DDW22 Coalitions

Get Set for smart partnerships

Smart Coalitions ties in closely with the theme of this edition of Dutch Design Week: Get Set. On the one hand, Get Set means we must brace ourselves for the changes needed to address (and further prevent) current and future crises. From wars to pandemics, and from climate issues to poverty. On the other hand, Get Set stands for developing the right mindset for change. Designers, governments, the business world, knowledge institutes, but also individuals: how can we join together to carry the burden of the challenges facing us?

An open invitation

The many Smart Coalitions on display during this DDW show just what can be achieved through smart collaboration. This could be large-scale, but also on a micro level. Central in this is the confidence that you can discover something just by doing it, and preferably together with others who hold the same principles and/or values. The Smart Coalitions provide insight and inspiration. Some invite visitors to play an active role. This happens quite literally in the Klokgebouw. Here, designers challenge visitors to think about how they can contribute to the concepts that they see in the exhibition: If you have relevant knowledge, connections, resources, or just a good idea, let us know!

Discover the Smart Coalitions

Smart Coalitions can be recognised by Energizers during DDW. Energizers are windmills that stand for new energy and getting things moving. In total, over 40 examples of smart coalitions can be seen at DDW. This article includes a complete list and also highlights a few examples.

The SHIT SHOW: a journey from mouth to ass

In the SHIT SHOW, Fides Lapidaire researches how we can make the food cycle truly circular. At the Broodje Poep food truck, visitors can order a delicious sandwich, the ingredients of which have been grown using compost made from human poo and pee. It’s not such a crazy idea. In the Netherlands, we lose 35 million kilos of phosphate, 110 million kilos of nitrogen, and 34.5 million kilos of potassium hydroxide every year. We all simply flush it down the toilet, while it is in fact perfect to use for fertilising crops. But using human excrement on a large scale requires many different parties working together. Project developers, housing corporations, sewerage management, farmers, and of course people themselves. What would you think if your poop was used as manure? Fides explores these possible collaborations and public opinion on this idea in the SHIT SHOW.

Kade Clubhuis: stronger as a collective

On the Eindhoven Canal is the Kade Clubhuis, a creative hub where a varied group of (social) designers shares not only a workplace but also the drive to dedicate themselves to social challenges. Kade Clubhuis aims to encourage commissioning bodies to think more outside the box and to give designers more freedom to play and discover. Designers are often asked as individuals or studios to work on a project. That’s a shame, thinks Kade Clubhuis, because opening up to a collaborative collective makes it much easier to bring together the right expertise for the job. During DDW, Kade Clubhuis is organising A Designer's Playground. This presents the successful projects tackled together by these designers as a collective, such as Blik op Eindhoven: an exploration into wider prosperity in the city. The secret ingredient? Room to play! 

Stimuleringsfonds presents Talent

The Incentive Fund stimulates the creative manufacturing industry and talent development in the form of a grant for students and recently graduated designers. Their goal? To show what happens when design talents are given space for artistic and professional growth. The Smart Coalitions factor here is in how these design talents are approached. They are not categorised according to specialisms, but by the goal they are trying to achieve together. The exhibition Stimuleringsfonds presents Talent centres around five shared themes: Beyond Bodies, Longing to Belong, Sensing Forward, Relating to Land(scapes), and Power to the Personal.

World Design Embassies

Smart collaboration is ingrained in the concept of World Design Embassies, a programme by Dutch Design Foundation. The World Design Embassies use design power in the development of wider vistas and concrete solutions for societal challenges. In open coalitions, the embassies work towards the future with partners and designers. World Design Embassies exist by the grace of all its partners. Partners introduce issues, share knowledge and expertise, show their own or common practical examples, and join forces to develop the programme. For example, the Embassy of Health works together with hospitals, patient associations, the province of Noord-Brabant, product developers, and both healthy people and those in need of care in order to shape the future of our healthcare systems. Visit the Embassy of Health and various other embassies during Dutch Design Week.

Zeewaardig (Seaworthy): designing for trust

There can be no (productive) collaboration without mutual trust. But in the design process, such trust is often lacking between designer and client (and also within organisations between team members and management). Seaworthy investigated which factors are essential for trust. These are mutual understanding, a level playing field for all participants, and a measurable and tangible result. With the Seaworthy installation at the Ketelhuisplein, designers, civil servants, and other professionals are invited to reflect on their own levels of trust and to develop their own tools to increase this trust.

IN DE VOLLE GROND (IN THE GROUND)

Eindhoven is growing, ever-upwards. This is desperately needed to create sufficient living space and a liveable city. Unfortunately, in some places, the soil is so full that even trees can no longer take root. How can all stakeholders join forces to make a solid base. Or, rather, a fertile foundation upon which to build together? The exhibition IN DE VOLLE GROND gives visitors a glimpse into the foundations of the city. It raises awareness of what’s going on under the surface, and of the conflicting interests at play. In addition, the municipality of Eindhoven has organised an in-depth programme for experts, stakeholders, and other interested parties. Social design studio Morgenmakers has developed this programme. There are no clear-cut solutions or answers yet, but IN DE VOLLE GROND gets the conversation started.