Textiel Factorij

 

Last week I visited the Fries Museum in Leeuwarden to get a special tour by the curator of the textile department Gieneke Arnolli.

This visit was part of the Textiel Factorij project, which is a cultural-historical project, about the mutual heritage between India and the Netherlands. During the Golden Age, there was a flourishing trade between the two countries and they influenced each other in various ways, such as the incorporation of chintz in traditional Dutch costumes. Together with Indian and Dutch artists, designers and Indian artisans this project aims to develop contemporary heritage products.

 

In the museum we had a look at the use of fabrics from India in traditional Dutch ‘klederdracht’ which date back as far as the 17^th century.

 

For this project I’m working together with Gunjan Singh to develop a collection of products, not only focusing on the skills of the craftspeople for making the textiles, but by creating interior products made from textile and wood showing the woodworking skills of the blockmakers as well.

Our specific focus is on combining the traditional crafts with digital fabrication methods, showing they can co-exist within one collection of products and to demonstrate that the value of the craft is not diminished by the development of the technique, but they each have their own value.

 

OLD COOL vs. No Name Design

 

In the past weeks we had two exhibitions at the faculty of Industrial Design Engineering: OLD COOL and No Name Design.

 

One showing products from famous designers like Mario Bellini, Ettore Sottsass, Luigi Colani en Richard Sapper.

The other showing a collection of almost 1,000 industrial products of which the designers are unknown.

 

These exhibitions show two different sides of our profession; the well known 'design classics' which can be found in many museum collections, and the everyday products which a lot of people use, but nobody knows who designed them.

Both show very ingenious solutions and beautiful products, but the famous ones are much more appreciated than the everyday products, although the latter often have a much bigger impact on people’s daily lives.

 

I found both exhibitions very inspiring, as you can see both 'types' of designers aimed at designing an optimal solution for the assignment they had. Whether their name would be connected to the object or not. So which type of designer do you want to be?

 

Image Designboom

The OLD COOL collection was selected by Ger Bruens from the Henri Baudet Institute collection and was his farewell exhibition as he is retiring in August.

The No Name Design collection was brought together by the Swiss designer Franco Clivio and was the farewell exhibition of Prof. Bruno Ninaber van Eyben, who is retiring as well.

Behind the scenes: Workspace

As promised a little sneak peek into my workspace, so you can see where most of my products are designed. The ideas for new products usually come to mind at very different times and places (that's why designers always carry a notebook around ;) but developing an idea into an actual product happens in this room (and in the workshop, since I swear by making prototypes and experimenting with materials and techniques, but more about that in another ‘behind the scenes’ ;).

I used to rent a studio for work, but when I moved to a bigger house with a very nice and bright room overlooking the garden I couldn't wait to turn it into my workspace.

Since I love bright colors and the weather in The Netherlands can be a bit grey, I decided to paint the wall behind my desk yellow. I actually have two desks, one for working on the computer and a big drawing table towards the window. The computer desk was made by my parents when I was still in primary school. I didn’t use it for a really long time, but now it suddenly works very well again :)

My cat also loves the fact that I work at home and always stops by to inspect my work. Especially new objects are very interesting, but she always ends up coming over for a cuddle and falling asleep on my shoulder. Not very good for my productivity, but very cozy ;)

 

Excursie klushuizen Rotterdam

Inspirerende architectuur tijdens de Klushuizen excursie van Delft Design.
Waarom een platte gevel als het ook 3D kan, creatief met betonplaten in plaats van een trappetje metselen en inspiratie opgedaan voor een tuinhek wat ik aan het ontwerpen ben.

Delft Design bestuur

Sinds november vorig jaar ben ik bestuurslid van de ontwerpersvereniging Delft Design. Met deze vereniging zetten we ons in voor maatschappelijke opgaven in Delft en organiseren we excursies, workshops en debatten over actualiteiten in Delft.
Actuele projecten zijn bijvoorbeeld de Delft Design Challenge en de Dag van de Architectuur op 21 juni.
Tot nu toe zijn er vooral bestuursleden met een architectuur/stedenbouwkundige achtergrond geweest, maar sinds november is daar dus verandering in gekomenen en vertegenwoordig ik de Industrieel Ontwerpers binnen de vereniging.

Er worden regelmatig interessante lezingen, excursies en andere activiteiten georganiseerd, dus houd daarvoor de website van Delft Design in de gaten! En voor meer info kan je uiteraard ook altijd contact met mij opnemen.

Swan Market

Afgelopen weekend was Tjielp Design aanwezig op de Swan Market in Rotterdam. Swan Market is een lifestyle markt, met een erg divers aanbod aan mode, sieraden, vintage, accessoires etc. Dit was een mooi moment om weer wat nieuwe ontwerpen aan het grotere publiek te showen (en uiteraard te verkopen ;). 

 

De manchetknopen en armbandjes zijn nu ook in mijn webshop te koop.

De naamkettingen (incl. zelfmaakpakketjes) en Delfts Blauwe kettingen komen er binnenkort ook in te staan. Als je ze nu al wilt bestellen dan kan dat, stuur mij dan even een email.

Bamboe eettafel

En zo staat de tafel uiteindelijk op zijn plek, met 6 stoelen er onder.