Isola Design District x Dutch Design Week: From biomaterials to collectible design

Isola Design District returns to Dutch Design Week with two unpublished exhibitions.

With a curated selection of over 50 international firms, Isola Design District makes a strong return to Dutch Design Week, which will be entirely online due to the COVID-19 related measures in the Netherlands. Building on the experience gained during Isola Goes Digital last June, Isola Design District will host a new digital festival from the 17th till the 25th of October.

The two exhibitions, Materialized, covering biomaterials and sustainable design, and Isola Design Gallery, showcasing collectible and bespoke design pieces, that were initially supposed to take place at Pennings Foundation gallery in Eindhoven, will be both accessible from anywhere in the world and at any given time on Isola Design District official website.

Explore a renewed graphic interface of the Digital District, visit virtual locations, browse through multimedia content, and get inspired!

Materialized

A path between biomaterials and innovative sustainable furnishings lets visitors discover what the future of design is holding for us, through the eyes and projects of some of the best design talents and material researchers in the world, who are all part of Isola Design Community.

Biomaterials

The exhibition starts with those who have concentrated their work on the development of new materials. Like the ongoing research and material archive BIOTIC by Studio Lionne van Deursen, which is focused on using microbes to grow biological materials, or Mykor by Valentina Dipietro, who has a cross-disciplinary approach combining design, biology, and technology.

Biobased Calcáreo, made from algae and mussels, by Caro Pacheco is an open source research in Chile that lowers the barrier to new material experimentation. Maria Mayer, instead, with her work demonstrates a circular design process with Algae Pattern, a new potential for the textile industry by creating colored patterns with raw materials of red algae.

Similar to algae is also Posidonia, a Mediterranean plant that sews natural fiber balls considered as waste, but which actually have awesome properties that Andrés Ramirez Ruiz from Studio Grama has enhanced in his work.

If you want to know more about Isola Design District’s plan for the Dutch Design Week, don’t miss Milan’s Isola Design District plays local in September and goes Dutch in October.

Where Biomimicking Strength by Carolina Perez Leon makes biomimetic methods more accessible by introducing home hacking techniques, RCA graduate Rashmi Bidasaria investigates the recovery of steel slag, ramming mass, and residual heat that form a large percentage of waste by-products of the molten iron processing industry.

From one design school to another, Fungi Narratives is a research project by Antonia Fedder, Marianne Hansen, Sofia Fiorentino Sarrate, and Mads Kodbøl Vindelev Jørgensen, four students of Kolding Design School’s Master “Design for Planet” and Ph.D. candidate Nikoletta Karastathi examine the relationship between humans and microbiome through home-made knitted bio-textiles Bio-Plexis.

Another Ph.D. candidate is material designer Austeja Platukyte. She is combining experimental research with the manipulation of existing knowledge to explore fundamental ecological problems by developing new materials and adapting them to contemporary art and design objects.

BIO’C by Zumra Cetinler, is a brand that develops new materials to replace single-use plastics, especially for the takeaway food and beverage industry, creating bioplastic packaging.

But food can also be itself a resource for new materials, as demonstrated by Salty Studio with Can we change?, a project focused on raising awareness about our eating practices and the waste we create, and Atelier LVDW with Eggshell Ceramic, a circular material derived from the food processing industry.

Even our own hair or cigarette butts can become much more than just waste: Romy Kaiser, with Kera-Plast, is introducing cut human hair as a material base highlighting that hair is a part of the renewable natural cycle; Carolina Giorgiani made butt_er, for her Butts Ocean project, a material that gives new life to cigarette butts found on beaches and in oceans all over the world.

Sustainable furnishing

A large number of exhibitors also create functional design pieces with sustainable materials at their disposal, showcasing innovative solutions for future home, work furniture, and decor.

For example, with Mycelium Millennium Maria Pita Guerreiro imagines a new era in which biological resources, specifically Fungi and Mycelium, are used to grow a collection of everyday objects merging bio-fabrication and craft, and the bio-based, biodegradable, and compostable low stool designed by Hapclark is made entirely with the species Gelidium sesquipedale, Rhodophyta or red algae of the Gelidiaceae family, from the Cantabrian Sea in the north of Spain.

Another biobased seat is Halo by Philipp Hainke, which comes up with a stackable chair to demonstrate the strength and possibilities of hemp and casein-based sandwich-material.

Jesslyn Sutisna was also inspired by material properties. In her experiments, she stretches the possible application of cork by manipulating the surface, to come up with flexible, bouncy, and fun objects. Anja Sopic Design, for her part, brings us environmentally friendly furniture such as the Dot lamp, by upcycling furniture parts, using natural or organic materials, and recycled wood.

The curatoratorial team of Isola Design District wanted to celebrate the beauty of recycled plastics as well, with a selection of designers like the freshly graduated Lisanne Kamphuis, from HKU University of the Arts Utrecht, with her Kunst-S stone-like vases, Wisse Trooster with his Circular wall lamp collection, SMALLrevolution with their Mabel stool, Valentina Rocco with her Galileo directional LED wall lamp and Drag and Drop who shines a new light on recycled PET with the 3D printed Light Knit lampshade.

Lucas Zito demonstrated how even cigarette filters can be transformed into something beautiful, by extrapolating the cellulose acetate and working it to make his Cancer Vases. With Telluride, Tellurico presents the first results of his material research into the possibility of using volcanic rocks as a combined element with porcelain clay and high-firing glazing. Sne Tak, a London-based multidisciplinary designer specializing in innovative knit, showcases the Soft Vessels series of reversible, flexible, and multi-usage vases. Finally, after a call launched in December, to which 10 both Italian and international designers responded, Keep Life presents Keep it Going starting from a ‘shape 0’ of 20x20x10cm, a collection designed using their material made with dried fruit shells.

Innovative techniques

Across continents, the last group of designers of Materialized is paving the way for more sustainable solutions with innovative production techniques. Starting from Europe, Rive Roshan takes sculpting to the next level with a special Bronze Edition of their 3D-printed Sand in Motion Collection, made with 98 percent Bavarian sand, that is a wink to the origins of bronze casted sculptures; innovative manufacturing company CooLoo, with collaboration between Dutch Designers Hugo de Ruiter and Thed Konings, presents a disruptive and sustainable approach to the interior and art industry; Dall’Astronave Allo Spillo believes that in the rush of circular materials, aluminum is the next gold as it is endlessly recyclable.

In Canada with Stacklab, who uses a computer algorithm to efficiently create gallery-worthy furniture with offcuts from the felt industry. In Asia, NCTU ROLA X NTHU BLD is learning from nature with their project Growth Sculpture, a biologically inspired computing system that brings new features for crafting shapes, and WU Ming Hong, who for Echinoderms has studied the hypnotic shapes and movement of Diaton, a marine microorganisms invisible to the naked eye.

Isola Design Gallery

A selection of the best collection and bespoke pieces from Isola Design Community for Dutch Design Week 2020, with works inspired by architecture, geometry, art, minimalism, and, again, sustainability, to draft the new lines for high-end design.

A marble living room monument, Enigma side table by 3DD Factory is a present-day furniture piece referring to ancient Italian cities and is made by Italian artisans. With a similar inspiration, the limited furniture collection Archetypes by Studio Joachim Morineau brings ancient architecture archetypes together with industrial materials.

Alexandra Izeboud joins the exhibition with an ultra-slim and minimalistic Offset Bookcases and her industrial yet intimate Sunlight wall lamp. A world of curves and colors with an industrial yet elegant appearance is what the table lamp Trouvé by Cohors represents. From a 2D composition to a 3D object, Studio Verbaan created thhe X4 series. Handcrafted wooden furniture pieces that can be placed somewhere between furniture, object, and sculpture.

Freshly graduated Sjang Niederwieser, from Maastricht Institute of Arts, is bringing together craftsmanship and technology in his Volare silk light objects: handcrafted knitted cylinders of pure silk over a 3D printed shape. Talking about handcraft, designer Clémence Valade presents her Us & Coutumes, two ceramic tableware collections – Diet and Hygiene – that aim to raise awareness about healthy food consumption on the one hand and the waste of water on the other.

With sustainable handcraft and slow design, the Mycelium collection by LI–AN–LO gives a contemporary play on geometry and scale, three unique side tables with a monolithic base of pine wood combined with the tempered glass top. Unique is also the limited collection Aluminimum 2020, with which Bhulls Studio aims to generate a new minimalism through interaction between materials and light, and the latest works of Spinzi Design, Meccano Collection, Medusa and Planar Tables, influenced by the automotive and fashion industries, great passions of the founder Tommaso Spinzi.

The eye-catching Gridpit and Firepit by Lennart Lauren stand out with their geometric appearance. What’s even more impressive, is their recyclability rate being respectively 95% and 99%. Another design made with a sustainable ethos is the Melede side table by Bock Studio, blending Scandinavian simplicity, the traditional use of timber, and new sustainable materials, creating a natural and light aesthetic.

Federica Cristaudo Design presents Fu:d, a photogenic capsule collection dedicated to the world of food, entirely made of ecological and food-grade resin, by now a trademark of the designer. Last but not least, the eco-friendly bold, and vibrant carpets by Studio Noun. The rugs are made with eucalyptus wool and are sustainably produced. The designs are based on the designer’s drawings and paintings.

Virtual Experience

The projects showcased virtually can be discovered through high-quality images, videos, virtual spaces, and text descriptions on Isola Design District’s digital platform. Visitors will have the opportunity to get to know the designers by visiting their personal profiles and having a direct conversation using the messaging tool.

Milan Design Market collaborates with young architects to create set-up landscapes for its physical collective exhibitions during Milan Design Week. For this Dutch Design Week, the showcase is carried to digital, with a 3D environment that can be navigated to explore some of the products from Isola Design District’s exhibitions and even buy them! It is a preview of what will be presented next April in Milan, an imaginary desert designed by Notoo Studio and developed by 3DD Factory, which has also created other dedicated virtual locations for the online experience, that users can easily explore from mobile devices and laptops.

All these features are accessible directly from a renewed Digital District: the graphic interface launched last June representing the Isola neighborhood in Milan, will be updated with a Dutch section that recalls the city of Eindhoven, providing visitors with a clear overview on the content of the platform. With a simple click on a digital building, they can easily enter exhibitions and visit live events, e-stores, Isola Design Magazine, and much, much more.

Official Sponsors of the event

Between the partners of the event there is Zwartwoud, which launches in close cooperation with DSM-Niaga the first-ever fully circular home workstation. With the Niaga® technology and materials completing the circular design of Z-2-Home, all of the resources can be reused to create a new workstation or other type of furniture after each life cycle.

Z-2-Home is available as a wall-mounted compact module and as a standing model. The panel design can be selected to match any interior. Within seconds the workstation folds or unfolds into a self-adjusted ergonomic working height. Because of the use of clean and reusable materials, the Z-2-Home also contributes to a healthy indoor air climate.

Another partner of the initiative is Lamitex, that in the international interior design scene stands out for their attention to the Green world, focusing on the aesthetic quality of their decorative surfaces, capable of evoking a hyper-realistic tactile sensation of the materials they are inspired by. The beauty of the laminates and the ease of use make them the ideal partner for any design and furniture project.

Curios to know more about Isola Design Digital District? Don’t miss Isola Design District goes digital.