The Dutch Design Week (DDW) in Eindhoven is about to begin. Starting Saturday, the city breathes design for nine days. More than a hundred locations will feature designs by makers from home and abroad.
In the Klokgebouw at Strijp-S, the finishing touches are being put on everything that will be on display starting Saturday. This includes furniture from Dutch soil. “We make furniture with products of the future and that you can reuse. Something very different from Ikea, of course. I hope that the people who drop by here will see that for themselves and eventually appreciate the quality of our furniture,” explains designer Reinder Bakker.
He is not the only one in the Klokgebouw who is still working hard to have everything finished on time. It is the same at the bureau Difficult Things. Designer Lei Nelissen: “We have recreated the Internet with our marble track. You see the journey of the package you ordered from Bol.com, for example. Through which servers does it go and how does the package eventually arrive at your doormat? A whole process, but through a marble track.
‘Something for Everyone’
Last year, 350,000 visitors came to Dutch Design Week, but whether this number will be reached this year as well remains to be seen. In Eindhoven, at least, you can’t avoid it, even if you have no interest in it. “Basically, Dutch Design Week is for everyone,” says director Miriam van der Lubbe. “After all, I can’t imagine anyone not seeing something from his or her life back here. Above all, you have to be open to it and engage in conversation with the designers. They are here every day.”
Storylines
In any case, the entire city is full of flags and maps, showing what the Dutch Design Week is featuring where. This year’s theme is “Picture This,” although of course it can be explained much more simply. “Basically, it’s nine days of celebration at over 120 locations around the city. We have some storylines this year focused on content. What’s going to happen in the future? And we have storylines based on how the designers work. This way we hope to keep it clear for the visitors.”
Dutch Design Week begins this Saturday and lasts through Sunday, Oct. 29.
Source: Studio040
Translated by: Chaitali Sengupta. She also gives online INBURGERING classes.
