by nanci tangeman

Invasion of the They’re everywhere! They’re everywhere! Like some B-movie invasion, Dutch designers seem to have con- quered the world. There’s no place to hide (they’re in Dutch our wardrobes and our pedal bins!) and no place to esıgners run (they’ve taken control from Las Vegas to Gdansk). D The only choice is to pull on a pair of G-Star jeans and

a MEXX tee shirt, lie back on your Tejo Remy chair, pop marcel wanders open a Grolsch in a Swingtop bottle – and surrender. jurgen bey

designer in the world’ according to icon bible on Dutch design, False Flat: Why offices to the boarders on the half pipe On weekends, this temple to design is Magazine. BMW, Vitra, Cappellini and Dutch design is so good. He knows what when it was constructed a few years ago. packed with style-conscious locals; during marcel wanders Maharam all have Dutch designers work- he’s talking about. the week, in-the-know tourists file in, ing for them. Of course, there’s more to the story than quickly folding their maps, trying to look And (dare we take this horror-movie ‘Both the environment and objects are a swamp. There are centuries of govern- hip. It’s the place to find out, first-hand, metaphor one step further?) there are designed with more care here – every- ment policies and the social welfare why Dutch design is so important. even giant blobs ‘attacking’ in the form thing from tax forms to stamps to the system and many other forces at work. of Kas Oosterhuis’ building projects. roads and cities. This comes from the Along the way they brought us guilder ‘I think it’s because we have the right cli- country having deliberate policies to notes that blossomed in bright sunflow- mate,’ say Dick Dankers, founder of Nobody is safe! The invasion is complete. cover these things, and I speculate here, ers, postage stamps that were more works Frozen Fountain. ‘We Dutch have always from this being an artificial country.’ of art than commerce, the first industrial been open to new influences and so have It came from Outer Space: Or did it? Because it started from a swamp. designers (at Philips), bloated postal Road- a natural openness to new designs.’ Looking at designs by Dutch architects runner bike carriers, Gerrit Rietveld’s that have ‘landed’ recently – the Mezz When you create every square meter of Red/Blue chair, Gispen’s tubular steel Dankers laughs about the British design Pop Center in (Erick van Egeraat), land, you’re careful about how you use it, furniture, the CD player – and that’s just store Habitat’s attempted romance with for instance, or the ING Group headquar- what you build on it, and what you use the short list! Amsterdammers. ‘When Habitat came ters in (Meyer en Van while you live on it. here, they were selling the same glass for The invasion is complete. There are no MEXX. Oilily. Laundry Industry. Viktor & Schooten) – it seems like this Dutch Cut to the chase? Today we have a 6 guilders that HEMA sold for 1.50. The more battlegrounds. Dutch designers Rolf. Gsus. invasion came by way of outer space. That mainstay of Dutch society, the polder worldwide invasion of Dutch design. Dutch wouldn’t put up with that. In the have conquered the world on all fronts. They’ve infiltrated our offices, our But in truth – it emerged from a swamp. model – everyone working together; every- US or UK, HEMA would be a top design They’ve taken control of our buildings (at homes, our restaurants, our museums, one happy when they leave the bargaining Take us to your leaders store. Here? It’s just HEMA.’ least their design) and neighbourhoods: and every design headline: Hella ‘The whole country was designed, just in table – also stemmed from these muddy To pay homage to contemporary Dutch Las Vegas’ Guggenheim Museum (Rem Jongerius has commissions ranging from order to inhabit and use it. So I think we roots. It’s a valuable system for deciding design, start with industrial design and But Dankers’ Frozen Fountain is anything Koolhaas/OMA); low-income housing Ikea to the Museum of Modern Art in take more care.’ Aaron Betsky says he’s how land is to be used, according to home décor. In Amsterdam, there are but HEMA. For over two decades, the outside of Madrid (MVRDV); a new mas- New York. Piet Hein Eek collaborates on hypothesizing, but you have to give him Betsky. An example: the Skatepark Blaak, two mandatory stops. First: The Frozen store has featured self-producing (prima- terplan for Gdansk, (Mecanoo). Conran restaurants in and his some credit. He is, after all, the director a skateboard park on the southern edge of Fountain, a bright orange storefront on rily Dutch) designers and craftspeople. A furniture is sold (and collected) around of the Institute , that seemed to satisfy every- the Prinsengracht that could easily be tour through the store is a tour through They’re hiding in our closets: G-Star. the world. Marcel Wanders is, the ‘hottest in Rotterdam. And he did co-write the one from the workers in the adjoining mistaken for an ice cream store. the top names in Dutch industrial design.

4 april/may 2006 roundabout roundabout april/may 2006 5 Seeing is believing What’s the best way to appreciate what’s around you? Here are ten tips to discovering Dutch design: 1. ‘Get on a bicycle. It’s the best way to see the country. Walking is too slow and a car is too fast. Bicycling allows you to see the country in motion, in time, and appreciate it. The cities are designed by manipulating and using

piet hein eek space. The Amsterdam Zuid areas where the housing blocks stretch out along the streets, but the corners have ornaments – there’s almost a theatrical drama when all these buildings are massed together,’ says Aaron Betsky of Netherlands Architecture Institute in Rotterdam. 2. Fill out your tax form. Get on a yellow and blue train and trundle through the green meadows. Admire a postal work- onl (oosterhuis & lénárd) jurgen bey er riding by on a red Roadrunner, then post a letter with a butterfly stamp designed by Irma Boom. One of the most The metal cases that line the store are by home textiles company in the US, com- bathroom after a shower. Today Droog walk. (Not to mention a change of cloth- made design by the Dutch more remarkable aspects of Dutch culture is how many of the Piet Hein Eek, better known for his furni- missioned work from her. It’s the same in Design has a growing range of ‘afford- ing from MEXX, G-Star, Laundry Industry, liberating. If you are confined by a objects, images and spaces one encounters every day have ture made from wrecked wood. ‘The cases Tokyo and , where she was design- able’ products, such as the best-selling Gsus or Mart Visser!) legacy, it doesn’t allow you to look been designed. Notice. look like they could have been made in er of the year.’ Despite this alleged lack of Strap, by NL Architects, a style diva’s at fashion as something that is 3. Visit a VINEX location. The Dutch government decided with 1910, but they fit into 2006,’ says fame in her home country, Jongerius’ answer to the bungee cord. Even with all the big names dropping solely contemporary.’ the VINEX Program to build around 750,000 homes Dankers. ‘Piet connects to the big Dutch Nymphenburg Sketches have just been into closets around the world, Dutch between 1995 and 2015 in newly invented compact cities. designers before the war. He picks up acquired by the Stedelijk Museum in Bakker explained in icon Magazine this fashion design is not as prolific as Dutch And from James Veenhof and Steve Says Betsky, ‘This is one of the few attempts in the world their traditions, but not consciously.’ Amsterdam. year: ‘We want to make design more industrial, home or architectural design. TePas, founders of Amsterdam to design sprawl. The Dutch have said that sprawl is hap- normal. You make something more Still, it has its fans. International Fashion Week: ‘Where pening, so what are we going to do about it? See how Inside Eek’s cabinet is a vase by Marcel There’s no question about designer normal when it is accessible to people. and represent the tradi- they’re weaving new buildings with meadows and dense Wanders. Its shape was formed by placing Jurgen Bey’s Dutch fame. He won the Not only the top people.’ ‘I defy any woman from Milan, Paris, New tional couture industry, Amsterdam housing and civic monuments and schools. This is not eggs inside a condom. Dankers trots over Prince Bernhard Culture Fund Award for York or LA to brave the weather on a bicy- offers a younger more dynamic something that is done elsewhere.’ Ypenburg is a typical to his computer to show me another Applied Arts and Architecture last year. Attack of the architects! cle and look as good as a Dutch woman alternative. There is room here for location. www.archex.info. Wanders design: the snotty vase. ‘He And, as for Job Smeets, of Studio Job (also The nation that gave us Amsterdam does,’ says Victor Portes, who has just put new ideas and fresh thinking.’ 4. Be a fashion spotter. ‘Look and you start finding things you filmed people sneezing in slow motion featured at the Stedelijk), says Dankers: School Architecture now gives us marvel- together a book about the Dutch fashion don’t see in London or New York or Paris,’ says Victor and then created a mould that duplicated ‘Job is somewhere in between art and lous creations that have to be seen to be industry. Called Dutch Catwalk: An Overview And as Portes puts it, himself: Portes of Dutch Catwalk. ‘The casual denim, trainers and the shape,’ he explains. Most people design. His work has a sense of humour believed. /OMA completed of the Dutch Fashion Industry, the book ‘There is a lot of creative DNA in scarves. The forbidden combinations. If you start to really would be more apt to recognize Wanders’ to it. I asked him why he’d made a can- the Seattle Central Library in 2004; covers the entire fashion industry: the Netherlands. Being internation- look, you’ll definitely see a lot of interesting things.’ lighting (a one-way mirror shade encom- dleholder oversized. He said, “You know MaxWan has developed a master plan for design, logistics, branding, modelling. al is also part of the Dutch DNA. 5. See what the Stedelijk has recently added to its collection passing a crystal chandelier) or his knot- how when you make something little and the Barking Thames Gateway area in There is a benefit to the Nether- and hear the designers, themselves, talk about their craft. ted chair, both handled through his com- everyone thinks it’s cute? When I hold London; and architects around the world ‘Fashion is an entire ecosystem; design is lands being the gateway to .’ Spotting, Recent Acquisitions: Objects of Craft and Design. pany, Moooi. Wanders’ latest? The Happy this candleholder next to me, I look tiny copy the Kas Oosterhuis blob style that just one part of that,’ says Portes. Dutch To appreciate that you just have to Until May 21. www.Stedelijk.nl. Hour chandelier, which features a live and everyone thinks I’m cute!’’’ Dankers spawned the 1.5km long acoustical barri- Catwalk is a goldmine of opinion from look at the intimate wear of Marlies 6. Visit The Frozen Fountain, Prinsengracht 645, Amsterdam. person and several bottles of liquor sus- smiles. ‘You know what? He was right!’ er, The Hessing Cockpit, along the A2. some of the top names in fashion. What Dekkers; what Hans Ubbink is Tel: 020-622 93 75 and Droog Design, Staalstraat 7a, pended from above. do they have to say about Dutch design? doing with denim; and the skate- Amsterdam, Tel. 020-523 50 50. It came from planet Droog But it’s not just the brick and mortar boarder brand, Gsus (say it aloud to 7. Participate in design: Dutch Design Week 2006 is in You won’t find the Happy Hour chandelier A sense of humour takes us to the other (or steel or glass or aluminium) that are ‘Dutch fashion is about independence. appreciate its crown of thorns logo). Eindhoven, October 21 – 29. www.dutchdesignweek.nl at Frozen Fountain, but you will find a stop on our design pilgrimage: Droog translating to foreign drafting tables. It’s about having an individual style. ‘You couldn’t have a brand like that 8. Check out the Centraal Museum in , including the complete area devoted to the oldest compa- Design, on the Staalstraat in Amsterdam. ‘The ways of actually working have been Historically, Dutch artists like Van Gogh, just anywhere.’ largest Rietveld collection and collections of applied art, ny in the Netherlands, Koninklijke Tichelaar worked out here in Holland,’ says Betsky. Rietveld or Mondriaan have always had fashion and design development. www.centralmuseum.nl Makkum, producing ceramics since 1594. Its Started in 1993 by Gijs Bakker and Renny ‘I visit architectural schools around the a sense of independence. This is an The only question that remains: Is 9. Celebrate 90 years of W. H. Gispen & Co., the first firm to presence illustrates an important aspect in Ramakers as a platform for contemporary world and see students working in a way element that can be seen as typical of today’s design invasion a conquest use tubular steel in furniture design. www.nai.nl and Dutch industrial design: an eagerness to Dutch design, Droog Design (the ‘droog’ that would have been considered Dutch a Dutch design. What’s coming out of the – or a liberation? www.gispen.com mix the old with the new, a kind of tradi- referring to the dry wit or unadorned few years ago.’ That polder model is Netherlands tends to be a little bit edgy 10. Read about design. The 400-page False Flat: Why Dutch tional cutting edge. style of many of the designs) has champi- emerging from the swamp again. and contains a lot of humor. At the same Invasion of the Dutch designers: design is so good (Aaron Betsky with Adam Eeuwens) is oned such Dutch icons as Tejo Remy’s time it is stripped clean of any static,’ The Sequel the obvious place to start. Irma Boom, one of the Evidence, the Koninklijke Tichelaar Milk Bottle Lamps (a dozen suspended The creature in the closet writes Geert De Rooij, cofounder of cloth- Dutch designers have given us much European Design Museum’s top designers in 2005, created Makkum partnership with top designers milk bottles), his Chest of Drawers Like any good B-movie assault, the Dutch ing company People of the Labyrinths. to appreciate – and there’s more to the gorgeous tome. To learn about the fashion industry – Hella Jongerius, Jurgen Bey and Job (several discarded drawers strapped invaders have managed to climb inside come. Dankers says to watch twin straight from the top fashion mouths: Dutch Catwalk: An Smeets. together) and Eibert Draisma’s Talking the dark closet – but this time they aren’t ‘Because in the Netherlands we don’t brothers Jeroen and Joep Verhoeven. Overview of the Dutch Fashion Industry (Edited by Victor Coffeemaker. Now their store is full of hiding. Dutch designers and brands are have a long tradition of designing, Dutch Betsky says NL Architects, SeARCH Portes, Revolving Fund Dutch Catwalk). And to discover the ‘Hella is not very well known here in the alien-looking products that elicit a chuck- on the High Streets – and on the backs fashion is much more uninhibited than bv, BAR, S333 Studio for creative side of Amsterdam, including many design-orient- Netherlands,’ says Dankers. ‘But in New le, as well as an ‘ah ha!’ like the terry of the most A-list of dressers: Cora fashion in traditional clothing-countries Architecture and Urbanism are ed venues, pick up The Amsterdam Index 2006: A Shortcut York they go mad over her. She’s had cloth Matwalk, a bathmat/slipper combo Kemperman on top; Marlies Dekkers around the world,’ writes top designer the ones to watch in architecture. to Creative Amsterdam at a newsstand near you. shows and Maharam, the most-exclusive that allows you to shuffle around the underneath and Viktor & Rolf on the cat- Hans Ubbink. ‘This lack of tradition has The assault is far from over. < (www.amsterdam-index.com).

6 april/may 2006 roundabout roundabout april/may 2006 7