Several designers collectively present their work during Dutch Design Week, the Convoi Exceptionnel exhibition in one of the many industrial buildings in the Strijp area of Eindhoven is the temporary platform for designers and artists like Carolina Wilcke, Marjan van Aubel, buro BELEN and Reinier Bosch. Recent graduate from Design Academy Eindhoven, Willem van Doorn, and British designer Josh Bitelli also present themselves there, two individuals that share a playful yet responsible attitude leading to experimental projects in which elements of our existing world are transformed.

In the past year Willem returned to the farm where he grew up. Being back on his native soil made him reconsider his environment and the materials and opportunities it yields. The disused gas well beneath the land inspired him to build a bio-digester which runs on local waste. He uses the gas to light his workshop and intends to spread this self-sufficiency principle, the project is a first step towards using the farm as a testing ground for new ideas and designs. During Dutch Design Week he exhibits ‘Illumination by digestion’,  an industrial container reconstructed to function as a bio-digester, which fuels a gas light. The young designer aims to create more site-specific gas applications in the coming year.

Josh Bitelli’s project ‘Palmeira Bench, Cabinet, Chair and Repaired Vessels in Asphalt and Line paint’  is of a like minded spirit yet his project  is more of an urban intervention. Fascinated by the complex web of roads in Britain he aims to revalue the making of these and along the way Josh points out that however the construction activities are integral to the smooth running of everyday life, they are seen as little more than an inconvenience. The designer borrowed tools and knowledge from road workers Dean, Joe and Ben to manipulate asphalt and apply it to a range of furniture and vessels, emphasizing the craft of road construction works and its beauty.

Jules van den Langenberg

willemvandoorn.com

joshbitelli.co.uk

burobelen.com

officinacarolina.com

reinierbosch.com

marjanvanaubel.com

Jules van den Langenberg recently graduated at Design Academy Eindhoven. He initiates-, curates- and exhibits projects in which applied art and design are used as a medium to cultivate culture. Jules approaches the world as a library full of potential, with an inexhaustible resource: humans and their skills. Within this wonderland of opportunities the young -Willy Wonka like- artistic industrialist travels to meet people and research the social- and cultural impact of all that is man made.

Through associative thinking Jules develops narratives and concepts which form fundaments for publications, exhibitions and self initiated projects as well as commissioned works. During Dutch Design Week 2013,  Jules shares with us some of his discoveries and « coup de coeur ».

Jules van den Langenberg