Today sees the start of Dutch Design Week (DDW). However, this year, it will be the largest virtual design festival ever.
“Of course, this can’t replace the physical week,” says Martijn Paulen, the Dutch Design Foundation’s director. “But we’ll continue to scale up the virtual programme. That’s to support the design field as much as possible in creating relevant connections.” Creating these connections is an important objective for the rest of this year and after that.
DDW20 runs until 25 October. You’ll find 500+ 3D Viewing Rooms, talks, and virtual routes. There will also be live DDW TV from their studio in Eindhoven. Designers, professionals, and online visitors to even ‘meet’. This is via live chats and streams by and with designers.
Virtual international main stage
DDW has worked hard in recent months to develop a virtual festival experience. It was initially going to run parallel to the physical event. But, now, the virtual world will become the international main stage.
The theme, ‘The New Intimacy’, is more topical than ever. It reinforces the search for new forms of intimacy in these coronavirus time. The complete DDW20 programme includes an overview of all participants.
DDW20 may be entirely virtual this year. But DDW’s main driving forces – (new) connections and discoveries – are still well-represented. Visitors can not only discover new projects and emerging talent. They can also view graduates’ work.
These are from students at various famous schools. These schools include the Royal College of Art in London and Eindhoven’s own Design Academy. People can follow one of the virtual routes too.
DDW Talks
DDW20 will be a week full of DDW Talks. These talks cover a wide range of design disciplines. The focus will not only be on popular topics and current themes. They will also look back on the past, and ahead to the future.
Lidewij Edelkoort, Sabine Marcelis and Sean Carney are DDW20’s ambassadors. For decades, Lidewij has been known as the top trend forecaster in the world. She shares the DDW20 ambassadorship with designer Sabine and Sean.
Sabine took the design world by storm with her magical objects and installations. Sean is responsible for Healthcare Transformation Services at Philips. They will share their unique vision on design from their own backgrounds and disciplines.
You can watch the opening on ddw.nl at 11:00.
Source: Dutch Design Week
