Tag: Renny Ramakers

Het Nieuwe Instituut: Design Day

Nieuwe Instituut warmly invites you to Design Day! Join us as we welcome contemporary makers, design practitioners and archivists to share innovative projects and conversations on the field of (Dutch) design and design heritage.

Design Day will feature special detours through the installations Archives at Risk and the Droog30. Design or Non-design?; a panel discussion with international pioneering archivists and a reflection on the legacy of design institutions Premsela and the Netherlands Design Institute; a conversation moderated by the Droog30. Design or Non-design? curators, with an intervention by The New Stijl. The Design Night party will close off the day with dancing until midnight.

Ticket: Day Pass

Programme

14:30-16:00 Future Archives: New Approaches to Preserving Design

How will we remember today’s most exciting designers in 50 years? And how much do we know about who created the work that has inspired today’s cutting-edge design? In the Netherlands, and globally, design and digital culture archives are under threat. Fortunately, archivists are finding innovative ways to preserve these vital records and make them accessible to new audiences. With: James Parnell from Pirate Bay Archive, Kinda Ghannoum & Sally Alassafen of Syrian Graphic Design Archive and Joel Derksen & Patrick Pittman of Nor: A Living and Open Commons of Canadian Design. Moderated by Alice Twemlow.

Ticket: Future Archives

17:00-18:00 Revisiting Design Institutions: the Netherlands Design Institute and Premsela

Aric Chen, Nieuwe Instituut’s General and Artistic Director, talks to some of his predecessors: the former directors of the Netherlands Design Institute and Premsela, which was controversially merged with other institutions to form (Het) Nieuwe Instituut in 2013. Els van der Plas, Dingeman Kuilman and John Thackara will reflect on how design has changed since then, and how design institutions might change with it.

Ticket: Revisiting Design Institutions

19:30-21:00 Design Movements: Droog & The New Stijl

A dual event about design movements, featuring the Droog30. Design or Non-design? installation and design platform The New Stijl. Aric Chen will moderate a conversation with Droog30. Design or Non-design? curators Maria Cristina Didero and Richard Hutten, Droog founders Renny Ramakers and Gijs Bakker together with Marco Sammicheli, Director of Museo del Design Italiano amongst others. The talk will include a contribution by The New Stijl platform of creatives as they share their kaleidoscopic visions on design as a practice of the future.

Ticket: Design Movements

20:00-23:59 Design Night

Visit all our exhibitions until late, enjoy a cocktail at the bar of Het Nieuwe Café and dance until midnight to the sounds of DJ Blvk Nola from Rotterdam collective Blush Soundsystem!

Ticket: Design Night

All Day

Together with our detour guides – Nieuwe Instituut’s team of tour guides – you can experience new ways of looking, thinking and designing. The detours will take you on an expedition through the installations Archives at Risk, Droog30. Design or Non-design? and the building of the Nieuwe Instituut.

Dive into the world of Gerrit Rietveld and other iconic designers whose work is included in the National Collection for Dutch Architecture and Urban Planning.

Een bezoeker loopt langs een wand die uit verschillende panelen bestaat, waarop foto's en teksten bevestigd zijn.

Archives at Risk during Dutch Design Week 2022. Photo: Jeph Francissen

Design Day is organised in collaboration with:

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Graphic design header image: Jacob Hoving
Photography: Tim Elkaïm

Nieuwe Instituut: Droog30. Design or Non-design?

Nieuwe Instituut organiseert in april 2023 tijdens designbeurs Salone del Mobile in Milaan samen met Triennale Milano een tentoonstelling rond Droog. Bij het dertigjarig bestaan staan de samenstellers stil bij anekdotes over de totstandkoming en ontvangst van opvallende meubels, woonaccessoires, verlichting en andere producten van Droog. Aan de hand van die terugblik reflecteren zij op ontwikkelingen die het design- en medialandschap de afgelopen decennia hebben doorgemaakt.

Bank ‘The Cross’ by Richard Hutten for Droog Design, 1994. Photo courtesy of Richard Hutten.

Samenstellers Maria Cristina Didero en Richard Hutten, een van de oprichters van Droog en die ook het tentoonstellingsontwerp verzorgt, maken ter gelegenheid van de presentatie een soort ruimtelijke vertaling van een twitter-feed. Je stapt als bezoeker binnen in een driedimensionaal meningenlandschap. Zo maken de curatoren de mentaliteit van Droog tastbaar en invoelbaar: nog steeds niet bang voor stevige reacties en onveranderd tegen de stroom in. Er zijn verhalen opgenomen over verschillende (post)moderne Droog-klassiekers. In Huttens inrichting kun je zelf live op locatie en via het twitteraccount @DROOG30 je mening achterlaten over wat je er tegenkomt. De tentoonstelling herovert het publieke debat dat zich tegenwoordig vooral online lijkt af te spelen en verbindt het aan de analoge ruimtelijke ingrepen waarmee de Droog-ontwerpers zich al decennia uitspreken.

“Toen Droog in Milaan Dutch Design presenteerde, ging er een schok door de stad.” – NRC, 30 maart 2023 
“By happy coincidence, 2023 is also the 30th anniversary of the Dutch collective Droog Design” – The New York Times, 11 April 2023

Tejo Remy, Rag Chair. Foto: Lisa Guadaire

Meer informatie

Droog30. Design of Non-design? is een samenwerking tussen het Nieuwe Instituut, Droog en Triennale Milano. De tentoonstelling was in Milaan te zien van 15 tot 23 april tijdens de Milano Design Week / Salone del Mobile en daarna van 2 mei tot 27 augustus bij het Nieuwe Instituut in Rotterdam.

Over Nieuwe Instituut

Nieuwe Instituut in Rotterdam is het nationale museum en instituut voor architectuur, design en digitale cultuur. Het instituut wil laten zien hoe krachtig nieuwe (ontwerp)ideeën kunnen zijn. Het doel is om een betere toekomst te verbeelden, uit te proberen en in de praktijk te brengen door samen stil te staan bij denkbeelden van vroeger, nu en later. Bezoekers worden aangemoedigd om vragen te stellen, mee te denken en zo zelf een bijdrage te leveren. De tentoonstellingen, het onderzoek, de evenementen en andere initiatieven die het instituut in binnen- en buitenland ontwikkelt, vormen samen een proeftuin. Toonaangevende ontwerpers, denkers en uiteenlopende publieksgroepen werken er samen aan een kritische benadering van actuele vraagstukken.

Nieuwe Instituut huisvest de Rijkscollectie voor Nederlandse Architectuur en Stedenbouw, en beheert Huis Sonneveld, een toonaangevend voorbeeld uit 1933 van Nederlandse functionalistische architectuur in het Rotterdamse Museumpark.

Nieuwe Instituut is ‘s werelds eerste Zoöp, een baanbrekend organisatiemodel waarbij alle aspecten van de activiteiten en programmering van het museum worden bepaald door de impact op en het nut voor andere vormen van leven. Het instituut is opdrachtgever van het Nederlandse paviljoen op de Internationale Architectuurtentoonstelling van La Biennale di Venezia, en treedt in 2023 op als artistiek directeur van de vierde editie van London Design Biënnale in Somerset House (1-25 juni 2023).

See All This @droog

Na zeven jaar kunstmagazine komt See All This van de pagina’s af en achter hun scherm vandaan. Het kunstmagazine komt naar Amsterdam om de legendarische Gallery nieuwe invulling te geven — op de Staalstraat, waar in de 17de eeuw de staalmeesters de kleur en kwaliteit van het textiel keurden en waar Rembrandt ze vereeuwigde. Het wordt een culturele ontmoetingsplek, een vrijplaats, een heiligdom zelfs, en een plek voor lunch of wijn met een magazine.

Op deze unieke plek gaat See All This (verkoop)tentoonstellingen maken, diners geven én masterclasses aanbieden, opdat eeuwenoude kennis van materialen en technieken wordt doorgegeven, maar ook dat mensen de geestverruimende sensatie beleven van dingen maken met de hand.

Leven met kunst

De leidraad van de nieuwe avontuurlijke onderneming is ‘leven met kunst’. Want ja, kunst kan ons optillen, gerust stellen, vragen stellen, blij maken, en zelfs, zo leert recent baanbrekend onderzoek, gezond houden (I. Ross, Your Brain on Art: How the Arts Transform Us, maart 2023). Kunst is niet alleen voor in witte zalen, het is ook alles wat dagelijks is en om ons heen. Daarom wil See All This een losse, huiselijke en atelierachtige sfeer maken, waarin planten, mensen, dieren en kunst samenkomen. 

Het hart van alles wat See All This doet, is het papieren magazine – waarvan de thema’s fysiek zullen worden vertaald. De Gallery zal steeds van gedaante verwisselen door met andere internationale gastcuratoren te werken — waarmee ze gelijktijdig hun themanummers samenstellen — zoals landschapsontwerper Piet Oudolf, architect Bijoy Jain en curator Catherine de Zegher. 

Vanaf juni: maak je eigen Piet Oudolf-tuin!

Met de lancering van het zomernummer (#30) vindt de officiële opening plaats. Op 3 juni opent See All This de deuren met PARADISE FOUND, in samenwerking met Piet Oudolf. Van de galerie wordt een kwekerij gemaakt, waar je Oudolfs planten kunt kopen voor op straat, balkon of je (gevel)tuin. Maak dus je eigen Piet Oudolf-tuin. En help mee om je omgeving te vergroenen.

Highline van Amsterdam

De bekendste Piet Oudolf-tuin is de Highline in New York. Dit jaar krijgt Amsterdam zijn eigen mini-highline. Speciaal voor See All This heeft Oudolf een 0,75 x 16 meter lange tuin ontworpen tegen de gevel van @droog aan de Groenburgwal: een cadeau aan @droog en de stad Amsterdam. Deze tuin op het zuidoosten is inmiddels aangeplant. 

Renny Ramakers: ‘In een tijd waarin alles verandert, verandert Droog mee. In alle hoeken van @droog is ons verleden zichtbaar maar in de true spirit van Droog staan we ook steeds open voor nieuwe ideeën. See All This maakt een prachtig tijdschrift en ik stel me hoe ze met enthousiasme onze unieke plek nieuwe impulsen gaan geven.’

Exhibition Olphaert den Otter: Reality Check

Reality Check is a solo exhibition by visual artist Olphaert den Otter (Poortugaal, 1955). The exhibition features 28 paintings in egg tempera on paper and canvas/panel, from the series World Stress Painting, Home Made, and Postcode. Most of these have never been shown before. They form a bridge between classical landscape painting and contemporary subject matter. This exhibition shows how beauty and engagement can reinforce each other.

Olphaert den Otter’s paintings are based on reality: a report or a photo in the newspaper, a spot in the woods, the meagre possessions of an unhoused person. Yet the works are not realistic. At will, Den Otter omits or adds details from the image. For instance, he consistently leaves out all the people: “There is no story. There is image.”

olphaert-den-otter-reality-check

ABOUT OLPHAERT DEN OTTER 

Olphaert den Otter (born 1955, Poortugaal) studied at the Willem de Kooning Academy in Rotterdam. Den Otter’s career spans over 40 years as a visual artist, a painter, animator, and, in the past, teacher at various academies. His work is included in various museum collections including the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Centraal Museum Utrecht, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam and Kunstmuseum Den Haag, Museum Belvédère Heerenveen. Den Otter participated in group exhibitions in the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, the UK, Belgium, and Australia. Besides his practice as a visual artist, he is a countertenor in the Rhetorical Quartet and lectures on cultural-philosophical themes. Olphaert den Otter lives and works in Rotterdam.


The exhibition Olphaert den Otter ­– Reality Check is on view from 10 November 2022 to 9 January 2023. 

For more info, click here

Renny Ramakers will be taking part in a major international Architecture and Design Symposium in Munich

Renny Ramakers, co-founder of Droog, will be taking part in a major
international Architecture and Design Symposium in Munich, Germany on the
25th of February, 2015 from 16.00 – 20.00.

*About the Symposium:*
As a partner country of MCBW, The Netherlands is the most innovative and
important location for design in Europe. The Symposium „DeUTsCH“ will look
at the differences, similarities and potential synergies of the Netherlands
and Germany with regard to architecture and design.
During two panel sessions three Designer and three Architects from each
country will discuss the following questions:

Does Design and Architecure align differently in the Netherlands than in
Germany?
What are the diverse approaches of a designer and an architect?
How different or similar are they dealing with material and scale?
Where does architecture and design meet?

Read more on the program here:
http://www.mcbw.de/mcbw-2016/programm/liste/detailseite/event/deutsch.html

*Event details:*
When: Thu, 25.02.2016
16:00 – 20:30

Where: Pinakothek der Moderne | Ernst von Siemens-Auditorium
Barer Str. 40
80333 München

The event is in English.

Social City (beta version) at Beijing Design Week 2015

 

At the Next City Living Lab during the Beijing Design Week (23/9 – 7/10, 2015) the beta version of the Social City online platform will be launched.

Cities are becoming larger and larger, smarter and smarter. Technology is supposed to solve all city problems. Governments, companies and urban planners are eager to do so. But what about citizens? What do they think? Can they have a say? In Social City they have!

Social City is an online platform which, via a game-like experience, invites CITIZENS all over the world to share their dreams, desires, and needs. This input will generate a virtual city. People can build a house, define their neighborhood, envision their community, arrange their mobility, choose their economy, and can even decide how to rule Social City.

Multiple choices are possible. People can check out what other Social Citizens are dreaming of doing and being. If they become inspired by them and want to revise their city, they could simply create a new avatar and play the game again. The more people participate, the more Social City will grow.

In Social City the citizens take the lead, and experts in architecture and city planning are invited to reflect on the shared desired elements which constitute Social City. It challenges top down city planning. The platform is a unique online combination of shared dreams and desires of citizens, hard data and discourse by professionals.

The platform is part of the Social City project at Shenzhen Urbanism/Architecture Bi-City Biennale (UABB, 1/12/205 – 1/3/2016), curated by Renny Ramakers (Droog Foundation/Design+Desires).

Social City platform is curated by Renny Ramakers in collaboration with Mark van der Net (OSCity). Technical implementation: OSCity. Graphics: Thonik.

Exhibition venue in Beijing: The Nurturing House, Sanjing Hutong No. 21, Dashilar, Xicheng District, Beijing, 100051

MCBW LECTURES – Design connects



Renny Ramakers will present a lecture at the MCBW LECTURES in Munich. In line with the guiding principle of MCBW 2014, Design connects, MCBW LECTURES will serve to illustrate the key role design plays as a moderator and as a motivator, as a questioner and as a consultant. Design connects users with the environments around them. Design facilitates new perspectives for the development of products and services.

Renny Ramakers: the Best of 4 Worlds
February 26th, 2014
5:30pm – 6:45pm

The symposium

Studio-X New York hosted the Open house symposium on Saturday, April 23rd, which was fully booked.



Co-founder and director of Droog, Renny Ramakers presented the goals of Droog Lab’s series of projects, each inspired by a different location.


Charles Renfro of Diller Scofidio + Renfro presented an overview of the design process and potential outcomes for Open house.


Mark Wasiuta presented an overview of suburban developments.


Economist Heleen Mees talked about the benefits of a service economy, comparing the situation in New York to that of Amsterdam.


Author Roo Rogers discussed the rising trend in collaborative consumption.


Artist Mary Ellen Carroll discussed her experience in working in suburban areas, including her project prototype 180.




 

Q&A with Renny Ramakers about Droog Las Vegas

Las Vegas

Many are surprised to hear Droog is opening in Las Vegas.
Why Las Vegas?

The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas approached us. Initially it’s hard to see the common ground between Droog and Las Vegas, but for both, experience is important. For us it is interesting to reach a new audience, and Las Vegas is truly a unique place in the world. Sometimes reality can be wilder than fiction.

What do you think of the kind of design you see there?

One sees a totally different type of design. I believe the audience is ready for a new approach, one that establishes new borders between the design and the non-design world.

What about the themed approaches in Las Vegas?

The themed experiences are old-fashioned. You can see Las Vegas is looking for new experiences, and The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas is breaking some new ground. But it was already happening in 2002, for example with the Guggenheim Hermitage Museum by Rem Koolhaas. Perhaps then it was too early, and now might be a better time for new developments.

What are your impressions of Las Vegas?

Whether you are eating, watching a performance at a theatre, shopping or gambling, everything in Las Vegas is about entertainment. Such a concentration of entertainment is an interesting model for me.

Any thoughts on gambling?

If one can restrict oneself, gambling can be very playful.

Can you tell us about the store design?

With each store location we take a different approach. For Droog Las Vegas, our brief to the designer, Marcel Schmalgemeijer, was that it should be a strong gesture but at the same time, be very functional. Seems obvious, but it is important that the store looks and functions like a store. We want the design to allow the products to speak for themselves and to create an experience.

Are there any future plans for the store?

There will be a program of events and new collaborations with the local context. We have some ideas so far, but are also looking forward to what Las Vegas will inspire.

Droog Las Vegas opened yesterday. See store details here.

Vidafine interviews Renny Ramakers

Text by Vidafine.

“Reality isn’t static anymore. It’s not a set of ideas you either have to fight or resign yourself to. It’s made up, in part, of ideas that are expected to grow as you grow, and as we all grow, century after century.” – Robert M. Pirsig, Zen: The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance,1974 , as referenced by Renny Ramakers, Co-founder and Director of Droog.

Recently, we introduced you to Droog, a conceptual design company located in Amsterdam. We mentioned the various facets of the company and how the Droog Lab is quickly becoming a globally known research hub that brings relevant solutions to its clients, and people of the world. Many of us live life hoping to one day start something that we can call our own. Few, actually go ahead and do it. After learning about Droog, I was particularly interested in the projects that this company is currently involved in, and was estatic when Co-founder and Director of Droog, Renny Ramakers, agreed to chat with us about her beginnings and her vision for the future of Droog.

idafine: After some research, we discovered that you have a history background. How did you transition into global design from what you studied in school? What drew you to this particular industry?

Renny: After studying art history I reached a point in which I wanted to impact it. Art history gave me broad perspective and critical rigour that I combined with my ability to sense what is going on at the present. Together with the Co-founder of Droog, Gijs Bakker, we noticed a movement that some designers in the Netherlands were pioneering. We gave it a title and a presence that took off, and eventually became global.

Vidafine: Knowing about the past and how things ‘used to be’ definitely can drive someone to initiate change for the future. What is your ultimate goal for Droog?

Renny: I am quite ambitious and we have many plans… I started Droog because I found it necessary to present a new spirit in design. At that time this new spirit was based on a conceptual approach. Now, one can see this approach everywhere and as I feel it, it is time for new impulses. That’s why I started the Lab. But we are also trying other directions, and are working on other models. For instance, our presentation this past April in Milan, Saved by Droog, has opened up a new way of working (by treating unwanted products as raw material for product development) and we want to continue on this path. Ultimately, I want to express that Droog is not a design collective but a company. Our company is content driven but it also wants to make profit.

Vidafine: Founding your own company is definitely a lifetime milestone. What’s your most memorable moment as Co-founder and Director of Droog? Continue reading “Vidafine interviews Renny Ramakers”

Interview with Renny Ramakers by Yatzer

Interview and text by Apostolos Mitsios for Yatzer.

Renny Ramakers - Droog

What can we say about Droog design, a company that since 1993 opens new paths to creativity and has produced some of the most iconic design pieces of the last decades? Some weeks ago Workshop-Dionisis Sotovikis and Mariolopoulos-Kanaginis Foundation for the Environmental Sciences presented at the Benaki Museum, Athens, Greece, a retrospective Droog exhibition called “Greek green greet” (June 4th – July 25th 2010), being the largest Droog exhibition in the world since 2007. Athens came closer to the design world and Renny Ramakers, the heart and soul of Droog, of course could not miss the event. Yatzer was there, eager to know all those little stories hidden behind a successful company that make the difference. Renny Ramakers talked to us in the most sincere way, offering one of the most interesting encounters we have ever had. Get ready to get inside the headquarters of one of the most significant design companies of all times!

First of all, Mrs. Ramakers, did you like the exhibition at the Benaki Museum?
 It is fantastic the fact that you have made everything by yourselves, I only delivered some items, it is awesome! The organizers wanted more and more products, initially they had the fear that there would not be enough products to fill the space, but finally everything went perfect. It is always very interesting to see the way other people interpret your work. Sometimes I take a look at a certain piece and I say to myself “look, I hadn’t realized it looked so nice!”. It was also so pleasant to see prototypes that I hadn’t seen for a lot of time, for years, like the Cosy chair by SMAG that we had showed at Milan many years ago and I didn’t have the chance to see it again since then.

If Droog was a child, back in 93, which would be the references that would define you? Who would be your parents, who would be your brothers and who would be your heroes?
The father and mother of my company are me and my partner Gijs Bakker, who left us recently, so I would say we are divorced (laughs)! I do not think we have many brothers and sisters because we are quite unique. The source of inspiration is the designers themselves, the children of the company. As soon as we like something, we ask directly the designer to collaborate with us. The way the designers react to an original idea of ours often makes the project much bigger. We are inspired by the designers, but the designers are also inspired by us. It is all about collaboration! There is a retro alimentation open to surprises. If you have good designers, they bring the whole project to another level.

Who was the first designer that you have collaborated with?
Jurgen Bey is very inspiring for us, he has been with us since the beginning, before we even started. He and his partner Rianne Makkink in 1992, when I was organizing small exhibitions at that time, were designing our exhibitions, but the first product was of Marcel Wanders. In 1988, after Wanders graduation from the School of the Arts Arnhem, I bought a prototype of him and this became the first product of the company. His breakthrough to fame was a chair he made for us, the Knotted Chair (1996).

Could you say you are Marcel Wanders’ design mama?
Yes (laughs), but do not tell him!

Having in mind that we often define ourselves against something, against what did you define yourself at that time? Continue reading “Interview with Renny Ramakers by Yatzer”

green greek greet by droog

We’re coming to Athens. The exhibition opening is tomorrow and a lecture by Renny Ramakers follows on Saturday.

June 4th – July 25th, 2010
Opening: Thursday June 3rd, 20:00
Benaki Museum, Building at 138 Pireos St., Athens, Greece

Workshop Dionisis Sotovikis and Mariolopoulos Kanaginis Foundation for the environmental sciences, in collaboration with the Benaki Museum, present the exhibition ‘greek green greet by droog’ at the Benaki Museum, Pireos St. Annexe, Athens, Greece, from June 4th until July 25th, 2010, with an opening event on Thursday, June 3rd at 20:00.

The exhibition ‘greek green greet by droog’ is the largest retrospective Droog exhibition in the world since 2007 and it will present Droog by exploring, investigating and discussing the concepts of recycle, re-use, recreate, reinvent, clarity of concept, memory and nostalgia. Our Greek partner since 2007, workshop’s purpose is to draw the attention of the general public in Greece, providing information about contemporary design with environmental concerns worldwide.

Design, Architecture and Sustainability Conference
featuring lecture by Renny Ramakers

Benaki Museum amphitheatre
Saturday, June 5th

Within the framework of the exhibition and on the occasion of the World Environment Day, Mariolopoulos-Kanaginis Foundation in collaboration with the Benaki Museum, organises a scientific one-day conference on ‘Design, Architecture and Sustainability’, which will take place at the amphitheatre of the Benaki Museum, Pireos Annexe, with invited speakers from academia and practice, from the fields of architecture and environmental design. There will be two sessions: ‘Sustainability in Architecture and the Built Environment’ and ‘Environmental Design in Architecture’. The event will begin at 10.30 on Saturday morning and will end at 15.00, with a closing speech and presentation of the exhibition ‘greek green greet by droog’ by Renny Ramakers, co-founder and director of Droog. The conference will be conducted in English.

Information for the one-day conference
+ 30 210 610.0.610
+ 30 210 362.3.861

About workshop
workshop is an animated entity, a vessel exploring the intersecting trajectories of architecture, art, design and construction that emerge from the dialectics of ideas and the processes leading to creation.
www.workshop-s.com

About the Mariolopoulos-Kanaginis Foundation
Mariolopoulos-Kanaginis Foundation for the Environmental Sciences was established in 1993 with the objective to develop and promote the sciences relative to the environment, as well as the study of human’s interaction with the environment and the cultural heritage of Greece.
www.mariolopoulosfoundation.gr

About The Hellenic Institute of Architecture
The Hellenic Institute of Architecture pursues the development of architecture in Greece and is also interested in improving the legal framework of production, in protecting the environment and its relation to new building construction, as well as in preserving Greek architectural heritage, old as well as new.
www.heliarch.gr

Museum Opening Hours
Wednesday, Thursday, Sunday 10:00 – 18:00
Friday & Saturday 10:00 – 22:00
Monday & Tuesday CLOSED

Curated by: DIONISIS + KIRKI
Consultant: D.art

As published by Special Bite

De directeur en mede-oprichter van designbureau Droog kondigde vorige week de komst van een concepthotel en restaurant in Amsterdam aan. Eten speelt een belangrijke rol in haar leven. Renny Ramakers groeide op met de Hollandse pot en af en toe uitstapjes naar de Chinese en Italiaanse keuken. “Bij ons thuis mocht je op je verjaardag altijd kiezen wat er werd gegeten. Ik koos altijd voor de voor kinderen niet zo gebruikelijke combinatie lever en spinazie. Waarom? Geen idee. Ik zal het wel heel lekker hebben gevonden.”

Go Slow Cafe

Kunsthistorica Ramakers (@rennydroog op twitter) stond in 1993 aan de wieg van Droog. Een inmiddels wereldwijd bekend bureau vanwege de conceptuele benadering van design. Droog ontwikkelt concepten en tentoonstelingen. Met designers, onder wie Hella Jongerius, worden producten ontwikkeld, van deurknoppen tot de knotted chair van Marcel Wanders. Headquarters en de flagshipstore zijn in Amsterdam en er zijn ook winkels in New York en Tokio. Alles draait om no-nonsense down to earth design.

Droog doet ook eetprojecten, zoals het Go Slow Cafe waarbij alles langzaam gaat en senioren bedienen. Dit project is in verschillende delen van de wereld met veel succes gepresenteerd.

Ramakers zelf lust eigenlijk alles. “Met uitzondering van karnemelk. Ook ben ik niet zo dol op zacht voedsel, zoals boter en room. Ik hou heel erg van koken, vooral diners voor vrienden. Helaas komt er vanwege de werkdrukte te weinig van. Ook omdat ik veel reis. Als ik moet kiezen tussen een diner met vrienden (of vreemden) of een feest, dan kies ik voor het diner. Contacten op feesten zijn vaak vluchtig, ik word te veel afgeleid, aan een diner kun je rustiger praten.”

Zondag 2 mei

Als ik ’s morgens op sta, drink ik een glas warm water met een stukje limoen. Dat is lekker en gezond. Wanneer ik het ontbijt klaarmaak, drink ik een glas groentesap. Jazeker, ook al zo gezond… Wat een gezondheidsfreak hoor ik jullie al denken. Maar dat valt best wel mee. Snoepen doe ik ook graag.

Ontbijten doe ik ook altijd volgens een vast patroon. Twee bruine boterhammen (ik hou van het spelt zuurdesembrood van Marqt), de een belegd met kaas, de ander met avocado en tuinkers. Glas uitgeperste sinaasappel erbij en wat losse verse vruchten. Vandaag zijn dat aardbeien en stukjes ananas. Die aardbeien smaken nergens naar. Ik weet het, ik had ze niet zo vroeg in het seizoen moeten kopen maar ze lagen er zo verleidelijk bij.

Als we het niet vergeten, nemen we in het weekend nog een zacht gekookt eitje. (En ja hoor, vandaag weer vergeten.) Tot slot drinken we groene thee. Dat drink ik overigens de hele dag. Bij voorkeur geen zakjes maar getrokken van theebladeren.

Mijn geliefde maakt op deze totaal verregende dag de lunch. Hij kan niet koken, zegt hij, maar er is niemand die zo lekker spiegelei met tomaat kan maken als hij. Zoals gezegd, ik hou erg veel van koken maar ik haat boodschappen doen. Ik doe dat een keer per week, op vrijdag of zaterdag. Dit keer is daar niets van gekomen met het gevolg dat ik niet veel in huis heb. In zulke gevallen kijk ik vaak op www.supercook.com. Je vult in wat je in huis hebt en voila, je krijgt honderden recepten voorgeschoteld.

Vandaag wordt het soep van geroosterde paprika en aubergine als voorgerecht and als hoofdgerecht risotto van gemengde paddenstoelen. Als je zorgt dat je altijd tomaten, citroenen, uien, knoflook, kruiden (ik heb verse kruiden op mijn terras), Parmezaanse kaas en goede olijfolie in huis hebt, valt er altijd iets te maken.

We trakteren onszelf op een fles Fixin. Deze heerlijke rode wijn komt uit de Noordelijke Bourgogne. Ik weet dat toevallig omdat we er gefietst hebben. Nagerechten nemen we vrijwel nooit als we thuis eten.

Maandag 3 mei

Om half vier kwam ik er op weg naar een afspraak achter dat ik nog niet geluncht had. Snel een broodje gegeten bij Stanislavsky in de Stadsschouwburg: ik moest daar in de buurt zijn. Het valt me op dat als je tegenwoordig een broodje kaas bestelt, er altijd een grote hoeveelheid liflafjes bij zit. Simpel een lekker broodje met goede kaas kun je in dit soort gelegenheden steeds moeilijker krijgen. Daarvoor moet je naar de Kaaskamer in de Runstraat.

‘s Avonds de soep van zondag gegeten en ik wilde pasta met broccoli maken. Maar toen ik de broccoli uit de koelkast haalde, zaten er bloemetjes in. Dus werd het Penne Arrabbiata. Heel lekker!

Later een paar afleveringen van de Soprano’s gekeken. Op dvd uiteraard. Wat wordt er in die serie veel gegeten…

Dinsdag 4 mei

Vandaag geluncht op het werk. Wij lunchen altijd gezamenlijk met alle medewerkers. De tafel staat dan vol met zaken als hagelslag en pindakaas maar ook komkommer, sla, avocado en kaas.

‘s Avonds heb ik lamskotelet met couscous en geroosterde pompoen gemaakt. Vooraf sla met ei, walnoten, rode uit en roquefort.

Continue reading “As published by Special Bite”

FAQ with Renny Ramakers

Renny Ramakers saved by droog

What was the motivation behind the exhibition?
“The emphasis in Milan has always been to present new products. Much of the innovation comes from new materials and techniques and the outcome is more products.  The drive for the new is endless—it is demanded by our profession and the market for survival.
At this exhibition we are responding to this demand by reviving leftovers—existing products that still have their basic functionality intact, but somehow have lost their place and have become undesirable and unused. We saw this as a perfect opportunity for a revival.”

Why are you interested in using leftovers?
Three reasons:
a) to save them from the landfill (relating to the environmental crisis)
b) as an innovative business model (relating to the financial crisis)
c) to challenge designers to shift from ‘how to design something it’ to ‘what to do with it’ and to see what new qualities this can bring.

Do you see new qualities in the designs?
“If we gave them a different brief, for example, to design new cutlery, we would have never gotten the response we received. The designer would have concentrated on how to design it, rather than on what to do with it. In Ed Annink’s case, the knife is still a knife, but it is also a mirror for the eyes (he put a little magnet for hanging it somewhere). There is a double function that I’ve never seen with cutlery.”
And in the example of the ‘Read before you eat table,’ the design aspect is not in the table per se, but on the message on the table, urging you to take an action before eating.”

Were the outcomes what you expected?
“Not at all! I never could have expected the ‘3 star bomb!’ by Atelier Ted Noten—a whimsical narrative from 500 very ordinary matchboxes. Or the design by Studio Makkink & Bey—they turned handkerchiefs into a new kind of very slow world news carrier, one that distributes articles personally selected by Jurgen Bey on a medium that the reader can then embellish with embroidery and that can be kept in the pocket.
In the Netherlands we say ‘newspaper of today is for packing the fish tomorrow’. Jurgen made a newspaper in a completely different way. It’s particularly timely with the arrival of the iPad. The responses are diverse, and that makes the project stronger.”

What’s the difference between Droog in the nineties, and what we see at this exhibition today?
“Re-using the old is a familiar concept for us, but never have we done it at this scale. Our interest in this project was to see if using unwanted remains could be turned into a coherent business model—as a valid approach to developing a ‘new’ collection (which also by definition exists in limited editions). Timeliness is also critical—the financial crisis means developing new products in the old way is just not good enough. We need innovation on a structural level.”

Will you continue with this approach?
We would like this project to travel as a pop-up store, also asking local designers to contribute new designs, and also using leftovers that are readily available in that location.
I also see this project as a laboratory for unlimited editions, which means the starting material does not necessarily have to come from a bankruptcy, but rather be easily made. The crux is to use something existing or something easily made as the starting point for re-interpretation.