Friday, October 30, 2009

Dutch Design Week '09, a synopsis



And so the Dutch creative class keeps on exploring the increasing entwinement of technology, science, design, and socio-cultural issues. In case you have not made it to visit the Netherlands for the Dutch Design Week this year, here is a short recap including some interesting projects. Above you see my own graduation project's stand at the Eindhoven University of Technology, that demonstrates a wearable yoga system.



Abstract objects sewn together from insect wings.



A sculpture of what could be a genetically re-engineered giraffe.



From the same artist, a giraffe blob.



A chair that acts as a scaffold for the plant that grows inside, so you end up with a plant in the shape of a chair. The Dutch are definitely getting more and more radically into their skill of manipulating nature.



Metal objects that keep you warm in bed; simply plug them into the wall and cuddle them.



Garments grown from bacterial tissue.



A sink that reconnects people to the natural quality of water. The water starts on the upper platform, slowly flowing down and seeping onto the lower one, that looks as if its shape has naturally been worn away by the water. Still this seems a postmodernization of nature, rendering it into a symbol, so I doubt that it really gives people an intuitive sense of 'nature' and them being an inextricable part of it.



As I understood it, this is a shower for animals that you can also use to slaughter them in. This way, you either have the choice to treat them in a more human, subjective way, or in an objectified, consumptive way. The ambiguity of the technology here could in the end make for a more complex and empathic relationship between man and his fellow-animals.



This is a light that emulates the sun in physically opening and closing depending on the amount of natural light outside.

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