LAB #6(45) 2008

put all your energy in making something new even when you do other things Yeah, We think about it almost all the time. Creative people often join their efforts, thus joining their efforts, capabilities and powers. What has joined you? How are you different from each other? How do you find common ground? I think it’s almost you can call it spark but I think in one way we are really the opposite from each other and in another sense we are the same. The way we think about beauty and there’s no doubt I totally trust Joep and Jeroen. When I design something and then somebody says «I really don’t like it or I just don’t see it» I believe it because it’s really Yeah it’s kind of we have a common ground in finding things beautiful or not and finding a concept or not. It doesn’t mean that we don’t have discussions about that. Sometimes we don’t agree with each other and then eventually we try to convince. And there’s nothing to say & I think THAT makes the concept and the things we make strong that we are like reflecting each other all the time, trying to be a mirror. The story about how you choose a name for your creative union «De makers van» – «The makers of…»is very interesting.. Yeah, we were thinking all the time when we were studying it was so much and it’s a little bit art generation of designers it’s about name and about who did what and we didn’t want to have that so when we decided to go and work together we thought about the name that said really what we really wanted to do and eve- rybody was also talking a little bit really high stands about like creating new things and we were just like we wanna to make things we have always wanted to do that At school we always were together in a workshop doing things. «De makers van» is translated «The makers of…» and that’s a little bit. WE didn’t want to use literally our names because we collaborate also a lot with other designers and we want to keep it in a general sense like we are the makers of something. For us it makes a lot of sense. Why is the creativity beyond ego important to you? Is it a part of your individuality or do you think this is a universal principle? Good question though! I think mainly because

We are also typically Dutch in that things. We use it a lot. We tend to look a lot at existing things, at existing production processes or beauty of very simple phenomenon and use it to make something new. You often say that art has always been in design, and that is affects it more and more. Can you explain why the drive for beauty and inspiration is needed for design in general and your work in particular? For us the aspect of art in our work is very important because it’s an extra. Actually in the studio we do both: we produce really mass product and even in that for example for Fatboy we work it’s the commercial brand even in that we try to have a kind of conceptual story behind, like the reason why we give shape to things, or why we use certain elements, and I think in that sense you can call it an artistic level. For example a Cinderella table it’s almost totally art because it’s not really a usual piece, it’s more about the concept behind, it’s not even a table people sit on, and that sense is to go totally to the art side. And actually as art designers in the studio we love both It makes no difference. Is there any life experience that has defined your work, changed it, has given you a new sense of things or ideas? It’s actually totally Life experience. No the thing is when we start working together We thought from the beginning on a lot about what we see here how we think about it about everything what we see around us and that’s what actually gathered us working together and the way of thinking. I guess it’s based on what you have experienced in your life but also on a certain kind of curiosity that you need to have in you like to ask questions with everything that al- ready exists, make sure you come up with new ideas, to make it a little bit different, to look at it in another way. We have it a lot actually that we have talked together about the stuff that we Good question! Almost everything. We have design even in music. You can hear and sing design. We do different things besides design- ing we also have friends, families, sport and whatever but I think in a certain way you try to see that you interpreted different. What attracts you besides design?

Demakersvan _ The Story-tellers | Inter- view by Tatyana Zhemukhova | Photo courtesy of Judith de Graauw | The Demakersvan is a union of brave and dynamic Dutch designers Jeroen Verho- even, Joep Verhoeven and Judith de Graauw. All of them graduated fromEindhoven Academy of Design in 2004, and began working together in 2005. Design for Demakersvan is stories that reflect the thing, its true essence and cultural significance, and the designer is the storyteller – a free, unpredictable, striving for newness, challenging the usual, the normal, the accepted. Designer’s weapons are the skill and the desire to fill the surrounding world with beautiful things that would not only bring the function and reflect the tradition, but also exist as long as possible without losing their topicality. At the same time the Demakersvan team doesn’t want to claim authorship for single designers within the team and don’t position themselves as separate creators: their union is harmonized, their ideas and views, thoughts and mentalities add up to each other being incarnated in fascinating things. During the three years the studio exists, Jeroen, Joep and Judith have already created such objects as Lace Fence, Light Wind, Cinderella, Lucky Charms, Swarovski, Lost and Found, Fatboy, Bloomstone and Minimizing Einstein, many of which cause genuine interest of the public and gained recognition at international exhibitions. Questions are answered by Judith de Graauw. I think а lot of Dutch design has got to do with the concept that is behind. A lot of Dutch design- ers have this bit Dutch, being a little bit down to Earth. Combined with that if you start thinking in conceptual level like why are you making some- thing that to make a really logical reason and therefore not specifically really sober outcome of the design. I think in general Dutch design is that sober isn’t esthetic at all It’s just very down to Earth kind of thinking. It’s usually not that, higher fantastic stories but really literally the beauty of simple things and made with that good design. What are the main features of your design? What are the borders of the so-called «Dutch design» and its peculiarities? How accurate is this definition?

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