2007
Return to Shanghai, Jingdezhen &Tangshan for work period with Chinese designers to set up a project and bridge ideas.
June - September 2007
2006
Lecture Dutch Room in Creative China
Participation to build creative bridge and awareness. speakers like NEXT Architects and also myself. I was asked to present my experience and plans concerning China and Design/Ceramics.
Organized by Mattmo & Vide
2007
Workingvisit with factory in Tangshan
An enthusiast relationship as base to design and work together on a new collection bone china with a great company. Setting up a project about lighting, social engagement and bridging cultures.
2007
Presentations Jingdezhen and Tangshan
A talk about my work / ideas, provoking creativity and supported with a film locally made. August- September
2006
Blog
For the site www.design.nl , I wrote 5 days a blog about my start at Royal Collage of Art in London 8/10
2006
Radio
Interview at Dutch radio station Amsterdam about my work trip to China and my experiences with young artists Chinese Radio Amsterdam, 4-6-’06 / kabel FM 104.6
2005/6
On own initiative and driven by curiosity I created a concept and contacts in China to discover the deeper layer behind ceramics and design. Several months working in the winter of China
2004
The collection Dutch Disturbance was made at the Royal Delft Blue factory The Porceleyne Fles at Delft. A few months exploring in the factory to learn the processes myself and find the rich history of Delft Blue to create my new work in the factory itself.
2008
Film Light Up
Working on a project in Tangshan with Asianera to work with hands and minds, thinkers and makers to value a new perspective on cultural bridging bringing this together in short film for Constant Stream China exhibition.
2008
Book Hands and Minds
My work in China between 2005 and 2008 made itself visual in the form of a book Hands and Minds, a visual journey about thinking, perspective and cultural abilities.
2008
Article
For the site www.design.nl , I wrote about the Slow Loket by slowLab during the Freedesigndom in Amsterdam.
Have a read !
2008
Interior
In October Culturbal started again in Amsterdam, a networking event where business meet culture.
For this event we created with a diverse team an interior atmosphere to invite conversation.
2008
Clinic Expand the Expectations
Never loose your expectations of design! Begin November I facilitated a clinic with design students about expecting and expanding our view on design and social engagement.
‘Design, a tool not for an audience but for humanity’
‘Design is more the physical form, it’s an active mind ! ’
‘Expand your design dialogue for modelling change. ’
2008
Workshop Slow Streams
In Amsterdam I was facilitating a workshop with the audience to capture streams of public imagination about Slow Design.
The weekend of 11 October, NY-based organisation slowLab was part of a Freedesigndom event in the Oude Kerk in Amsterdam and unveiled the first Slow Loket to create a resource for Slow Design information and inspiration.
With myself being active for Slow design and as a slowLab member this was a great opportunity to engage with the audience. Members of the public are encouraged to contribute to accumulative stream of ideation and discussion.
The Slow Loket let the audience explore new meanings of the term 'Slow,' which is not merely related to slow food, being 'green' or recycling materials, but rather which explores an activism in how we can approach design beyond the boundaries.
During this weekend I contributed by facilitating a Slow Stream workshop, presenting China project and showing a selection of ceramic China project work.
The combination of work, showing documentaries and having conversation with the audience created a good vibe to discuss design and its meaning. Visitors had the opportunity to explore their views
on Slow in the rolling workshops and open microphone sessions.
At the heart of these activities and also the Slow Stream workshop are slowLab's principles to give a guideline to people to understand, inspire and explore Slow Design.
These Principles are set out in 6 different principle words; Evolve, Engage, Reflect, Participate, Expand, Reveal. These are guidelines to inspire new ways of work in and outside design.
This weekend was a good moment to interact with a wide audience and let them have ownership of what Slow means. In the workshop people could respond to these 6 principles and reflect their words combined with their age, sex and profession on a post-it and place this on the wall between the principles where they felt it should belong.
By activate the audience itself we can now work with the real thoughts that people have.
Slow Design is not just a word blowing by as hype but a meaningful layer embedded in design & life and should be able to inspire our mentality in engagement with our world.
www.slowlab.net/slow_design.html
2008
Empower
Interesting discussions are crossing the table these days. Subjects stirring the air about empowering people. Expanding our understanding and expectations of design.
Conversations about giving people design back as a tool. To open up, to evolve and to empower them self and their community. Some friends I speak with in product design, urban & photography all feel the strong link to human relationships again.
It’s a strong subject in my beliefs as work as a designer, that people are able to empower their capabilities and move forward. Is design becoming a caretaker again?
Being responsible. When we empower ourselves, we can start to connect and create new levels in community and daily lives. Design, a tool not for a select audience but for humanity.
[ you are here, but why? ]
2008
Constant Stream
Part of the CHINA NOW program is the Constant Stream exhibition at the RCA in London opening this Friday 9th May. My work about a new upcoming project in China will be shows by film and a exciting group of people have been set together for a promising exhibition. An exhibition that aims to stimulate not only dialogue between China and other cultures, but also between disciplines such as architecture, art and design, in order to provoke debate, raise social awareness and improve understanding.
Highlights of the exhibition will include Hong Kong artist anothermountainman, whose redwhiteblue exhibit was one of the highlights of the 2005 Venice Biennale. For Constant Stream the artist is showing his latest project, the Lanwei series. This involves images of buildings that Nitta subvert our expectations of how people can interact with architecture.
O Zhang, who graduated from the RCA in 2004, is one of China’s most lauded photographers. Her work can be found in many of the world’s leading collections, including the Guggenheim. With her critically acclaimed series of family portraits Daddy and I, O Zhang forces viewers to confront their biases and stereotypes.
Dutch ceramic designer Judith van den Boom spent several months working in China from 2005 onwards. The project Light Up has its roots in a relationship that began then, the cultural exchange between ideas and mind, abilities and people coming together in a exhilarating design project that marries innovation and technique, tradition and style.
Exhibition period
10th May to 15th May 2008
Chief Curator
Dr Yanki Lee
2009
Slow Investigation Oberlin
A great group of students from various design related disciplines and their two faculty members Susan and Don from Oberlin College (USA) came to have a two intense work weeks in Amsterdam based at Lloyds hotel who gave all public space for interaction. The weeks were set up with full program learning and working the principles of slow design as how slowLab has defined them.
The program was lead by Carolyn Strauss and joined by myself, Aafke van Essen & Alastair Fuad-Luke. On program were lots of visits to related projects and meeting Dutch design students.
Also talks hosted by designers like Ed van Hinte, Butterfly- works and a visit to the Time Foundation set up by Louis Le Roy
The end goal was to bring the slow design approach back to the Oberlin campus in Ohio and link it to the already vibrant interest in sustainability and environmental responsibility that is flourishing there.
The participants are eager to continue their dialogue and Meeting the Other in a new and sustainable way.
It was exciting to see and sense a cultural exchange in discussion and looking into the deeper needs and views on design and environment.
Meeting the other, reflect and revisit to expand the possibilities of sustainable participation. These 2 weeks Exchange of ideas and meeting the other are fundament for a great attitude for change
Never loose your expectations and always expand your possibilities in who you are as designer. Empowering the personal qualities of new generation with a view on human centered design.
Thanks for the support of 2nd year, your an exploring group! host design shop Coming Soon & Artez , Arnhem (NL)
The Slow Loket provided an intimate space for personal interaction with the audience through workshop, films and presentations.
There was also a selection of project work of slowLab network members like Julia Mandle (USA) a performance artist who works with clothing, body and context to activate public awareness, or Marie Ilse
Bourlanges (FR) who created the project ‘Decay’ to explore how traces of use can be embedded in textile.
2009
Active thinking
A period of looking into empowering each other, design activism, slow values and a new personal focus for creating ideas on the design practise. Start off teaching with the product design students from Academy of Art & Design in Arnhem.
2009
Ways of Working
Moving beyond your borders. Re-thinking your ways of working. What is happening in design, in our locality, how can your own ways of working contribute in new ways to designing. Last thursday we facilitated a clinic with BA product design students about expanding work ways in design by crossing borders and stimulating other approaches of design work.
Host design shop Coming Soon & Artez , Arnhem (NL) www.comingsoonarnhem.nl
2010
Work period China
We returned to Jingdezhen for intensive work period for new body of work that will be exhibited in Berlin in 2010. We are busy with a new exciting project stretching up the material and work experiences. Working with local craftsmanship and writing / documenting for the new line of work. Several other work project are coming along on through these months. For more info please contact.
2010
Re-think Design
A new term period of looking into bringing design into a new perspective of engaging with its function, space, public on a location outside the daily academie structure.
The teaching series on Re-thinking design is this time focussed on Engaging in new ways, new perspectives connected to personal interpretations with a group of enthousiast product design students from Academy of Art & Design in Arnhem. The work the students do is participating with a Slowlab project on location. More info soon & thanks for the enthousiasm of PD2 and Carolyn Strauss.