Since about twenty years, the Dutch design magazine Items annually visits all graduation shows of design schools in the Netherlands and Belgian Flanders. A huge operation for a small magazine involving dozens of schools, a host of reviewers and tight logistics — graduation shows typically last only a few days, all within the time frame of a few weeks. A total of hundreds of suggestions by our scouts is then assembled by Items‘ editorial staff and reviewed for final selection by a jury of Items‘ editors reinforced by specialists from various design disciplines. In three meetings, focusing on product and interior design, graphic and digital design, and fashion, textile and jewelry design respectively, the final selection of between 50 and 70 graduation projects is made. Published in the magazine’s fall issue, this selection represents the debut of the best and brightest young Dutch design talents of the year.
Over the past decades, Items has been able to organize occasional collaboratory exhibitions with the annual graduation selection, but 2012 saw the first dedicated exhibition of what we now term ITEMS Dutch Design Graduates. In the impressive Machine Hall at the center of Dutch Design Week in Eindhoven — the Netherlands’ main annual design event — a selection of 36 Dutch Design Graduates was shown to an audience of 15.000 visitors in 8 days.
Items, in collaboration with its partners, is committed to making the annual graduation show a central feature of design’s public agenda in the Netherlands — a high-profile podium for young and upcoming Dutch design talent. Over the years, we intend to develop this website as an archive of our yearly selection. With this, a database documenting the start of many Dutch design careers will be established. A future reference for Dutch design’s continuing vibrancy.
ITEMS DUTCH DESIGN GRADUATES 2012
What is space? What is material? What is fabric? What is looking? These are basic questions during the professional education of young artists and designers. And some students focus on these questions throughout their entire training — and long afterward. Still, this year the number of graduation projects in which these basics more or less form the main subject is remarkable. A space dealing with the materiality of space; a chair shedding new light on the making of a chair; a fabric deriving its pattern from the way dirt affects textile; a collection of images that thematizes the effect of collecting images in the media… Consider it a sign of a growing reflexivity of design. Design as an inquisitive eye on reality.
2012’s crop of young Dutch designers consists of 68 graduation projects, of which 36 were shown at the Dutch Design Graduates exhibition in Eindhoven. On this site, and on the iPad app that accompanies it, you can browse trough the complete selection.
Max Bruinsma
Editor
ITEMS Design magazine
ITEMS Design Magazine
For over 30 years, Items has been the leading design magazine in the Netherlands. With an archive of 175 issues since 1982, Items represents three decades of development in design as cultural activity, both nationally and internationally. Covering all design disciplines, from product-, interior- and graphic design to digital design and fashion, Items has been a critical and reflective medium for both professionals and aficionados.
In 2013, Items will be reassessing its position as both a magazine and a platform for debate and reflection on design. Items will change – but it won’t go away. Please check Items’ website, Facebook page, twitter feed, and newsletter to stay informed about where we’re going. We’d love you to join our adventure!
Tel: +31 (0)20 – 682 9479
E-mail: info@items.nl
Web: www.items.nl
Facebook: www.facebook.com/itemsmagazine
ITEMS DUTCH DESIGN GRADUATES 2012
Items design magazine’s annual selection of the best graduation projects from design schools in the Netherlands and Belgian Flanders. The complete selection is published in Items 4/5 2012 and the accompanying iPad app, and was exhibited at the Machinekamer (Strijp-S area) in Eindhoven during Dutch Design Week,
20 – 28 October, 2012.
CURATORS
Items, Design Magazine
www.items.nl
SELECTION DUTCH DESIGN
GRADUATES 2012 BY
Bart Baccarne
Max Bruinsma
Pao Lien Djie
Timothy Helmer
Barbara Hennequin
Niels ’t Hooft
Jeremy Jansen
Peter van Kester
Dennis Koot
Anka Kresse
Rob van den Nieuwenhuizen
Roelien Plaatsman
Chris Reinewald
Marie-Leen Ryckaert
Robbert van Strien
Eugène van Veldhoven
Chris Vermaas
Marc Vlemmings
Tjallien Walma van der Molen
Carlo Wijnands
DESIGN SCHOOLS NETHERLANDS
ABKM, Maastricht
AHK – Theaterschool, Amsterdam
Amsterdam Fashion Institute
ArtEZ, Arnhem
ArtEZ, Enschede
ArtEZ, Zwolle
ArtEZ – Werkplaats Typografie, Arnhem
De Haagse Hogeschool, Den Haag
Design Academy Eindhoven
Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Amsterdam
Hogeschool voor de Kunsten Utrecht
Jan van Eyck Academie, Maastricht
KABK, Den Haag
NHTV, Breda
No Academy
Sint Joost, Breda
Sint Joost, Den Bosch
Willem de Kooning Academie, Rotterdam
DESIGN SCHOOLS BELGIUM
Artesis Hogeschool, Antwerpen
Media & Design Academie, Hasselt
Media & Design Academie, Genk
Hogeschool West-Vlaanderen, Kortrijk
KASK, Gent
Lessius Academie, Mechelen
Sint Lucas Hogeschool, Antwerpen
Sint Lucas Hogeschool, Gent
Sint Lucas Hogeschool, Brussel
Stedelijke Academie voor Schone Kunsten, Hasselt
MAGAZINE DESIGN
& ART DIRECTION
Almanak (Barbara Hennequin, Jeremy Jansen, Rob van den Nieuwenhuizen)
WEBSITE DESIGN
& PROGRAMMING
Almanak
Micha Bakker (Hexaplex)
EXHIBITION DESIGN
Almanak
denieuwegeneratie
APP DEVELOPMENT
& APP DESIGN
LUST
(Download free app for iPad)
Thank you
ITEMS Design Magazine 4/5 is still for sale online!
This issue contains 152 pages, 4 different kinds of paper, a foil blocked cover
(2 different ones, actually) and is offset printed in full colour entirely.
Buy ITEMS Magazine 4/5 2012 Dutch Design Graduates
Note: printed version is available in Dutch only.