Author: @droog

Q&A with Peter van der Jagt

This week Bottoms up doorbell is back in stock after an improved production. We asked the designer, Peter van der Jagt about the design, which he came up with as a student at Hogeschool voor de Kunsten Arnhem.
Bottoms up doorbell for Droog by Peter van der Jagt

Here’s what he said:

When I was studying, a strange thing happened. I actually became tired of design. And I was not the only one.

What’s the use after all, when fashion creeps in? What’s the use in assigning a colour when, before you know it, it is “so last year”? What’s the use in designing a shape if, within two years, it reminds you of something from way back when?

We thought we had the solution: we simply didn’t design anymore. We just had a good idea and prototyped it, without sketching or deciding on colour, shape or other aesthetic characteristics. The prototype thus became the product instantly. After all, if it can be made once by a student, it could be made many times by anyone, right? (Admittedly, in hindsight, this turns out to be a bit naïve).

This kind of thinking drove the design of Bottoms up doorbell. We were concerned with how the product could tell a story—not a fairy tale or a multi-layered, symbol-ridden social statement—but the story of the product itself.

What is a doorbell? Every single doorbell is a collection of electric parts that release a hammer so it hits two objects emitting a two-tone sound, in order to announce the arrival of company at the door.

Most doorbells are white plastic cubes that say nothing. Nothing about the technique, nothing about how they work, nothing about what a pleasant sound is, or how hospitality is expressed.

I designed the Bottoms up doorbell in 1994. 16 years later, the product is still current. Perhaps as a classic, but not out of nostalgia. Of course design, and the thoughts driving design have evolved, and I think for the better. Nevertheless, not wanting to design wasn’t such a bad idea after all.

The Bottoms up doorbell is available here.

Peter van der Jagt

Do good

This holiday, do something good by purchasing Sad hanky by Sofie Lachaert and Luc d’Hanis for yourself or for someone else. With every purchase, € 4,- goes towards War Child programmes to strengthen the resilience of children in (post) war areas.

Sad Hanky

Read more about War Child here.

Sad hanky is available here.

Christophe Coppens is purveyor to Court of Belgium

Christophe Coppens has newly been appointed as purveyor to the Court of Belgium.

According to a long established tradition, the list of people whom His Majesty King Albert II appoints as purveyors to the Court of Belgium is determined once a year. In 2010, Coppens was one of the three establishments appointed to the services of the Court. What an honour!

Visit Droog Amsterdam to see the Christophe Coppens 2010-2011 Winter Collection.

Let it snow

This was the Tree trunk bench in the Droog Amsterdam courtyard on Saturday. As is usual in Holland, the rain took the snow away on Sunday.

Tree trunk bench in the courtyard of Droog Amsterdam

Q&A with Fernando Brízio

Fernando Brízio

This week we are releasing ‘What you see is not’ by Fernando Brízio. A playful combination of function and illusion, a cabinet has been reduced to its two-dimensional image, leaving only one three-dimensional detail intact—an open drawer, perfect for a book or two. A playful combination of function and illusion that saves material too. Here’s our interview with the Lisbon-based designer, Fernando.

What drew you to work with illusion?
In the Buster Keaton short film, The High Sign, Buster takes a can of paint and a brush, draws a hanger, and hangs his hat on it. When I saw the film, I immediately pictured myself doing that exact same gesture. In that scene, Buster performs what designers do—he makes a drawing that becomes a “useable” object.

Can you explain the concept of this piece?
What you see changes when you move around this object. In a certain position you see a conventional cabinet with an open drawer, but when you move sideways it becomes a flat, somehow deformed image, and the archetypal reference of a cabinet is lost. Is it a cabinet with a drawer? Or is it just a suspended drawer?

What you see is not | Droog Furniture | by Fernando Brízio

What role does illusion play in your work?
The illusion in this piece creates a situation where you observe the object’s form and deform, depending on your position in space. I am interested in this type of interaction between the object and the viewer—what you see is a result of who you are, how you think and how you are mentally and physically constituted.

How do you like to see people interact with this piece?
I like to watch people search for the point of view, when for them, the cupboard seems to be “right,” sometimes covering one eye with their hand to get it perfect. There is a French expression – “ça tape à l’œil”- literally meaning “it hits the eye”. It does not only interest me that my work “hits the eye,” but also that it challenges the mind and our perception of reality.

Woolfiller is top invention

Heleen Klopper

Woolfiller by Heleen Klopper, the kit for repairing your moth-eaten sweaters, furniture and carpets has been named one of the top 50 Best Inventions of 2010 by TIME Magazine.

When we asked Heleen what she thinks of it being named an “invention” she said, “It’s a small big step. I apply an old technique as a new repair method.”

“Woolfiller invites people to be self-reliant and creative. This meets topical issues such as economy and climate change,” says Heleen.

The kit is available at Droog Amsterdam and right here.

Q&A with Ida van Zijl, Centraal Museum Utrecht

Why did Centraal Museum acquire the Red blue Lego chair?

Firstly, because it is inspired by Rietveld who is the most important artist in our collection, and secondly, because we are interested in the more conceptual branch of design. We were the first museum to buy the Droog collection, already in the 90s. The Red blue Lego chair is the perfect combination of these two aspects.

Ida van Zijl

How do you see the piece in relation to the work of Rietveld?

I see more value in the artistic qualities of this chair than in its industrial aspect—in its promise of having people do-it-themselves. I believe Rietveld valued the spatial aspect of design as much as he valued the principles of mass production.

I don’t think it is realistic that people will buy their own Lego pieces to make it, but to me, that doesn’t matter. It is the intention and meaning that counts. It stimulates people to think about design and what it means to them.

Red blue lego chair by Mario Minale

Red and Blue Chair by Gerrit T. Rietveld (1918),  Red blue Lego chair by Mario Minale (2004).

How do you see the chair in relation to movements in the world today?

I think it’s better to compare the Red blue Lego chair to the Smoke version by Maarten Baas (that’s also how we show it at the Rietveld’s Universe exhibition). Rietveld was a master that made and continues to make people think about design. His presence in works by contemporary designers and in design discussions shows the actual value of Rietveld today. To me, that is the most important value of this piece.

Smoke chair by Maarten Baas

Smoke chair by Maarten Baas (2004)

Q&A with Mario Minale

Centraal Museum Utrecht acquired the artist’s proof #1 edition of Red blue Lego chair from our collection. It will be exhibited at Rietveld’s Universe as part of Rietveld Year organized by the Centraal Museum in Utrecht to celebrate the life and heritage of Gerrit Rietveld from October 20th, 2010 until January 30th, 2011. Here is our Q&A with Rotterdam-based designer, Mario Minale of Minale-Maeda (pictured with Kuniko Maeda).


Minale-Maeda

What was your starting point for this chair?

There is this expression in the world of theatre, “breaking the fourth wall.” It’s about bringing in something unexpected. It’s about addressing the audience, taking them out of their lull and involving them, even passing the responsibility onto them.

What I don’t like about icons is that we just accept them, and we no longer know what they mean, and then they are copied time and time again. I was looking for something unexpected in making a copy of an icon. I wanted to break the mould and no longer see an icon as something set in stone.

Red blue lego chair | Droog studio work | by Mario Minale

What was “the fourth wall” in your design?

It was the appropriation of two icons in a way that creates something new. I started with Rietveld’s iconic Red blue chair and brought in equally iconic Lego blocks, and I think because the spirit of Rietveld and of Lego aligned, it created a breed that resonates.

Why did you work with Rietveld’s chair?

Rietveld intended his chair to be a blueprint from which anyone could make his own chair out of readily available material. For Rietveld, variations of his design were intended. That is why the construction of his chair is so simple. There are no dovetails or other complicated joinery.

Why did you bring in Lego?

Lego represents the construction material of our age—it is convenient. It makes personal expression easy. It is a material that empowers the unqualified to create by themselves.

For Rietveld, it was boards cut to size at the sawmill that made his design accessible. One no longer had to go to the woods to chop a tree thanks to industry. For us, it is no longer about cutting and sawing, but rather about blocks that snap together, shiny finish included. Rietveld broke the chair into 14 pieces to make it easy. Lego breaks it into 4445 pieces, which makes it even more easy.

Was it in fact easy to make this chair?

Not at all. Lego is a basic toy, but the process of making a chair out of it became so complicated that it questioned the simplicity that Lego promised. The process I went through makes the chair an even more authentic copy. The result of making a copy is not a copy. It’s an authentic act.

Lego has the same tension. It stands for simplicity, but the moulds to make Lego are a best kept secret, and that’s why there are no knock-offs. One cannot get rid of complexity but can only displace it. This chair is a metaphor for that.

What do you think of the copyright laws that prevented a larger production of the Lego chair?

One cannot get the Rietveld chairs anymore. Finding a way to copy it makes it accessible, and this was my intention. The fact that copyright laws prevented us from making a larger production of the Red blue Lego chair intensifies this discussion.


saved by droog. at Centraal Museum Utrecht

saved by droog software vest

Centraal Museum Utrecht acquired one piece of each item from the saved by droog. collection we presented at the Furniture Fair in Milan this year. Their acquisition is currently on view at the Centraal Museum until October 31st.

As published by Centraal Museum:

The Centraal Museum is very much interested in Droog’s critical attitude with regard to social structures. Centraal Museum director Edwin Jacobs: “With saved by droog., Droog presents a beautiful prosaic image of this time of financial crisis. After all, not everything that is created has to be new, you can also add new value to something that already exists. Because of interventions by the designers, these objects have become new products. They are conceptually strong, visually direct and aesthetically adventurous and stratified.” As is always the case with Droog, the result is a product that also takes into account the great importance of the concept behind it. This way, Droog represents, since its establishment in 1993, the conceptual character of Dutch design. It is this manner of designing which brought the design group international fame. Both national and international designers have joined the label.

In their recent review of the collection, design.nl stated:

The exhibition both in Milan and now at the Centraal Museum catches the genius of Droog.  It is a contemporary yet critical embrace of design in a difficult era.

“I think the whole thing takes humorously advantage of a changed cultural and financial landscape,” says Stefan Sagmeister who printed words on a wallet about money and happiness that combined into different meanings depending on whether the wallet was open or closed.

Stefan Sagmeister does not think his wallet will change design thinking just yet.  “It wont change anything as far as the manufacturing world itself is concerned,” he says.  “But considering Droog is a rather influential force, the strategy of reusing an existing product – rather then designing a brand new one – might trigger similar projects within the broader design community.”

“We like the whole project because it is an observation about design yet also commercially successful,” says Mario Minale.  “That is a rare combination … They had to stop selling the pieces in the end because they wouldn’t have then had anything left to exhibit.”

For more information about the current exhibition in Utrecht, click here.
Read more about saved by droog. here.

Q&A with Sam Hecht

This week we have released Twin Stopper by Sam Hecht of Industrial Facility. Simply clever, Twin stopper has asymmetrical ends to deal with varying gaps between doors and floors in a compact way. Whatever you are using now, this will certainly be more elegant, not to mention safer.

Sam Hecht

Could you tell us about the philosophy behind your work?

The philosophy is simple. The world we inhabit; the people who inhabit it; the things people use to inhabit it. None of these are better or worse than the other. They are all equal. When you reach this realisation it means that a chair is no more or less important than the person sitting on it, or the room it sits in. So for a doorstop, it should relate to the door as much as relating to the room and the feet walking past.

What are your influences?

Conversations are undoubtedly my biggest influences. I have many and continue to use them as a basis for reasoning.

What was your inspiration behind the Twin stopper?

One can say a doorstopper is extremely banal. It has been with us for so long. But, what can often frustrate people about them is that the wedge inevitably sticks out too much because of the varying gap between the door and the floor, and you trip over them. To generate the form, I took a regular doorstop, cut it in half and attached both ends at right-angles. Depending on the gap size, you can turn it and the doorstop will always stay close to the door.

Twin stopper - red | Droog Accessories

How do you think the Twin stopper relates to Droog?

The way I like to think of Droog is that they interject with issues of everyday life—dealing with doorbells, tablecloths, and now a doorstopper. I like the unpretentious side of Droog, and I like that one does not have to think too much about buying the Twin stopper because it is affordable. It’s a small interjection – nothing too dramatic – but it at least it makes a little bit of improvement on what’s gone before.

How do you see that your work relates to various design trends today?

There are many products that keep coming out where their starting point is novelty. It seems designers have forgotten the original purpose of what they are designing. I personally tested the doorstop for over a year. It is what it is because of how it works and not all because of how it looks.

Do you have a message to young product designers?

In some ways, it’s better to apply one’s mind to forgotten objects–the things we “use” everyday, rather than the things we “look at”. The effect on the world is of improving it ever so slightly without using a lot of resources. I think Droog has always been an inspiration to young designers because they negated the bourgeois in favour of democratic creativity. Young people could finally relate to a type of design that related to them as individuals.

Twin stopper is now available in red and black silicone at Droog Amsterdam and on Droog’s online store for € 12.50 for a set of two.