Dezeen Magazine

Designers explore our changing relationship with nature in Dezeen x DDW2020 talk

In this live discussion for Dezeen x Dutch Design Week 2020, three emerging designers explored sustainable design and how to redefine our relationship with nature.

Designers Martina Taranto, Noud Sleumer and Elissa Brunato joined Dezeen deputy editor Cajsa Carlson for a conversation on the Dutch Design Week (DDW) sub-theme "It's in our Nature".

The talk was introduced by Dutch Design Foundation programme and community manager Marleen van Bergeijk, who curated the the theme.

Elissa Brunato, Dutch Design Week 2020
Designer Elissa Brunato

Brunato talked about her work together with Christoph Dichmann on the exhibition "Geo-Design: Sand. The Building Block of Modernity." It explores how sand, the second-most used resource on Earth after water, is running out and what repercussions this will have.

The designer also discussed her Bio Iridescent Sequins made from natural cellulose, which are more sustainable than regular plastic sequins.

Noud Sleumer, Dutch Design Week 2020
Designer Noud Sleumer

Sleumer's project The Global Souvenir Shop investigates the production of smartphones from a different angle than usual by looking at the social, geographic and cultural conditions that play a part in the production and processing of smartphones.

His exhibition, on show as part of the What a Time to be Alive project at DDW, aims to illustrate a narrative of local consumption and how this is entwined with the global market.

Sleumer's project looks at smartphone production from a new angle

Brunato and Sleumer were joined by Taranto, whose Together TwentyTwenty project was longlisted for the Dezeen Awards 2020 in the installation design category.

The installation consists of a number of sculptures, made from biomaterials that were in turn created from waste materials – such as bags and paper boxes – from the de Bijenkorf department store in Amsterdam, in whose windows the project was exhibited.

Martina Taranto, Dutch Design Week 2020
Designer Martina Taranto

Taranto says the aim of the work is to stress the importance of togetherness. "We – humans – have grown into cultures and societies, more and more, distant from natural customs of life," she said.

"Together TwentyTwenty bring the focus on our present and the need to really remember how to harmoniously coexist with the ecosystem we were born into."

Taranto's Together TwentyTwenty was longlisted for Dezeen Awards 2020

As well as hearing from the creatives in our daily live talks, some of the designers' work can be visited in our Dezeen-curated virtual tour of Dutch Design Week 2020.

Take the tour ›

The full programme for the Dezeen x Dutch Design Week 2020 collaboration can be found here.