In the fast-shifting landscape of design, some minds don’t just follow — they illuminate. Our Beacons are those bright forces: visionaries and rule-breakers whose ideas cut through the noise and point us toward what’s next. They challenge conventions, spark conversation, and help shape the collective imagination that drives Dutch Design Week.
This year, we reconnect with that energy. Bas van de Poel and Stefan Diez — both former DDW Beacons — return to host thought-provoking programmes during Dutch Design Week 2025, alongside a vibrant line-up of past beacons and ambassadors who continue to redefine the boundaries of design.
Bas van de Poel
As Innovation Director and co-founder of Modem, Bas van de Poel explores what’s next for design education — at a time when everything is shifting. In an era shaped by political tension and the rapid rise of AI, he questions how we teach, learn, and imagine as designers. His programme looks beyond the classroom, asking what kind of creative mindset the future truly needs.
‘I see Bas van de Poel as a paragon of how, as a designer, you can continue to embrace an attitude of experimentation all throughout your career.’
The Design (of the Practice) is the Practice
A design studio is more than the work it produces. Its structures, methods, values, and reason for being are themselves a form of design—an evolving process that shapes identity and meaning. Designing a practice isn't static; it is iterative, responsive and inseparable from the outputs it generates.
Dream Recorder
Dream Recorder is the magical bedside device that catches your nightly visions and plays them back as vivid reels. Wake up, say your dream out loud, and watch it come to life as a dreamscape in the aesthetic of your choice.
Stefan Diez
Munich-based designer Stefan Diez is rethinking how things are made — and unmade. With his studio DIEZ OFFICE, he’s been pioneering new models of production since 2002, pushing the boundaries of what a truly circular economy can look like. During DDW25, Diez turns the spotlight on circular design contracting — exploring how collaboration, responsibility, and innovation can reshape the very contracts that define design itself.
“There is no contradiction between good and sustainable design. Designing for a circular economy doesn't necessarily mean we have to refrain from something, but rather that we might have to think and build products a little differently.”
Exposé: Circular Design Contract
How can contracts drive the circular economy forward? Instead of generating profit through sales volumes, the Circular Design Contract ties the value of products to their use, durability, and return.
Hydro R100
After displaying "R100” in Milan and Copenhagen, Hydro brings the exhibition home to its origin in the Benelux. The exhibition shows new works from designers Keiji Takeuchi, Cecilie Manz, Daniel Rybakken and former beacons Sabine Marcelis and Stefan Diez. All brought to life within a limit of a 100-km radius.
And many more
Bridging Minds
Curated by Miriam van der Lubbe, this Van Abbemuseum exhibition features 100 works by leading designers, including former Dutch Design Week beacons Jurgen Bey, Maarten Baas, Lonny van Ryswyck, Winy Maas, Nadine Sterk, Christien Meindertsma, Formafantasma, Koert van Mensfoort, and Jalila Essaidi.
