1/4 : DutchDFA presents Year Report 2009

Dutch Design Fashion Architecture (DutchDFA) presented its first Year Report ‘1/4’ at the STC in Rotterdam on April 9, 2010. A year after the launch of the four-year programme for the international promotion of Dutch design, it was time to look back on the achievements so far and look forward to the plans for the future.

After moderator Farid Tabarki officially welcomed the 200 attending guests, Frans Timmermans delivered a keynote speech on the cultural and economical significance of the DutchDFA programme for the Dutch creative industries and for the (inter)national perception of the potential of The Netherlands. He emphasised the fact that the open character of the Dutch educational system is a key to defining a new identity and learning from others offers us the ability to adapt to different cultures and offer solutions to a changing environment.

The achievements and further potential really came to life when Ole Bouman (director Netherlands Architecture Institute), Daryl van Wouw (fashion designer, partly based in Shanghai) and Bart Hofstede (Cultural attaché at the Dutch embassy in Berlin) shared their opinions and experiences with the audience.

In a series of interactive presentations, participants in DutchDFA projects in China, India and Germany talked about their experience of the past year and their plans for the upcoming year and discussed the ins and outs of intercultural exchange and discovering business opportunities on the international design market. A selection of Dutch Profiles, a series of video documentaries on Dutch designers, was presented on flat screens at the venue throughout the morning.

Programme director Christine de Baan concluded the presentation with a peek into the future plans of DutchDFA. After an eventful first year with an interesting learning curve, the DutchDFA partners are ready to further strengthen their cross disciplinary collaboration and to fully exploit the opportunities this joined-up approach offers for the positioning of Dutch design.

A digital version of the Year Report is available on the Programme section of the website. Hard copies are available on request, by sending an e-mail to the Programme Office: info@dutchdfa.nl.

Watch the 6 minute summary of the event here: