The design week in the Netherlands is considered to be one of the biggest and most influential in Europe. Here is my report from Dutch Design Week (DDW) in Eindhoven.
Eindhoven once again cements its place as Europe’s unofficial capital of the avant-garde, even if the sparkle dimmed a little this year.
Dutch Design Week (DDW) in Eindhoven remains one of Europe’s biggest and most influential design gatherings. 2,600 designers spread across some 120 venues. This is less a trade fair and more of an experience.
The gravitational centre, as ever, is the Design Academy Eindhoven’s Graduation Show, an exhibition for around 200 emerging talents from one of the world’s most respected design schools.
Beyond the academy, Eindhoven hums with invention. Local legend Piet Hein Eek continues to anchor the city’s creative scene with his vast workshop and a constellation of installations showcasing his own work alongside others’. Over at the Klokgebouw, companies flirt with the edges of sustainability, while a hall brims with student work from across Europe. There are of course also galleries De Kruisruimte showing things.
Before we go into details. Was 2025 better than 2024? It felt smaller than last year. Some of the large exhibitions held back this year. I really liked a lot of the sustainable exhibitions at Klockgebauw and I felt a whole new energy among the young designers – but it was smaller. Toned down. I give this a 3 out of 5.
Still, DDW remains a vital thermometer for where European design is heading. Smaller, yes—but far from diminished.
Sustainability moving forward
We have been talking about design and sustainability for a long while. We have seen projects raising awareness and prototypes. What I really liked this year was that it felt like sustainability moved one step further towards a commercial and finished product.
Above is a lamp made of sustainable bio resin. But what draw my attention was how you make this lamp at a place (for instance a store). You mold it, assemble it and it is done in 45 minutes. No stock or delivery. And during these 45 minutes you could perhaps get a coffee and talk about important things. I loved this. Made by design students Philippe Gaude at Design Academy Eindhoven (DAE).
Another student at DAE. Here they have compressed horsehair to replace foam in upholstery. And it looks really nice. Just add a nice fabric and you’re done. Ready to market. Done by Valentin Dugrais.
And I fell in love with Meaningful Matter. Not a student. This is an actual company. What they do is that they collect disguarded ceramics and grind it down to new clay and make new products. This is beyond upcycle and more in the categories of “post consumer waste”, which is much more difficult and complex. But talking to the brand, I realise they have really made their homework. You can of course colour sort the ceramics to get a whole white clay or mix it. You can of course also look at how many percentages of reused clay you can use (somewhere beteen 40 and 100 %). And prices are decent. A good example of a sustainable project that is not just a test but a real product.
More examples of things ready to market. We have been talking about using dung or poo as material. Now we see proper bookshelves made in this sturdy material. Or recycled leather with lighting.
And this by Marjan van Aubel is amazing. This is a thing you put on your window. It is colourful like stained glass and at night it is a lamp. The film is a super thing solar cell so everything runs on solar energy.
These podiums or tables are made of recycled plastics. I like the marble and shiny effect. Apparently so did everyone else and they got to be best-of-the best at DAE. Goes under the name Plasticiet. I have already seen these in retail projects.
Absolutely ready to market. Norwegian Hydro were in Eindhoven and showed the same things they have shown before. Still good. Recycled aluminium.
There are of course always things that are nice, but debateable. Bowls made of recycled plastics. I love that it looks new. But… Also a collection of glasses made of lava. Interesting, but…
We have kind of seen this before… but still nice and sustainable. Cork benches by Lithuanian designer Egle.
Eindhoven also bring a lot of sustainable projects were you think “is this really a commercial product?”. Don’t get me wrong. We need both. But currently I am personally more intrigued by things ready to market. Above is a lamp with leaves. Sure. Nice. But… And just above here are kind of like confetti by Materia Futura.
Culture and heritage
Another theme I could sense was that of culture and heritage. Among young designers there tend to be a focus on oneself. There is a need to experiment with the selfimage. Last year I could see a need to talk about peace and protest and I think culture and heritage take that place this year.
Mijali Posada Polydorides comes from a multicultural background. Family from Mexico, Spain and Cyprus. This is his attempt to bring his background into a new cultural exercise. You see the Mexican pinata? Crafted, fun and explanatory. At DAE.
This crossculture thing can also be seen here. What is gained/lost when you take textile craft from Laos and massproduce it in Europe? Beautiful and interesting by Marie Schon at DAE.
Brooms are interesting as a form of craft. Here in a futuristic shape. Do you see that they basically look like bones? These are brooms by Anna Zoe Hamm. Tenderlymilitant.exe. Tools for Queer Feminist Counter Apocalypse. Fun. History and future at the same time.
More brooms. At the craft council exhibition. Just beautiful. By Kesem Yahav.
But also at Swedish School of Textile. This table setting in crochet. There is even a tube of Kalles kaviar. Craft, culture and heritage. This by Stine Heggum Bjarke.
Bread as a tool for culture and history. Here as a vase and a lamp. By Studio CoPain.
Nightmare
Time to leave the cute craft and look at a third theme. Nightmares. It was everywhere. I mean – a lot. And I think I have an idea of why this is happening now. I don’t think that this is necessarily an example of fear in this scary world. No, I actually think nightmares will be a tool for action. We will feel forced to do something. And as a reaction to nostalgia and retro. Instead of avoiding the problem we go head on…
There were a lot of creepy nightmare installations at DAE.
Classical nightmare symbols like wolves howling. Embroidery not from DAE but actually Craft Council.
Vampires.
This is an installation at art museum MU which was ALL about nightmares. Here is a machine that can read the “mindset” of the plant and have an arm with a machete. Kind of like “revenge of the houseplants”…
A dentist chair at DAE.
In general a lot of tribal patterns.
And these AI generated films that kind of morphed into things.
This textile is so beautiful but it could also be pretty spooky. From Swedish School of Textile.
In general – a lot of figurative installations.
Summary
Dutch Design Week in Eindoven. Always intriguing. I love it. It is more experimental. This year I saw that sustainability moved a bit from pure experiments to actual products. Then an interesting theme about culture, craft and heritage. Absolutely a bit of experiments but smart and engaging. Finally a horror trend. Will horror scare us to make this world a better place?