DOEN | Materiaalprijs 2011
Press release:
The DOEN | Materiaalprijs promotes the use of sustainable and innovative materials in art and design. Visual artists, designers, fashion designers and architects are challenged to come up with ways of using new, sustainable materials and pioneering techniques in their work. 2011 marks the third successive edition of the prize, and reveals that cutting-edge design and sustainability go hand in hand with aesthetic appeal and functionality. From the 70 submissions received this year, a panel of experts have selected sixteen designs. The projects will be displayed at the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven during Dutch Design Week (from 22 to 30 October). A specialist jury will announce the two prize-winners during the opening day of Dutch Design Week.
Diversity and innovation
Artists, designers and architects are always breaking new ground and thinking up ways of using new materials to create exciting, eco-friendly designs. This year, the third edition of the DOEN | Materiaalprijs places particular emphasis on a vast array of new materials and applications.
Waterloop by Studio Maarten Kolk & Guus Kusters not only results in eye-catching textiles, but in a process by which the fabric absorbs residual water, eliminating polluted waste water. Their design is a huge step forward for the textile branch, one of the biggest polluters of water in the world.
And then there’s Lenneke Langenhuijsen’s Wooden Textiles, a project that represents the culmination of lengthy research carried out in the Pacific where tree bark is processed to produce blankets. Langenhuijsen hopes the project will offer insights into ways of creating textiles from European tree bark, opening up methods of using a new raw material that has so far only been seen as a waste product.
Season Change by Anouk Vogel & Mattijs van Bergen is a frock devised out of used bicycle inner tubes; each tubing section is actually an individual vase, transforming the dress into a wearable floral display. The end result is a conceptual garment, a display object that both advocates sustainability and critiques the rapidly changing, disposable trends of the fashion industry. Its ever-changing floral presentationmakes the garment truly a dress for all seasons and a bold design statement in its own right.
Tjeerd Veenhoven’s PalmLeather, made from the leaves of the Areca palm from India, and which possesses qualities akin to leather, is an idea that can be put into large-scale production. The slippers he made out of it are durable and inexpensive – affordable to even the world’s poorest, with only 2 dollars’ disposable income a day.
These design ideas and countless other new materials such as Integral Foamed Concrete by Jacob Alkema, are just some of the incredibly diverse proposals submitted for the DOEN | Materiaalprijs this year. This year’s nomination panel comprised
- Max Bruinsma (editor-in-chief Items Magazine),
- Jeroen Bergsma (architect, 2012Architecten),
- Maria Roosen (visual artist),
- Hebe Verstappen (creative leader of TextielLab, Audax Textielmuseum Tilburg) and
- Simone de Waart (founder and director of Material Sense).
Exhibition and award ceremony during Dutch Design Week
The exhibition of the nominated designs during Dutch Design Week in the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven is a strong platform for introducing experimental developments in sustainable design. The DOEN | Materiaalprijs awards two prizes: one of 15,000 euro for a final design and an incentive prize of 5,000 euro for a concept that has not yet been put into production. The expert jurors of the DOEN | Materiaalprijs are Charles Esche (director of the Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven), Ineke Hans (designer) and Dorine Putman-Devilee (sustainability expert, ASN Bank). The jury will select the two winners in September, and announce the winning entries on the opening day of Dutch Design Week, on 22 October 2011 in the Van Abbemuseum.
Initiators
The DOEN | Materiaalprijs is a joint initiative of the Materiaalfonds voor Beeldende Kunst en Vormgeving and Stichting DOEN (DOEN Foundation). Both organisations believe that artists and designers have a decisive role to play in shaping a sustainable world
Materiaalfonds
The Materiaalfonds provides visual artists, designers, fashion designers and architects with interest-free loans to cover the expenses of various artistic projects or productions. The aim of the fund is to stimulate the financial and economic independence of creative professionals and to promote new developments in art and design. The fund has a particular interest in encouraging experimentation with materials, innovative technologies and the sustainable use of materials.
Stichting DOEN
Stichting DOEN is committed to shaping a liveable world in which everyone has a part to play. DOEN is looking for pioneers and change-makers; people committed to improving the environment, and to buildingan open, cohesive society. With financial support from the BankGiro Loterij, DOEN is able to back a variety of innovative cultural activities, of which the DOEN | Materiaalprijs is an excellent example
