dutchdesignprofiles

Dutch Profiles

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 ...

Bruno Ninaber

Anything more would be unnecessary, anything less impossible. This is the maxim by which product designer Bruno Ninaber has worked since he started in the early seventies. Together with his small, but very dedicated team, he devises smart solutions to ...

Droog

In the beginning of the nineties, a group of young dutch designers was presented in Milaan under the name of DROOG. Their designs were immediately recognized as something new. Anti-glamour, sober yet funny, and all telling a story or commenting ...

Wim Crouwel

Wim Crouwel is the grand seigneur of the Dutch design world. Now, at the age of 83, he can look back on a extremely productive career… …As a highly influential designer… …As one of the founders of Total Design, Holland’s first real ...

Piet Paris

Piet Paris started out as a fashion illustrator after his graduation from the Arnhem Fashion Academy in 1988. Illustration has been his core business since then, but he also presented his ideas about fashion in other ways, like for instance ...

Michael van Gessel

Articulating the strength of existing features and removing all the clutter, to create a clear, serene and spacious landscape. This is the way Michael van Gessel has been working for over 30 years, designing and renovating parks, historic sites and ...

Merkxs + Girod

Merkxs and Girod has, over the past 10 years, developed to become one of Holland’s most recognised interior design studios. With the utmost respect for the quality of the often monumental buildings they work on, they know how to adapt ...

Fransico van Benthum

Meet Francisco van Benthum. With his remarkable talent for designing men’s fashion, he became a darling of the international avant-garde soon after graduating from The Arnhem Academy of Art and Design in 1995. In 2002 Francisco van Benthum launched his ...

VenhoevenCS

VenhoevenCS is an ambitious and innovative design studio that focuses on sustainable architecture, urban development, and infrastructure. For VenhoevenCS, a competent design is an inspiring environment in which different groups of people can co-exist in a limited space. Like the Sportplaza ...

Gilian Schrofer

Gilian Schrofer is responsible for some of Holland’s most remarkable interiors – ranging from the ultra modern and globally renowned Supperclub, to more timeless, classic designs like café Morlang. Although very distinct and diverse, they all share a sense ...

Klavers van Engelen

Fashion designers Niels Klavers and Astrid van Engelen graduated from the prestigious Gerrit Rietveld academy in Amsterdam. The work of Klavers van Engelen ranges from purely conceptual to highly wearable. With their work, Klavers and van Engelen search for new ...

Jan Jansen

Jan Jansen was born in 1941 as the son of a shoe salesman. In the sixties he started his career as haute chaussurier at a small workshop in Amsterdam. Together with his wife and muse Tonny, who supports the design process ...

Maarten Baas

In 2002, Maarten Baas graduated with Smoke at the famous Design Academy in Eindhoven. Smoke is a series in which design classics are scorched with a blow torch and then sealed with epoxy – a project which gained him worldwide ...

Sjoerd Soeters

Sjoerd Soeters, from Soeters Van Eldonk Architects, is an architect and urban planner. Under his supervision, large-scale urban projects have been developed. Projects like the Java Island in Amsterdam and Haverleij, a complex of nine castles in Den Bosch. Critics ...

Iris van Herpen

In her short career as a fashion designer, Iris van Herpen has already won numerous awards, and her collections have been enthusiastically received by the international fashion press. What makes her work pop when she presents her creations during fashion ...

Wieki Somers

In the hands of designer Wieki Somers and her partner Dylan van den Berg, ordinary objects become stimuli for a more poetic take on our daily lives. They explore the hidden qualities of objects that can evoke memories - and ...

Mediamatic

Since 1983 designers, artists, academics and programmers have been working together at Mediamatic to develop projects that combine art, culture, society and new media. Projects like open source social networks, exhibitions, and workshops on alternative uses of new technologies. Mediamatic founder ...

Joost Swarte

Placing human behaviour in an ironic perspective – that is what Joost Swarte aims for with his drawings. Swarte was part of the seminal seventies generation that brought comics to an adult audience. In 1976 he coined the term Klare ...

Neutelings Riedijk

Architects Neutelings Riedijk design sculptural buildings with a powerful urban presence, often with striking facades as a result of well thought-out designs. Although they frequently cooperate with visual artists Neutelings Riedijk do not consider themselves to be artistic. One of their ...

PowerhouseCompany

In 2004 architects Nanne de Ru and Charles Bessard started up Powerhouse Company. Like the modernists of the 20th century, they believe architects should have a broad scope of expertise, from luxury villas to low-cost-housing. From public buildings to interior ...

Kossmann.dejong

Exhibition designers Kossmann.dejong exploit every inch of space available to them, to create immersive experiences around their subjects. With a background in architecture, they use a mix of media and disciplines to tell associative stories. For Kossmann.dejong, film, light and sound ...

Atelier Kempe Thill

Andre Kempe and Oliver Thill graduated in 1996 from the Technical University in Dresden. They moved to the Netherlands, drawn by it’s vibrant architectural climate in which quality social housing is highly valued. After working for several prominent architects, they ...

ZUS

Putting architecture back in society. That is the mission of ZUS, a young company, led by Elma van Boxtel and Kristian Koreman. ZUS analyzes the contemporary urban landscape, with productions ranging from political research to specific architectural designs. For the World ...

Pi de Bruijn

Architect Pi de Bruijn is famous for expanding and modernising public buildings like the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam or the Dutch parliament in The Hague. He also developed huge urban areas like the ZuidAs in Amsterdam or the Beursplein in Rotterdam. ...

Thonik

Thomas Widdershoven and Nikki Gonnissen are, unequivocally, two of the Netherlands’ leading graphic designers. Together they form THONIK, a distinguished design studio that explores the boundaries of experiential visual communication and graphic design. The work of THONIK is internationally acclaimed, ...

UNStudio

In 1988 art historian Caroline Bos and architect Ben van BerkeI set up their architectural practice in Amsterdam, then called the Van Berkel & Bos Architectuurbureau. In 1998 they changed the name of their practice to UN Studio. The initials "UN" ...

Atelier van Lieshout

In the mid nineties Joep van Lieshout rose to fame for his extraordinary Mobile Homes, and has since become one of the most exhibited and provocative artists in the Netherlands. The work of Joep van Lieshout balances between art and ...

Rem Koolhaas

The iconic buildings of the Office for Metropolitan Architecture, OMA, and its core principles as embodied by Rem Koolhaas, have gained worldwide attention since it's foundation in 1975. The philosophy and aesthetic developed for competition submissions for and the Centre for ...

Irma Boom

Graphic designer Irma Boom has made over 250 books, 50 of which are in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Her 'Think book' for a giant coal company has become an international icon of ...

Benthem Crouwel Architects

For over 30 years, Mels Crouwel has been designing public buildings like railway stations, cultural and educational institutions and museums. He is an expert in restoring historical buildings, while at the same time, expanding them so they will fit the ...

Royal Tichelaar Makkum

The oldest company in the Netherlands, Royal Tichelaar Makkum, was founded over 430 years ago. But about twelve years ago, it almost had to close its doors forever. There was no more demand for its traditional tiles and pottery. But ...

Hella Jongerius

Hella Jongerius received worldwide recognition for her Soft Urn in 1994. A traditional vase made out of rubber. Her work, including this knitted lamp or this embroidered tablecloth is exposed all over the world including MoMa New York. Jongerius is ...

Marlies Dekkers

Marlies Dekkers, a true luminary in the world of luxe lingerie, combines provocative femininity with girlish innocence to herald a distinct approach to lingerie design that celebrates the strength, independence, and allure of the modern female. Since its birth in 1993, ...

Ted Noten

Jewellery designer Ted Noten loves to cast strange objects in acrylic blocks. A bag with a golden gun, a pendant with a little mouse wearing pearls, or a necklace with a grasshopper, a house fly and some cigarette butts. Nothing is ...

NL Architects

The visionaries that head up Amsterdam-based firm NL Architects, gained international recognition with their revolutionary use of urban spaces to create hybrid structures that turn convention on its head. Favouring pragmatism over ideology, they found meaning in the banal aspects of ...

Vlisco

Since its beginning more than 160 years ago, the company Vlisco, based in Helmond in the South of The Netherlands, makes high quality printed fabrics using a technique adapted from the ancient Indonesian batik, a method the Dutch learned during ...

Carver

Motivated by the fact that 90% of all cars use two-and-a-half tons of steel to transport just 1 person at a time, aeronautical engineers Chris van den Brink and Harry Kronen took the challenge of developing a new vehicle which ...

Mijksenaar

Making sure people find their way, quickly and easily. That’s what the designers at Mijksenaar do best. Whether it’s signage for a busy airport or an idyllic park. They make spaces more accessible, easier to comprehend, and safer. In 1991 Mijksenaar ...

Gerard Unger

Legendary type and graphic designer Gerard Unger, regards typography as a language unto itself. From highway signage to the lettering on coins, the work of Unger is all around us. But the most ubiquitous of all his typefaces, must be The ...

Willem van der Sluis

Willem van der Sluis is not an architect. He 's a product designer with a Master’s degree from the Amsterdam art academy. That is why Van der Sluis, from design studio Customr, tends to confront assignments from a different angle. During ...

Dutch Profiles

Dutch Profiles is a series of short documentaries about architects ...

June 28, 2011

Bruno Ninaber

Anything more would be unnecessary, anything less impossible. ...

June 28, 2011

Droog

In the beginning of the nineties, a group ...

June 20, 2011

Wim Crouwel

Wim Crouwel is the grand seigneur of the ...

June 15, 2011

Piet Paris

Piet Paris started out as a fashion illustrator ...

June 6, 2011

Michael van Gessel

Articulating the strength of existing features and removing ...

May 11, 2011

Merkxs + Girod

Merkxs and Girod has, over the past 10 ...

May 11, 2011

Fransico van Benthum

Meet Francisco van Benthum. With his remarkable talent ...

May 10, 2011

VenhoevenCS

VenhoevenCS is an ambitious and innovative design studio ...

May 10, 2011

Gilian Schrofer

Gilian Schrofer is responsible for some of Holland’s ...

May 10, 2011

Klavers van Engelen

Fashion designers Niels Klavers and Astrid van Engelen ...

April 13, 2011

Jan Jansen

Jan Jansen was born in 1941 as the ...

April 13, 2011

Maarten Baas

In 2002, Maarten Baas graduated with Smoke at ...

April 13, 2011

Sjoerd Soeters

Sjoerd Soeters, from Soeters Van Eldonk Architects, is ...

April 12, 2011

Iris van Herpen

In her short career as a fashion designer, ...

April 12, 2011

Wieki Somers

In the hands of designer Wieki Somers and ...

April 12, 2011

Mediamatic

Since 1983 designers, artists, academics and programmers have ...

April 12, 2011

Joost Swarte

Placing human behaviour in an ironic perspective – ...

April 12, 2011

Neutelings Riedijk

Architects Neutelings Riedijk design sculptural buildings with a ...

January 20, 2011

PowerhouseCompany

In 2004 architects Nanne de Ru and Charles ...

December 8, 2010

Kossmann.dejong

Exhibition designers Kossmann.dejong exploit every inch of space ...

December 2, 2010

Atelier Kempe Thill

Andre Kempe and Oliver Thill graduated in 1996 ...

December 1, 2010

ZUS

Putting architecture back in society. That is the ...

December 1, 2010

Pi de Bruijn

Architect Pi de Bruijn is famous for expanding ...

December 1, 2010

Thonik

Thomas Widdershoven and Nikki Gonnissen are, unequivocally, two ...

November 1, 2010

UNStudio

In 1988 art historian Caroline Bos and architect ...

September 14, 2010

Atelier van Lieshout

In the mid nineties Joep van Lieshout rose ...

September 7, 2010

Rem Koolhaas

The iconic buildings of the Office for Metropolitan ...

May 20, 2010

Irma Boom

Graphic designer Irma Boom has made over 250 ...

May 19, 2010

Benthem Crouwel Architects

For over 30 years, Mels Crouwel has been ...

November 22, 2009

Royal Tichelaar Makkum

The oldest company in the Netherlands, Royal Tichelaar ...

November 22, 2009

Hella Jongerius

Hella Jongerius received worldwide recognition for her Soft ...

November 22, 2009

Marlies Dekkers

Marlies Dekkers, a true luminary in the world ...

October 9, 2009

Ted Noten

Jewellery designer Ted Noten loves to cast strange ...

October 8, 2009

NL Architects

The visionaries that head up Amsterdam-based firm NL ...

October 8, 2009

Vlisco

Since its beginning more than 160 years ago, ...

October 8, 2009

Carver

Motivated by the fact that 90% of all ...

October 8, 2009

Mijksenaar

Making sure people find their way, quickly and ...

October 8, 2009

Gerard Unger

Legendary type and graphic designer Gerard Unger, regards ...

September 30, 2009

Willem van der Sluis

Willem van der Sluis is not an architect. ...

September 30, 2009

Dick Bruna

With the adventures of Miffy, a cute little ...

September 30, 2009

G-STAR

G-Star, the Netherlands most popular urban fashion label, ...

September 30, 2009

MVRDV

Since the mid nineties the architects of MVRDV ...

September 27, 2009

2012 Architects

The partners of 2012 Architects make waste superfluous ...

September 27, 2009

Jurgen Bey

Jurgen Bey is a visionary designer who likes ...

September 27, 2009

Joost Grootens

Ingenious, brave, impressive and absolutely unique. It’s terms ...

September 25, 2009

Alexander van Slobbe

Alexander van Slobbe gained widespread admiration for his ...

September 25, 2009

Claudy Jongstra

John Galliano, Donna Karan and Christian Lacroix are ...

September 25, 2009

Philips

Philips is one of the largest electronics companies ...

September 13, 2009