Dutch Design Week 2014 focused on several trends, including herbarium (preserving and displaying dried plants), doomsday preppers (sustainable energy and protective suits), woven (traditional weaving techniques with bold textures), and laboratory (experimental presentations and emphasis on the design process). Many designers showed works-in-progress and experimental designs. Presentations were often set up to resemble laboratories. Traditional crafts like weaving were reinterpreted with vibrant colors and recycled materials to create new textures. Sustainability and protective structures were also prominent themes.
4. Design perron
Sectie C
Material sense
NRE terrein
piet hein eek de kazerne van Abbemuseum
JSPR, Dutch Invertuals, Cor Unum Ceramics, EenVier
Nacho , Collaboration, Marc Sturkenboom, Floris Wubben, Niek van der Heijden
Teresa van Dongen, Mieke Meijers, Rick Claassen
Kiki van Eijk & Joost van Bleijswijk, SenseNonSense, Baas in town
Dirk van der Kooij, KLaas Kuiken,
Atelier van Asseldonk
By Borre, RenS, Leff, NLXL, Pepe
Heijkoop, Ontwerpduo, Paul Heijnen
Tom Frencken, Jobs Props
6. herbarium
Collecting and preserving plants
Dried plants as motifs, greenhouses and glass domes to preserve your plants and greens and dried herbal fibers to create new materials.
As seen @ Kazerne, JSPR, Mieke Meijers, Marc Sturkenboom, Nacho Carbonell ...
7. doomsday preppers
Sustainable energy and protective suits
New ways of producing energy and maintining it for the future. Protective suits, kinetic structures and solar power
As seen @ Sectie C, By Borre, van Abbe, Design Academy
8. woven
Artisan techniques and new textures
A new appreciation for traditional weaving techniques. Bold colours, lush textures, rich embroidery and opulent motifs seem to be back in vogue. I also saw a lot of yarns and wires made from recycled plastics to
create new textures that dont look like plastics at all. Off course, we had foreseen all of this when designing and creating our custom curtain for Bar Marie in Mechelen
As seen @ Kazerne, Sectie C, Walter van Beirendonck, Kiki van Eijk, Piet Hein Eek and Material Sense
9. laboratory
Experimental presentations and processes
Designers showed a lot of work in progress, in other words, the process of creating is more important as the end result. As a spectator it felt as if you could take a look into the mind and workshop of the creator
or designer him or herself. Experimenting and showing the results was very visible this year. Also, the idea of setting up a presentation in a laboratory look and feel was very popular.
As seen @ Material Sense, van Abbemuseum, Schellensfabriek, Piet Hein Eek (Aesop), Atelier NL, Sectie C