What to design in a world of plenty?, a workshop by Hella Jongerius

What to design in a world of plenty?

a workshop by Hella Jongerius

NOVEMBER 2019 : Lecture and Masterclass on how design can act to make a change in the world.

Hella Jongerius is one of the most influential Dutch designers when it comes down to groundbreaking research, revealing the potential use and significance of color, material and texture. Recently Hella founded the Weaver Werkstatt, an initiative to stimulate the development of weaving knowledge amongst designers. Summer 2019 they transformed the interior space of Lafayette Anticipations in Paris into a giant textile studio, exposing the viewing public to the research and experimentation that goes into the production process in order to create awareness, re-valuation and appreciation for textiles.

The current production and consumption of textiles has created one of the most polluting industries in the world with huge social, cultural and economic implications. It is therefore crucial to develop a more activist approach and ask ourselves as designers of the future where design can act. What is our message and what do we add? Based on this need for a more idealistic agenda in design, Hella’s Masterclass at the Royal Academy of Art The Hague in Fall 2019 was centered around one pivotal question to challenge our critical attitudes and responsibilities, reflecting on possible directions for the role that our design can play: “What to design in a world of plenty?”

Projects


Regenerating Shoe Design, a workshop by Marijke Bruggink
Regenerating Shoe Design, a workshop by Marijke Bruggink

Regenerating Shoe Design

a workshop by Marijke Bruggink

Kinfolk, a workshop by Saskia van Gelder

Kinfolk

a workshop by Saskia van Gelder

Contemporary Style Tribes

Clothing styles underline the identity (or the desired identity) of those who wear them and they reflect their engagement with contemporary society. Nowadays people can give meaning to their personal life and define their own lifestyle and identity, joining any subculture and co-create the identity of the chosen kinfolk. By observing people, especially in alternative, underground or outcast settings, decoding their looks and identifying their culture, designers can learn a lot about the zeitgeist and new style developments that may influence future fashion and lifestyle.

The assignment for this project is to research how a particular community lives, how they look and why they do so.
The students are encouraged to act like anthropologists, searching for an inspiring new style tribe. An intriguing looking group of friends that you spotted in the hottest club of Rotterdam? An obscure music scene in the outskirts of Kiev or Dakar? An agricultural collective of environmentalist feminists in the mountains of Nevada? The goal is to investigate and determine the style/lifestyle, look for connections in history, interview people, read books and newspapers and present a conclusion in a visually creative way.



Students Inez van Kessel, Liselotte Oostra and Sarah Belkafir, all Fashion Year 2, took the KABK itself as their hunting ground for style communities and mapped out a myriad of micro-communities - a survey with a knowing nod, presented as a card game.

Post Corona Kinfolk

The extraordinary circumstances of the Covid-19 pandemic pushed this project in a different direction. To respond as hands-on as possible, the Kinfolk assignment turned into a very topical challenge. How would these future style tribes continue after the crisis? Would they change radically? Would there be different needs? What specific style choices would happen? Because of this uncharted territory, the second part of this project became a prediction-making, future-envisaging assignment. Students were asked to create images and designs of how their new communities would act, dress, feel and live. With creativity and imagination as key requirements, the future style tribes dreamed up by the students took on a wildly varied and inspired turn.

Tule Boys by Britt van As (Fashion Year 2) - gym rats, business men and protesters finding new ways of standing out and getting noticed.

A future scenario by Signe Gronlund (Fashion Year 2) - feminism beating anti-feminism - pandemic-style.

A future style community by Stijn Koks (Fashion Year 2) - hard men with toys, tough guys becoming their toys.

Duvet, create and illustrate at home

Duvet

create and illustrate at home

Yara de Vries

Yara de Vries

Beilu Song

Annalie van Doorn

Céline Bregman

Mi Mi Kyaw Win

Mi Mi Kyaw Win

Soyoung Park

Soyoung Park

Louise Noordam

Stijn Koks

Signe Grønlund

Jose Marie Sta Iglesia

Jose Marie Sta Iglesia

Loïs Brandsen

Loïs Brandsen

Where Are We Now?, A research into the identity of contemporary tribes

Where Are We Now?

A research into the identity of contemporary tribes

Annalie van Doorn

Anwen Xu

Iulia Hmarnaia

Beilu Song

Inez van Kessel

Soyoung Park

Britt van As

Diwang Wang

Mi Mi Kyaw Min

Jiahao Li

Jose Marie Sta. Iglesia

Laila-Sophie Surges

Marlien Peeters

Pien Klein Douwel

Loïs Brandsen

Signe Grønlund

Selma Wurmus

Annli Basedahl

Stijn Koks

Vivianne von Ax

Xiaoyu Wen

Yara de Vries

Max Willebrand Westin

Annli Basedahl

Fashion Drawings

Fashion Drawings

The Skirts

The Skirts

Annalie van Doorn

Annalie van Doorn

Casey Hefferon

Casey Hefferon

Selma Wurmus

Diwang Wang

Diwang Wang

Louise Noordam

Di'Amo Vermeer

Di'Amo Vermeer

Beilu Song

Athina Eleftherio

Athina Eleftherio