TU Delft makes a mark with Alessi

The selected students are were part of an Honour’s programme called Design and Cultural Impact, which is part of the BSc in Industrial Design Engineering.

“As part of the course students usually work with a design firm (usually HEMA) on their annual project. Alessi approached TU Delft in 2013 and wanted to work with a few students. One generally expects a brand name such as Alessi to work with institutions such as the Design Academy and for them to come to us was a big honour for us and for the students,” says Erik Jepma, who teaches the course on Design and Cultural Impact.

On February 11 2014, students visited the Alessi factory for the first time. Here they were briefed about the theme of the project as well. Once back in Delft, they attended a number of workshops on subjects related to culture and design – such as positive and negative emotions, metaphoric designs and how to adapt these ideas into products. “We had experts on various subjects conduct workshops for the students.”

The theme for the collaboration with Alessi was ‘Life in transition’ and students brought that alive in a number of ways. Designs ranged from a mirror that shatters the myth of perfection, to a coffee mug made of multiple mugs piled together so one never feels like they’re drinking coffee alone.

“In April the students returned to Italy and presented their designs and the organisers were quite impressed. However, they expected the designs and mock-ups to be at a much further stage, so they could be taken and implemented directly,” said Jepma. He explains that companies such as HEMA have their own design teams so student projects can go to them at a more nascent stage and be further fleshed out. Alessi, on the other hand, works with star designers and doesn’t really have a back-end design team.

Despite the hiccups, Jepma recently received confirmation that at least one product design has been picked by Alessi for production. “The rest is under wraps, but maybe we can have an exhibition during Dutch Design Week,” he says.

Jepma is hopefully that students of the honour’s track can work with different labels every year. “It will be great exposure for them and for the university” he adds.