The future looks bright at Dutch Design Week 2024

Miriam van der Lubbe, Creative Head of Dutch Design Week:

‘Change begins with small steps. Every contribution can have a big impact. This year, the focus in the projects that were presented shifted from highlighting problems, towards designers actively contributing to making a difference.’

‘Designers are uniquely capable of making the unimaginable imaginable. They create incredible opportunities to combine imagination, knowledge and experiences. This DDW edition made it abundantly clear how powerful that is. The whole city was buzzing with hopeful energy, coming from all the smart and beautiful designs. This may have been our best edition so far.’

NEW: Super Early Bird DDW25

For the first time this year, fast decision-makers can buy a Super Early Bird ticket for DDW25, starting Sunday 27 October 2024 6pm. Dutch Design Week will take place next year from Saturday 18 to Sunday 26 October 2025.

DDW24 beacons

Dutch Design Week is all about the future of design and the design of the future. The DDW24 beacons deepened the dialogue with the design field. DDW is looking forward to taking the next steps together in 2025 with these insightful designers, that are so generous in sharing their visions and knowledge.

Julia Watson (Lo—TEK) transforms local knowledge into form and material, systems and architecture. Her lecture Lo—TEK - Infrastructures of an Ancestral Future will be published on DDW’s online channels soon.

Bas van de Poel (Modem) shared his insights on the impact of new and emerging technologies, and how we can use them as a force for good. He shared his views in various talks and a keynote, stating that the more digital our world becomes, the greater our need for the physical will become.

André Doxey (LEGO) deep dived in with an enormous enthusiasm, and the drive to engage with talent. He sees it as a number one responsibility for professionals to help create agency for students, so they can pursue their dreams and aspirations, knowing that path can be achievable.  

Muzus created a ‘chatwalk’ in which they brought visitors together, and resulting in real Meaningful Encounters. 

Selected student projects from the Industrial Design class of Stefan Diez (University of Applied Arts Vienna) reflected on the theme On The Move.

Evolving

At Dutch Design Week we keep pushing to further improve DDW each year. This year, the open call for Grand Projects got amazing response, resulting in eleven outdoor projects that we were able to support, some together with the municipality of Eindhoven. They became the eyecatchers on some of DDW’s most prominent locations. 

After introducing Missions last year, for DDW24 we took the next step by co-creating and hosting five Mission Days, together with ClickNL and DesignUnited. From Monday to Friday, we hosted a curated programme around the five different missions to facilitate relevant encounters between participating designers and professional visitors.

The three Creative Voices of this year all engaged with different audiences. Otis Dirk brought the brand new DDW TikTok channel to live, while we still have the visuals essays of the thing Magazine and profiles on expert collaborations by Benito Walker to look forward to. 

All the World Design Embassies, Labs and PONT joined forces and found and presented collectively at Ketelhuisplein in the exhibition Designing Society, exploring the power of design as a tool for change, and combining the creativity of designers with scientific insights, corporate responsibility, and political will.

Dutch Design Awards celebrated the rich history and the future of Dutch Design Awards, by inviting ten icons from the DDA Young Designer archive to present alongside a fresh talent from their field. The result was an exciting presentation of the work of ten plus ten Young Designers of the Past & Present.

Auke Bleij won the DDA24 Public Award with Respyre: a specially developed concrete that offers simple, green solutions, transforming urban surfaces into green infrastructure. Auke, who was spotlighted by Bob Hendrikx, took home a special edition trophy. It was designed by Christien Meindertsma—the first Young Designer to win a Dutch Design Award—and 3D-printed by her FLOCKS Wobot.