Category: Saved by droog

Q&A with Erna Einarsdóttir

What was your initial reaction when you read the brief?

“It is pretty clever to not let all these things go to waste and, coming from Iceland, I think we could have used a project like this over here. I am sure  many things are getting thrown away from empty offices in Iceland.”


How did you come to your proposal?

“I was thinking about how worthless dish towels are–they are one of the few textile based items that we purposely don’t care about staining and making dirty. It’s the purpose of the towel to clean up after us in the kitchen and I never see a used towel that doesn’t have some kind of stains in it. So I thought it would be nice to make something that would make the towels more ‘worthy’, and that they would lose this ‘towel’ feeling and become something completely new.

I think most people have thrown a dish towel over their shoulders after cleaning the dishes so I felt it would be nice to keep that element. Now they can still throw the towels over their shoulders but this time they won’t feel like it´s just another worthless towel.”

Did you surprise yourself with your outcome?

“I am definitely surprised that I could take a dish towel and make something nice from it. I would never have chosen to work with it in any of my work.”

Q&A with Ed Annink

Ed Annink saved by droog

What was your initial reaction when you read the brief?

“All together we design and produce too much, and see what happens! Stuff does not reach our houses anymore, but instead they stay at dark places. No function, no fun. But yes, a story!

I was sad and happy. Sad for all the people that were fired because of bankruptcy. Happy to create ideas for ‘lost’ products to reach the people anyway.”

Could you tell us something about how you came to your proposal?

“If products, which were made for distribution, stay at economical uncomfortable dark places it feels like a ‘stuff story’. The products must come alive, they were made to function. So, I fantasized a story in which products can be used differently and get the opportunity to play its intended functional role afterwards (the user decides).”

cutlery saved by droog

Here’s the story Ed fantasised about the 60 sets of cutlery he revived:

Onno, Ed, Ms. Teaspoon and the King of Gold

Onno Boekhoudt (1944-2002) was an enlightened jewellery designer with a great deal of humour and fantasy. Somewhere during his career he transformed a spoon into a candle holder. Inspired by his work, I have transformed this cutlery set.
The spoon, Onno can still be used as spoon, but now and again, the spoon changes into a candle holder. You only have to buy a candle and place it.
The fork, King of Gold has received golden teeth following the mysterious King of Gold, the man whose real identity is unknown.
Ed, the knife transforms into a little mirror, only for the eyes.
And, Ms. Teaspoon, the little spoon, is totally gold layered. She will only be used as an icon of the tools we have invented and designed for function.
This set of cutlery is like a fairy tale—it can be used for the function it was made for. But is use the only reference we make things for? I vote for fantasy!

What is your opinion on this project?

“This is a very clever contribution to the current international design stress. This project is an interesting starting point to use each-others products and to create new markets, with other prices and with more diversity.”

Baskets saved by droog

Let’s see how Ed added fun with fantasy to 14 of these baskets, plus 60 sets of cutlery.

Q&A with Maison Martin Margiela

Maison Martin Margiela

What was your initial reaction when you read the brief?

“Maison Martin Margiela felt completely in line with this project as our approach to design is about transformation to create a new context. Since its beginnings in 1989, Maison Martin Margiela has been gathering garments, accessories, used and sometimes new objects across the globe. That these garments and objects may be given a second life whilst respecting and maintaining the traces of the passage of time and use remains one of the keystones of the creative expression of the Maison.”

Moustache guard cup

“Enjoy your drink, without a milk moustache!”… we’ll show you Maison Martin Margiela’s addition to 11 of these cups soon!

Q&A with Mieke Gerritzen

Mieke Gerritzen

What was your initial reaction when you read the brief?

“Well, my first reaction was…..that it is a really great idea! To boost the designs of Blokker and the Makro, to really take serious all the industrial production of design in the world. At the same time I thought…. the person who got this idea of saving all the design junk and to bring it back to another level of design and reflection is a genius. No matter what the designers do with it. The idea of pimping up the mainstream is a great statement. It’s not about design these days, its about the message.”

Vest

Stay tuned to see how Mieke revived 50 of these safety vests.

Q&A with Marian Bantjes

Marian Bantjes

What was your initial reaction when you read the brief?

“There is a kind of weirdo excitement we get in a thrift store. Basically you’re surrounded by junk that someone else didn’t want, but there’s a thrill of looking through that junk for the hidden gem … for that one thing that you see value in that was overlooked by others. This is urged by a slightly desperate desire to find it before anyone else does, and tempered by recognizing that it is all, after all, largely junk. So reading the brief and looking at the pictures was exactly like that.”

chair

Has the brief brought something new to your body of work?

“Yes, the chairs particularly … this is very new for me because I only conceived and gave directions for the work. I know many people work like this but I’ve never done anything before that I haven’t actually put my hands on in some way. At the moment it feels very liberating, but we’ll see how they turn out!”

Stay tuned to see what Marian did with 80 of these folding chairs and 1 dining table.

Hello world!

Salt shaker

Welcome to Droog’s blog, where you will find extra information and behind-the-scene content as it happens–whether it is product news, an interview with a designer, updates on a presentation or event, or a feature on a project by the Lab or the Agency.

First up is our upcoming presentation in Milan, ‘saved by droog’. We saved 5135 items from liquidation sales and other leftovers and asked 14 designers to treat them as raw material. One of the lots was 200 of these humble salt shakers. Wait till you see what designer Eric Klarenbeek did with them! We never could have expected it…

At our presentation from April 14th – 18th, the items will be immediately available for sale in quantities dictated by limited liquidation lot sizes, so make sure you get what you want before it is gone!

If you have any suggestions for postings or feedback, please send your material to [email protected]. Make sure to also follow us on Twitter @droogamsterdam @renny10 for live updates throughout the event.

Here’s the official page for the event.

<a href=”http://www.droog.com/news/2010/04/more-new-owners-2/”><span class=’fee-field fee-filter-the_title’ data-fee=’475′>More new owners</span> | droog</a>