Dutch Design Week wins in Sustainable Top 100 by Trouw

Miriam van der Lubbe (Creative Head DDW) in Trouw: ‘Designers are able to look ahead and see possibilities: how to use materials better? How do we organize public space, how do we deal with logistics and mobility, how do we keep cities liveable, how do we build houses that are future-proof? How can design be significant for a more equal society?’ 

Jury member Merlijn Twaalfhoven:
‘Dutch Design Week is a place where imagination and inventiveness push all existing boundaries. There are other rules, materials, other behaviour and other encounters. Here, paths to the future are explored, and unexpected openings arise in the complex problems that grip our time.’

Read the full article on Trouw.nl →

The article in Trouw also highlights participants from DDW24, all three of which can be seen at Dutch Design Awards' Young Designer exhibition in Microlab Hall: 

Fides Lapidaire 

Broodje Poep Inc elaborates on the use of valuable raw materials, such as human manure. In Trouw, designer Fides Lapidaire says: ‘A visitor to DDW22 asked what he should do to deliver good shit,’ Lapidaire says. That prompted a follow-up project that has become quite extensive: FeelGut - a gut in English, but it also means good in German. (...) The concrete result is a bar that makes sure your stools are as useful as fertiliser. ‘The bar is made from Koji, a fungus that improves the digestive process.’

Studio ThusThat

Studio ThusThat focuses on materials and alternative production processes. In particular, they take unusual materials, such as industrial and mining waste, and propose alternative futures. With New Ore, they show how black slag (a residual product of copper mining) can be used as a high-quality alternative to cement. Trouw: ‘They did the same with red mud which is a residual product from aluminium production. That can be easily transformed into clay, from which Studio That Thus makes beautiful ceramics.’

Auke Bleij

With Respyre, Auke Bleij is pioneering renewed opportunities for urban greening. Respyre offers simple, green solutions that can transform vast unused urban surfaces. Trouw: ‘With his company Respyre, Auke Bleij turns bare concrete walls into green walls that filter air and regulate temperature. How? By growing moss on them. (...) After a few weeks of watering the moss, a layer has grown that survives all weather conditions without maintenance. Such green walls improve the city's climate and are home to insects - plus they look beautiful.’

This year, for the first time, the Trouw Sustainable 100 consists of ten categories, including new fields such as healthcare, sports and the arts. On Thursday 10 October, the order of the overall ranking will be revealed, and who is at the very top of the top 100.