Dutch Profiles is a series of short documentaries about architects and graphic, product and fashion designers in the Netherlands, commissioned by DutchDFA. The shorts are meant to spread freely over the web, but also to be shown as part of lectures, exhibitions and business presentations. “Dutch Profiles focuses on the conceptual, context-oriented and research-based practice of Dutch designers, telling the story behind some of those well-known images,” says commissioner Christine de Baan, programme director of Dutch Design Fashion Architecture. Dutch Profiles includes interviews with, among others: MVRDV, 2012 Architects, Jurgen Bey, Claudy Jongstra, Gerard Unger, Paul Mijksenaar, Marlies Dekkers, Alexander van Slobbe and G-Star.

Project-Mentality-Personality

Dutch Profiles is produced by Submarine, an Amsterdam based cross-media production company that takes a critical, dynamic and often playful look at present-day society. “Each profile shows the designers in the context of their work. Then we dig down into the design mentality and their ideas on what good design is in this fast forward world,” says Geert van de Wetering of Submarine, “The fun part is that while watching the profiles, links between the stories pop up. You discover connections between designers who at first sight do not have much in common, such as fashion designer Alexander van Slobbe and Miffy-creator Dick Bruna.”

 Dutch Profiles premiere

On the opening day of the Designyatra conference in Mumbai, where the Netherlands was chosen as partnercountry, the first edition of Dutch Profiles premiered on the white screen. Dutch Profiles has been commissioned as part of the Dutch Design Fashion Architecture program, which has been initiated by Dutch Government to strengthen the international position of these sectors.

Travelling cinema

The documentaries are available all over the world via www.dutchprofiles.com. On YouTube the files are shared so the profiles of the Dutchmen can be forwarded by interested parties. The tour schedule started in Mumbai and New York. DutchDFA is developing a travelling cinema to show the profiles in a custommade creative environment. Requests from Brasil and Japan have already been received.

100 Portraits

More profiles will be added during the coming years, reaching an ultimate count of 100. Submarine: “The form holds the larger challenge for the director: how do I portray the philosophy of the designer in both words and images in only a few minutes? It’s a series of beautiful and captivating portaits and we look forward to producing the next batch in this series of 100.”