Delighted by Dutch Design
Irwin Weiner ASID - If your eye for design isn't yet trained on The Netherlands, let me encourage you to give Dutch design a trial. You won't be sorry. Clean, crisp, eclectic, and visually witty, the new wave of Dutch products, interior design, commercial spaces, fashion, and graphics is a pleasure.
We Americans are now comfortable with mid-century modern and the Scandinavian design ethos, we've grown accustomed to sleek and masculine Italian design, and we're so-so (but getting used to) French design - and global designers are starting to feel more warm and fuzzy towards Americans, too.
But back to Dutch design. Here is a culture, not unlike the Italian and French, where people celebrate and appreciate beauty in design. They support it, honor it, and aspire to evolving design and playing it forward, far into the future. I share the following websites with the hope that you too might enjoy the pleasures of a truly coherent body of contemporary design.
- Design.nl - A newsletter with articles that show the latest from a wide range of designed goods. You'll find a nice overview of the design scene here.
- Dutch Design Week - It's become a big design happening, considering how small a nation this is, but over 250,000 people participated in 2013.
- Dutch Design Year - An online catalog and shopping site, you'll find everything there from furniture to lighting.
- Dutch Design Awards - Again, we're talking multiple categories, from fashion to interior design and products. Click around the site and check out current competition finalists and past Hall of Fame winners.
- Dutch Design Only - You'll have a great time browsing and shopping on DDO for home goods online at this little Dutch treat of an e-commerce site!
- Droog - The design group credited with launching the modern Dutch design missile, this product collective is always full of surprises, and constantly winning international design awards.
- Moooi - This is the group that also helped put Dutch home goods on the map, by featuring prominent designers and small design co-ops. Many of the products Moooi has marketed are now contemporary classics.
