Friday, October 26, 2007

Why Dutch Design is so Good

Dutch are famous for its achievement in the design field. It's hard to say that the Dutch are modest about their design sensibilities with a book title like "Why Dutch Design Is So Good" but Aaron Betsky and Adam Eeuwens.

Before coming to this place, many people have shown me their appreciation of the dutch design. It is also true that Dutch is quite often connected with: creative, artistic, innovative... After coming here, there was another big finding, Designers in Amsterdam are the best. A little funny? A colleague's husband is an architect, and she has to take an hour train ride to the office every morning. The reason that her husband won't want to move here is because, only architects in Amsterdam are respected as good ones. ho ho...

Thus I am going to start a new theme about Dutch design, things I find, heard, or see in my orange journey. Here comes the first one: a carpet with feeling of falling leaves.

Tord Boontje is an industrial designer who was commissioned by Nani Marquina to create his Little Field of Flowers Rug (2006). Similar to Marquina's Roses Rug, this design uses die-cutting to create the shapes of flowers and leaves. There are six distinct shapes of flower combinations, in three different tonalities, which creates an intriguing composition that's all about movement, texture and color.

A witty approach to a floor covering, Boontje brings the experience of walking through a meadow into an interior space. The rug is hand-loomed using a manually actuated loom, and features both looped and cut pile. Boontje's many awards include 2005 Dutch Designer of the Year, and the 2006 IF Product Design Award. Together with the nonprofit Care & Fair, Nani Marquina is fighting against illegal child labor in the manufacturing of carpets.

6000 dollars for this piece, do you want to order one? I have been wondering the cleaning of this carpet, will vacuum cleaner suck some of the leaves away?

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