Dutch Design Week

What I saw and what’s to learn from it

Barnaby Maclaine

Published in

Inside VBAT

4 min readNov 4, 2015

By Barnaby Maclaine
Creative at VBAT

I was a Dutch Design Week virgin until I finally popped my cherry last week. As a designer it’s an event that has been on my radar, but through one reason or another I just have never had the chance to attend. With it approaching my 5th year living in the Netherlands I think a visit was well over due.

My knowledge of design week before my visit was mostly limited to reading about popular exhibits in the design media or chatting with my peers. For those not in the know Dutch Design Week focuses mainly around emerging talent in the industrial design category. This was the 14th edition of DDW, located throughout the city of Eindhoven, in a mixture of industrial, modern and historical locations. The layout gives any new-comer to the city of Eindhoven a nice overview and makes for an event that is visible throughout the entire city.

This years event saw 2500 designers present their work across almost 100 locations.

Personally my interest in these events is always on the work that takes design beyond just its form and focuses on an idea, solving a problem or helping us to look at the mundane differently. I think an open and innocent mind is always essential at events like this. The hustle and bustle mixed with a visual overload of content can be overwhelming at times, it’s often the quieter corners and locations that give you a bit more time and head space to absorb.

I found the Strijp area of the city the most interesting, with its mix of industrial and temporary architecture making for a more stripped back setting that helped to elevate the rawness of the work. This was really reflected nicely by the atmosphere also. The hum of visitors young and old, drinking a coffee in the courtyard spaces outside or meandering through the Klokgebouw made for an event that is extremely well organised, well planned and enjoyable to experience.

If there is a criticism I have for the event it is perhaps the slightly over commercialised element to some locations. The Piet Hein Eek Strijp R location for example felt more about selling ‘design stuff’ rather than an exhibition of design. But that said I understand the need for a commercial side to help fund such a large event.

On reflection I thoroughly enjoyed my day at Dutch Design Week. It’s a very well organised event with a huge amount of content to absorb, a day really is not enough. It’s a big stage for young talent and for the ideas or designs that really shone their work has a bright future. Which perhaps brings me to my final point but also the most important. The work itself. There always seems to be a trend in execution at graduate shows. It was the same when I graduated in 2004, then it was all about making a glossy 3D render of what you had designed. Now it’s can you 3D print it or make it VR? As always it’s the smart or slightly poetic thinking that stands out the most. Seeing a robot or wearing some goggles is pretty cool but the content and story of your idea will always shine beyond its medium.