Dezeen Magazine

Dezeen x Dutch Design Week 2020

Dezeen presents a virtual tour of Dutch Design Week plus five live talks with emerging designers

Dezeen x DDW2020: Dezeen has teamed up with Dutch Design Week to present an exclusive virtual tour featuring emerging designers plus a live discussion each day this week exploring key design trends.

Working with Dutch Design Week (DDW), we've identified 15 emerging designers whose work relates to the week's overarching theme, The New Intimacy.

To explore their work, join the Dezeen-curated virtual tour at DDW 2020 where you can visit 3D-viewing rooms that a number of the designers have created, featuring videos, photography, audio fragments and other elements to showcase their work digitally.

DDW 2020 is taking place entirely online this year after the planned physical events had to be cancelled due to increasing coronavirus cases in the Netherlands.

Take the tour ›

In addition to the tour, Dezeen will stream a live talk each day this week featuring the 15 designers.

At 3:00pm (UK time) today, the first talk will explore The New Intimacy, which is DDW's overall theme this year.

Designers Mark van der Net, Victoria Ayo and Ali Tal'at Ali As'ad and DDW head of program Jorn Konjin will join Dezeen founder Marcus Fairs to kick off the talks series, discussing "the search for new forms of intimacy" at a time when "Covid-19 is one of the major factors accelerating our exploration of different ways of relating to each other and the world around us."

This talk will be followed by four other discussions throughout the week moderated by a Dezeen editor, with each exploring a different aspect of The New Intimacy theme.

Here is the full schedule of Dezeen x DDW 2020 talks:

3:00pm, Monday 19 October: The New Intimacy

A focus on the search for new forms of intimacy. A new equilibrium in a time when Covid-19 is one of the major factors accelerating our exploration of different ways of relating to each other and the world around us.

Designers taking part are Mark van der Net, who will discuss his augmented reality work The Missing Festival, Victoria Ayo, who will speak about her project Birth Reborn, on using design to address barriers to equitable maternal care for black women, and Ali Tal'at Ali As'ad, who will talk on the subject of the intimacy of safe spaces in the city live from Amsterdam's Moederhuis.

3:00pm, Tuesday 20 October: Stories of a Product

A look at the personal stories behind a product and an investigation into how good design can contribute to the relationship between people and products.

Marcus Fairs is joined by Seetal Solanki, who is the founder of Ma-tt-er and is hosting a material therapy event for DDW, Christien Meindertsma, who is presenting a number of works at DDW, including a lamp that "captures the magic of blowing a glass bell" and Aniela Fidler Wireuszewska, whose Diamond Makers Lab creates custom lab-grown diamonds from unexpected sources.

3:00pm, Wednesday 21 October: Privacy in the Age of new Intimacy

In today’s society, a person’s data is increasingly considered a value in people’s lives. This theme and discussion, moderated by Dezeen editor Tom Ravenscroft, looks at how designers deal with the issue of privacy.

Julia Jansen will discuss her work about algorithm-controlled identities, while Lei Nelissen will speak about Aeon, an app that stores all the traces you've left on the internet in a safe space on your own device.

They are joined by Isaac Monté, the designer behind Prosthetic X, an artificial data organ that collects information about your health from a number of prostheses and gives you real-time feedback.

3:00pm, Thursday 22 October: It's in Our Nature

Dezeen and DDW discuss our changing relationship with nature, how connected or detached we are from it and how we can redefine our relationship with nature in a discussion moderated by Dezeen deputy editor Cajsa Carlson.

She will speak with Elissa Brunato on Sand: the building block of Modernity, touching on geo-design and sand as a global resource that is running out.

Noud Sleumer joins to discuss his work The Global Souvenir Shop and "local memories of the global production system" and Martina Taranto will talk about her sculptures made of biomaterials, Together TwentyTwenty, which were longlisted for a Dezeen Award 2020.

12:00pm, Friday 23 October: Spaces/The intimacy of the Workspace

As we have largely lost the possibility to showcase our work and innovations in real life and instead participate in a mainly online driven society, how does this new reality influences our creativity and the use of the space where we create? A live discussion moderated by Dezeen chief content officer Benedict Hobson.

Designers Sabine Marcelis will reveal how we can translate physical and material tactility into a digital experience, while Gianmaria della Ratta expands on digital muses and virtual intimacy. They are joined by trend forecaster Li Edelkoort, who will discuss the new use of public space in relation to legacy.

All times are UK time.