Reduction of environmental impact and the study of alternative materials for the making of design objects are just some of the proposals for the future presented at Eindhoven from 22 to 30 October during Dutch Design Week (DDW).
The event will shed light on a design approach that is evolving to respond to the growing demand for flexible spaces, while the excessive consumption that has been an earmark of our time leads to an inevitable assessment of the value we attribute to the objects around us.
Since 1998 this has been the key northern European showcase for contemporary designers; DDW is expected to welcome over 350,000 visitors to its 110 destinations around the city, with exhibitions, happenings and conference, with a total of 2600 designers with works on view.
This year’s edition stands out for the presence of many Italian projects focusing on sustainability, from “Nuovomondo” by Martina Taranto, which explores the characteristics of the fiber taken from prickly pear cacti as an alternative material for the future, to the exhibition by Gabriele Cavallaro “No Space for Waste,” featuring functioning design pieces made with discarded materials and products.
There are great expectations for the projects of Formafantasma, the design duo founded in 2009 by Andrea Trimarchi and Simone Farresin, exponents of holistic design thinking and the creation of “total works.” Working in the Netherlands for many years (the duo has an office in Milan and a studio in Rotterdam), the two designers are the ambassadors of DDW, alongside the creative director Miriam van der Lubbe.
“The studio Formafantasma creates unique works of great conceptual force, often by poetically translating their vision into expressive, straightforward operations,” says Van der Lubbe. “Their creations included in collections all over the world. Andrea Trimarchi and Simone Farresin have a unique ability to collaborate with leading brands on the basis of their own independent ideas. They are motors of talent development and they are not afraid to approach issues of social urgency.” For DDW, the designer have worked on exhibitions, sharing the theme “Get Set: We’re on a mission” to enliven the Klokgebouw building and the Ketelhuisplein square in Eindhoven.
