Design NL laat zien hoe hedendaagse ontwerpers vernieuwen en experimenteren. Zij zetten met hun Dutch Design Nederland internationaal op de kaart. Denk aan de Rotterdamse kubuswoningen van Piet Blom, stoffen van Hella Jongerius en bijzondere werkcapsules van Marcel Wanders. Ook werk van Rem Koolhaas, Lidewij Edelkoort, Gerrit Rietveld, Viktor & Rolf, Piet Hein Eek en vele anderen wordt getoond en beschreven.
Het boek zelf is eveneens een fraai stuk Dutch Design. Veel geprezen grafisch kunstenaar Irma Boom tekende voor het ontwerp. De heldere beschouwingen van auteurs Aaron Betsky en Adam Eeuwens maken Design NL tot het boek over Dutch Design.
Aaron Betsky is an American critic on art, architecture and design. He was the director of Virginia Tech School of Architecture + Design until early 2022. Trained as an architect and in the humanities at Yale University, he is the author of over a dozen books, including Architecture Matters, Making It Modern, Landscrapers: Building With the Land, Scanning: The Aberrant Architectures of Diller + Scofidio, Queer Space, Revelatory Landscapes, and Architecture Must Burn. Internationally known as a lecturer, curator, reviewer and commentator, he writes the blog "Beyond Buildings" for Architect Magazine. Director of the 11th Venice Architecture Biennale, he has also been president and Dean of the School of Architecture at Taliesin (originally the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture), director of the Netherlands Architecture Institute (2001-2006) the Cincinnati Art Museum (2006-2014), and was founding Curator of Architecture, Design and Digital Projects at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (1995-2001). As an unlicensed architect, he worked for Frank O. Gehry and Associates and Hodgetts + Fung. In 2003, he co-curated "Scanning: The Aberrant Architectures of Diller + Scofidio" at the Whitney Museum of American Art.
Very well-designed book that presents an amazing range of Dutch design. Great focus on graphic design, of course, but touches on products and architecture as well.
This was a nice read and I would recommend for anyone who loves architecture, architectural history, travel and European design. The Dutch have always been great engineers and designers; this books walks you through Dutch history from an architect / designer's point of view. The imagery is exotic and enticing and is accompanied by some great narrative. It was a very refreshing read!