LONDON.- Sotheby's announced its collaboration with Design Academy Eindhoven on their first ever exhibition in the UK. From Thursday, 13 May to Tuesday, 18 May, 2010, Sotheby’s will host, in its New Bond Street galleries in London, a selling exhibition of work by some of the star graduates of the class of 2009 of the renowned academy in The Netherlands. Design Academy Eindhoven has an international reputation in the field of Design and the forthcoming selling exhibition at Sotheby’s is an opportunity to spot the next group of design stars of the future. Among the talents that will be represented in the exhibition are Anna van der Lei, Yoeri Treffers, Digna Kosse and Amélie Onzon. This exhibition will be a selection from the Milan Salone del Mobile, 14-18 April, 2010.
Janice Blackburn, a curator of contemporary art and design and a long-time fan and supporter of Design Academy Eindhoven comments: “Design Academy Eindhoven has a formidable reputation for producing designers that rank among the most respected in the world. The graduates of 2009 exhibiting at Sotheby's demonstrate Eindhoven's creativity, innovation, curious approach to life and down to earth practicality. Curating this exhibition together with Ilse Crawford and Anne Mieke Eggenkamp has been a dream come true.”
Anne Mieke Eggenkamp, Chairwoman Executive Board, Design Academy Eindhoven, states: “We believe in (the power of) collaboration. We want to use our talent in education and design to build bridges between people, other academies, companies and countries. The new design heroes of the future will have various roles as designers; from author to inventor, from strategist to craftsman, from social innovator to creative director. We also want to show what the identity of Eindhoven is in the year 2010. What questions and issues are young designers dealing with nowadays? What does this tell us and show us? Is there a bigger consciousness on all levels? What is the story behind your design? “
And talking about Sotheby’s involvement, Patrick van Maris, Managing Director of Sotheby’s Europe, said: “Sotheby’s is privileged to be collaborating in this exciting project which will broaden the international reputation of Design Academy Eindhoven, one of the premier design schools of the world. We very much look forward to having our galleries, which regularly display the creativity of the past and present, transformed by the next generation of design talent.”
Notable highlights of the exhibition include:
Designer: Anna van derLei
Project: BadKast
Department Man and Well Being
Graduated 2009
A description of BadKast from the designer:
In Finland the sauna rituals have ancient traditions but are still part of contemporary culture. During my childhood summers I always spent two months in ‘Mökki,’ our summer house in Finland. At Mökki the sauna is the only space where you can wash yourself. Beautiful nature and a lake surround this sauna. It is a place of serenity, enjoyment, coming together and relaxing. In those childhood summers I learned that taking a sauna is more than bathing: the magnificent view over clear clean water, the wooden construction with the smell of burned wood, and silence with only the sound of nature. It is not only physical refreshment but psychological refreshment as well. The sauna has two rooms: the steam or sauna room and the dressing room. In the dressing room you dress, undress, cool off, and have a chat. In this dressing area the sauna ritual begins and ends. Changing clothes in the dressing area prepares you for a sauna, and fully refreshed you put clean clothes on after taking a sauna. The feelings that I get from a Finnish sauna I wanted to translate into a bathing space that allows for the same feeling but a space that anyone can use.
A piece of furniture that can be placed wherever you like; a piece that is part of the house and living room. The Badkast is a combination of a bath and a closet. The bath represents the sauna where you clean yourself and the closet represents the dressing room. The doors at the front of the closet and the backsides can be entirely opened to allow you to feel connected with your environment. Changing clothes, being at peace in your environment and bathing: a Finnish ritual coming together in the Badkast. The Larch is chosen because it can be used in combination with water. The closet is made out of one large wooden trunk of Larch to make the Badkast the same tone. This trunk has been drying for over eight years and all the useful parts have been used. The construction is simple but smart. The connections that are used are designed in such a way that allows them to interact with water. Even new types of joins, able to interact with water, were developed for the Badkast. The exterior is simple as well and therefore it fits well in any residence, inside or outside. You give the closet your own colors when you hang your own cloths in it. By opening the doors the closet becomes one with the environment. For me the perfect bath is simple. “Take your time in your own environment."
Designer: Yoeri Treffers
Project: Inflatable Void
Department: Man and Well-being
Graduated 2009
A description of Inflatable Void from the designer:
It is difficult to close yourself off from everything and everyone around you. Images, sounds and objects surround us almost everywhere. Because many people, according to Yoeri Treffers, do need to be completely by themselves sometimes, he devised an inflatable cube made of polythene. The cube is inflated within 20 seconds by a fan hanging from the ceiling. The exact shape taken by the cube is dependent on the objects in the environment, so can vary each time. With its dimensions of three cubic metres, it is large enough for an average living room or bedroom.
Designer: Digna Kosse
Project: Minimal Dress
Department: Man and Leisure
Graduated 2009
A description of Minimal Dress from the designer:
‘May I ask how many costumes she wears out each year?’
‘My dear sir, the clothing of a lady does not wear out through her wearing of it, but through her being seen in it.’- Richard Steele
Our clothes are more quickly discarded as a result of changing fashion than because of wear and tear. The consumption of material by the clothing industry is gigantic as a result. Digna Kosse designed fifteen dresses that are far from voracious consumers of material. She demonstrates that you can minimize these pieces of clothing to a few threads at the most. Minimal Dresses are wispier than wispy, yet they remain feminine dresses with which to make a fashion statement.
