The biggest design event in Northern Europe is being held in Eindhoven this week: the Dutch Design Week. As in every year, TU Delft is participating. Eighteen projects from Delft are taking part in the Mind the Step exhibition. Delta spoke with the designers of two of these projects.
Mind the Step: the exhibition of the technical universities at the Dutch Design Week. (Foto: Mind the Step)
Over 2,500 designers, more than 295,000 visitors and a hundred locations for exhibitions, lectures, award ceremonies and network events will make up the Dutch Design Week in Eindhoven. Mind the Step is one of those exhibitions. Technical universities show their research results here. “Normally, the prototypes are shown at exhibitions. Here we show that the prototype is part of ongoing research,” says Maaike Kleinsmann, who is in the exhibition committee. “We show the power of our research with our three design faculties. We get a lot of compliments and positive reactions every year.”
Fashion week
“I think every Industrial Design student should go for at least one day,” says Daan van Eijk, director of 4TU, an organisation that brings the technical universities together. “If you study Fashion, you go to the Fashion Week, right? You discover new themes and you can discover what you want to do with your own projects. At the Dutch Design Week, you can find new, important ideas.” Kleinsmann sees ID starting to pay more attention to exhibitions like the Dutch Design Week. “The impact of this kind of event is becoming clearer. If you are exhibiting your start-up, you can get more publicity and attract investors.”
‘We want the zebro to become world famous’
This is one of the main reasons for the zebro team to go to the exhibition. Zebros are walking robots with six legs that explore hard and dangerous terrain. They can work in a swarm. Mattijs Otten graduated with a modular design that enables mass production of the zebro. “I hope to find business people that want to invest in our project and are willing to produce a hundred zebros using my design,” he explains. “And I hope we can talk with visitors to see what they think of our robots. Is there anything they are scared of? What do they like? What would they think if there would be a hundred zebros walking around Eindhoven?” This is the first time that Otten will be at the Dutch Design Week. “I didn’t get much information about it at ID. A lot of designs stay inside the faculty and are shared with businesses directly. We want the zebro to become world famous and that is why we will go to exhibitions like this.”
‘We really see it as a turning point’
His team has eight big and a few smaller zebros walking around the exhibition. “Dutch Design Week is bigger and more professional than other exhibitions. For example, we even had media training. We have been working up to this event for months and we really see it as a turning point!”
Bone structure
Jun Wu is with his team at Mind the Step to show a 3D printed chair that imitates bone structure. “If you look at the insides of a bone, you can see it’s kind of spongy, but very strong,” he explains. “We copy this and it works very well. This way, we save a lot of material.” Wu was invited to be part of the exhibition by the faculty. “They called our project ‘wonderful’. I think it is an interesting exhibition. My background is not design, but computer science. Nevertheless, I want to continue with design. After this exhibition, I hope more designers will use our structure in their projects.”
How do you get there?
Out of 110 projects submitted by the three technical universities, only 72 projects make it to exhibition. “The selection process is always very difficult,” says Kleinsmann. “We try to show a good representation of the three technical universities in different themes. We are looking for a good mix. In spring we send out a ‘call for projects’ and collect different projects. Within the faculty, we have short lines of communication with interesting projects.”
‘Prototypes have to be tangible and innovative’
Kleinsmann has some tips. “Make sure you make a prototype with a tangible result, there has to be something to see. Besides that, it must innovative.” Jun Wu adds “Talk with the organisation, and ask people that have exhibited there before for tips.” Don’t be afraid to ask people for help is also Otten’s tip. “Go to the organiser of the exhibition with your project and make sure you make people enthusiastic when they see it. The faculty’s communication department can help you as well.”
On Wednesday and Thursday, buses will go from ID to Eindhoven. Look for more information and the complete program on the website of the Dutch Design Week.
Do you have a question or comment about this article?
delta@tudelft.nl
Comments are closed.