Next to the permanent exhibition in its Schaudepot by Herzog & de Meuron and the great retrospective dedicated to Viktor Papanek, the Vitra Design Museum will host “Beyond the surface”, Christien Meindertsma’s first solo presentation outside Netherlands, her native country, until January 20, 2019.
At Vitra Design Museum, design looks beyond the surface with Christien Meindertsma
From prototypes and video interviews to ashes, wool, linen and archives, a new approach to design has arrived from Netherlands.
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- Marta Milasi
- 13 October 2018
- Weil am Rhein
Photo Bettina Matthiessen
Photo Bettina Matthiessen
Photo Bettina Matthiessen
Photo Bettina Matthiessen
Photo Bettina Matthiessen
Photo Bettina Matthiessen
Photo Bettina Matthiessen
Photo Bettina Matthiessen
Photo Bettina Matthiessen
Photo Bettina Matthiessen
Photo Bettina Matthiessen
Portrait of Christien Meindertsma
Born in Utrecht in 1980 and graduated at the Eindhoven Design Academy in 2003, Meindertsma has already won three Dutch Design Awards (2008) and a Future Award (2016) for the high value of her research on sources and materials. Rather than on finished products, her work focuses on the study of resources, raw materials and production processes in order to understand the origin of objects that surround us. A unique, critical, approach that overcomes the personal investigations to understand the connotations of an inquiry. How do you define transparency? What are the effects of globalized production chains? What is the value of local production? How does commodity trading work?
Courtesy Christien Meindertsma, photo Roel van Tour
Courtesy Christien Meindertsma, photo Roel van Tour
Courtesy Christien Meindertsma, photo Luke Hayes
Courtesy Christien Meindertsma, photo Roel van Tour, Mathijs Labadie
Courtesy Christien Meindertsma, photo Roel van Tour, Mathijs Labadie
Courtesy Christien Meindertsma, photo Mathijs Labadie
Courtesy Christien Meindertsma, photo Mathijs Labadie
Courtesy Christien Meindertsma, photo Mathijs Labadie
Christien Meinderstma responds with her “documentary design”, that is design not as a result but as research and refutation method. “Internet tells us that it has an answer for everything” says the designer “but how can you know the truth if you do not verify by yourself?” So she undertakes expeditions to factories and she conducts meticulous detective work to check out every single step in the supply chain, from the commodity to the completed product.
Through prototypes, pictures, videos and interviews, “Beyond the surfaces” tells the story of this approach, that is useful to develop an interest in the origin, processing and sustainability of what we buy as critical consumers.
- Beyond the Surface
- Christien Meindertsma
- Vitra Design Museum Gallery
- from August 18 until January 20, 2018
- Charles-Eames-Straße 2, Weil am Rhein, Germany