i jumped on a train this morning and went off to ‘sunny’ eindhoven to attend a meeting/debate about ‘design and industry’, the presentation was well prepared and has some good speakers (amongst others tom dorresteijn, rené repko, gerbrand bas, astrid prummel and walter amerika, my old boss) but unfortunately there were almost as many people in the audience as there were on the stage so it was a bit of a timid affair… shame, it seems a lot of designers aren’t really very motivated to discuss their profession with clients or perhaps find one hour in a train too long?
eindhoven is hosting the dutch design week so i had a look around town but it somehow felt like a roadshow to show the general public how ‘design’ can make their living room and their environment look better (design is truly in danger of becoming a commodity with little relevance if this is what we have to tell the world… the general idea seems to be how can we use our talent to create more wealth, creating a better world is starting to me, to look like it needs us to be creating less wealth)
the nederlandsedesignprijzen (dutch design awards) are also being presented (or already have been by the time i post this) in the same complex this evening, which i had a ticket for, but despite the great location and the well planned exhibition hall, i decided to head off home and was back in sunny amsterdam just in time to see the sky turn red…
the exhibits were well designed (massive enlargements of the catalogue pages) and that little yellow car made from number plates me smile… now if only, all together, we could spend more time pondering our relevance for the future… it may be sunny tomorrow, i heard on the news
