Description

In recent years, Dutch design has sharply diverged from its previous course. A generation of designers trained in and shaped by Europe’s crisis years have chosen new values and starting points; the focus is now on inquisitive and collaborative makers who strive for social relevance and, if possible, impact. This “post-crisis generation” is committed and optimistic, and pragmatic and possesses an eye for beauty. Humour and the almost inescapable concept have been exchanged for engagement and accessible research, and irony and contemplative criticism for open-mindedness and the will to act.

In this volume, Jeroen Junte (born 1967) examines artisanship and local production as realistic alternatives to deadlocked production and distribution systems. In addition to art and design, science, technology, social studies and politics are also seen as design arenas.