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Graduation Galleries; Bicycle Stove, Florike Martens
The Design Academy Eindhoven Graduation Galleries spanned nine departments. We took our camera along to have a look at the highlights.
In the Man and Leisure section we came across Florike Martens explaining how her Bike Stove works. ‘Attach the compact trailer to the back of your bicycle and load up on the great food you will find along the way: fresh eggs and organic meat from the farm, bread from the mill. The crates at the bottom contain pans and tableware for eight and an insulated cool box with a water tap. Once you find the perfect spot for your picnic, open up the trailer, turn up the table top to the desired height, and set to work with the two calor gas cookers and the barbecue.
Mitose, Amba Molly
Amba Molly’s Mitose is ‘a system of moulds based on human cell division. She started with four products that came from two worlds; the industrial and the traditional world. A plastic bottle merged with an oil jar and a Tupperware pitcher connected with a hand-turned earthenware water jug. By dividing her moulds systematically, Amba has created sixty building blocks that can be stacked to form new products time and again.’
Table Tones, Wilco Spruijt; Precious Waste, Michelle Baggerman
Wilco Spruijt’s Table Tones was a popular attraction for people to play with at the show. Table Tones ‘is a table and a musical instrument in one. Put a glass down, tap a spoon, or drum with your fingers: each spot on the table will give off a different tone. In order to create his table, Wilco has analysed the ‘tongue drum’, one of the earliest instruments of communication created by man. He has experimented with different types of wood and the relationships between tongue, sound box, and thickness of the wood.’
Lastly from Man and Leisure, in Precious Waste, Michelle Baggerman processes used plastic bags without heating or added chemicals and has turned them into durable but fine threads to weave a new fabric. The woven product is much stronger than the original, which will considerably increase the lifespan of this material that takes so long to decompose.
Mould, Thomas Pleeging
Over in Man and Communication, Thomas Pleeging has created a vase grown from mould. ‘Mycelium (the underground part) from edible shelf fungi and oyster mushrooms was mixed with cotton fibre and put inside a mould. After a few weeks they had formed a sturdy web that would keep its shape. The design, a vase in this case, could be harvested.’
Audrey Zschüschen practices Thai boxing and her project Tjakai in Portret demonstrates the ‘diversity in age, ambition and backgrounds of the members by creating portraits in imitation leather and embroidery thread: the same materials used to create punch bags, kicking bags, boxing gloves, and shinguards.’
Tjakai in Portret, Audrey Zschüschen; Once upon a Time, Joëlle Lemmers
Joëlle Lemmers ‘has made Once upon a Time, contemporary versions of the traditional fairy tales with current events that are as cruel as the things happening in original fairy stories. She has designed a set of recognisable dolls representing everyday people, to go with them. In doing so she has linked fairy tales to hard reality: after Little Red Riding Hood was saved from the wolf who abused her, she was scarred for life, and lived unhappily ever after…’
The End of the News, Saskia Schreven
Saskia Schreven has ‘written a book in which she has reworked current affairs into surrealist tales with a grim message. In The End of the News, fear, distrust and mental illness have replaced the ghosts and giants from traditional sagas. The design, the evocative pen drawings and the traditional print are reminders of an old-fashioned picture book; the contents are contemporary.’
Mosquito Wig, Ellis Droog; Dune, Chloé Pouzoulet; Cloud Stool, Jung You Choi
On to Man and Well-Being, where Ellis Droog has created ‘Mosquito Wig, a hairy object to both move around in and hide under: a mosquito net. ‘People are vulnerable when they sleep, so I wanted to make something that would cover the bed.’ Because Droog is mainly interested in the feel and texture of hair, she went with the synthetic option. To tie the hair together, she has made a knot, which she has secured by heating it.’
Dune is a hand-knitted woollen rug designed by Chloé Pouzoulet that appears rectangular but has a soft cylindrical tube growing from the centre. The tube ‘can be rolled up to form a comfortable pillow to sit or lie down on, but you can also crawl into it. Those who find the opening and allow themselves to be pulled in will become one with the floor and fuse with the domestic landscape.’
Jung You Choi is ‘fascinated by the irregular shapes and colours of the clouds; the way they will float by separately, as little white fluffs in the sky, or the way they can suddenly gather darkly. The Cloud Stool allows you to sink down into a cloud. Each seat is unique; the shapes and hues vary as they would in real clouds. Tie them together and you will get group behaviour; all of you together, up in the clouds.’
Need of Water, Maartje Santbergen; Fusion, Sarah de Ruijter; Transformations, Camille Cortet
Maartje Santbergen’s Need of Water range makes caring for exotic ‘difficult’ plants easier. ‘The ant plant is a tropical climber. The pot offers climbing opportunities as well as a water basin to immerse the plant in once every week.’ For the staghorn fern, whose leaves cannot be touched, there is a pot with a spout to pour in the water.’
Camille Cortet’s fabrics and accessories have been inspired by ‘the qualities animals and birds have of miraculously transforming themselves: a turned-up collar will imitate the bird of paradise and a pair of tights will become like a snake’s skin.’
