This February the nucleus of Dutch Design will be explored in a new exhibition – Connecting Concepts.

Dutch Design is recognized for its so-called Dutchness, but what does that mean? The exhibition will deconstruct the intellectual framework of Dutch Design and explore the ideas that combine to create the design culture that defines the Netherlands.

The setup of the exhibition discards with tradition. The focus is not on random objects displayed alongside textbook explanations, but rather on process. This will help visitors to draw connections between the underlying ideas and principles that drive Dutch Design.

It will also help them to identify with such principles and even contribute new ones and thus a dialogue will ensue. The exhibition is flexible and new ideas and objects will be added and deleted to keep it geographically relevant and as immersed as possible in local design debates.

In the Netherlands, design has evolved into a multidisciplinary tool for change. Practitioners are open and flexible –always looking backwards and forwards with a mind for society’s reality and needs. Here, design is embraced as the start point for improvements in sustainability, technology, and communication.

The Sand Engine by Province Zuid Holland is a good example. Using a sand engine to protect a country’s man-made coastlines is unconventional. The idea does, however, directly relate to the process of building dykes and pumping away water with windmills, which began 500 years ago. Objects like this also reveal much
about the Dutch and their cheery stubbornness.

Marcel Wanders’ Knotted Chair, is included not because it is famous, but because it arose from an experimental combination of traditional techniques and new materials. Fashion by Painted is beautiful but what matters more is that it came about from cooperation between Dutch conceptual designers and traditional Bulgarian craftspeople.

We believe that by understanding how Dutch design works, communication between
our cultures will improve and lead to mutually beneficial opportunities for all.

Connecting Concepts is curated by Ed van Hinte. It is a joint project between Premsela – Dutch Platform for Design and Fashion, The Netherlands Architecture Institute, and Design Cooperation Brainport. It has been realized as part of the DutchDFA programme.

Connecting Concepts will open in NID Ahmedabad, India, February 8th before moving to Bangalore and then onto China.

For more information contact connectingconcepts@premsela.org