2011, Fimmano co-founded Talking Textiles with Li Edelkoort; an ongoing initiative to promote awareness and innovation in textiles through touring exhibitions, a trend publication, a design prize and free educational programmes – including New York Textile Month, a citywide festival celebrating textile creativity each September. He is the co-author of the design book A Labour of Love (Lecturis, 2020) and the co-founder of the World Hope Forum, a new platform for creative community building. Fimmano is the mentor of Polimoda’s fashion forecasting masters and textile masters in Florence, and he is on the Board of Directors for the International Folk Art Market in Santa Fe. Fimmano is also on the Creative Council for all of Gap Inc.’s brands, advising the group on innovation and sustainable practice.

@philipfimmano