Monocle producer and journalist Aled John was in Eindhoven last week to take a close look on Dutch Design. He sat down with Thomas Widdershoven to talk about the Graduation Show and his take on this years’ edition.
Book instead of catalogue
Although Thomas explains not deliberately wanting to make changes to the Graduation Show, he says he does change things along the way. The traditional catalogue, for example, has become more like a book. Thomas: “We made the catalogue more tactile, and we offered graduates the possibility of adding reference images. As we ask our students to really make something tangible here, we also made a book more than a catalogue, in the most professional way.”
See the results, and then look beyond them
Aled John is curious if the theme ‘Self Unself’ was given to the graduates or if Thomas came up with the theme after seeing the projects. Thomas: “It is not my role to give students a theme to work with. This show, for me, focuses very strongly on results. It shows what students eventually make. But it also shows the source, the personal motive that started the project, the Self. And it shows the aim, it shows the big issue behind a sometimes small project. The Unself. So, I ask visitors to look beyond the results.”
Martijn Paulen: “As the Dutch designer goes abroad, Dutch Design Week opens the borders.”
In the same Monocle Radio Show, Aled John also speaks to Martijn Paulen, the new director of Dutch Design Week Eindhoven. What makes Dutch design Dutch? Martijn Paulen replies by saying that he opened the borders a little more this year. “The Dutch are famous for crossing borders. It’s a small country, so we’re used to look over country borders. Dutch designers often work abroad. So, this year we opened the dialogue: what are you doing in Taipei, what happens in Istanbul?”
Listen to the full radio broadcast on the Monocle website.