Designers Bastiaan de Nennie, Heleen Klopper, Jo Meesters and Lilian van Daal talk about their business strategies for sustainable material innovation. This Design Dialogue is headed by Andrea van Pol.

Sustainable products start with sustainable materials, and more and more designers are aware of this. They conduct research into the reuse and development of new materials that are less damaging to the environment. But what does it take to actually translate the opportunities that these materials offer into concepts and products and to increase the scale of the production methods?

Four pioneers in the field of material innovation, each with their own approach, discuss how they work and their experiences as entrepreneurs.

Enterprising designer Bastiaan de Nennie invested the money he was awarded by the Keep an Eye Design Talent Grant in a space in Rotterdam for experimenting and getting together. How is he doing half a year later? Jo Meesters and Heleen Klopper prefer a good match with a commercial partner. Meesters wants to link the reuse of materials to a culinary concept. How is that going and what can he do until he finds the right business partner? Lilian van Daal, finally, is looking for an industrial link – as an employee or working freelance – to continue her research and get closer to finding a concrete solution.

The participants in this Design Dialogue are all former nominees for the New Material Award, a collaboration of the DOEN Foundation, Fonds Kwadraat and Het Nieuwe Instituut. To support them and to increase the impact of their work, the DOEN Foundation and Impact Hub Amsterdam and the artists jointly organized the New Material Award Business Model Challenge.

Bastiaan de Nennie

Bastiaan de Nennie’s work uses objects from the pre-digital era as the building blocks for virtual creations, examining the relationship between craft, tactility and imagination. De Nennie graduated from the Design Academy Eindhoven in 2015. His graduation project The Digital Virtuosity won him the New Material Award in that same year. Previously, he mainly made high-resolution 2D prints of his digital work. Now that he has acquired a 3D printer, he can also create physical versions of his virtual designs.

Lilian van Daal

Lilian van Daal sees herself as a mediator between the natural world and the designed world. She experiments with innovative technologies and materials to create new shapes and structures. Van Daal graduated cum laude in Industrial Product Design from HAN University of Applied Sciences in Arnhem in 2010 with her Biomimicry soft seating project, which travelled all over the world. In 2015 she won the Volvo Design Challenge with a sequel to her graduation project. Ever since, she has been combining her job as a product designer at studioMOM with the Post Graduate Master Course Industrial Design at the KABK in The Hague.

Heleen Klopper

Heleen Klopper is a product designer and wool specialist. In her practice sustainability, repair and tradition are key concepts. She investigates the materiality of textiles in relation to the body and as a medium between people and their environment. Klopper came up with Woolfiller, a product to repair damaged woollen clothing. Due to the specific properties of wool, the product sticks to the fabric and won’t give way even when it is washed. Her most recent repair project is The Mending Collection, which reintroduces the traditional skill of darning on the basis of an especially designed fabric.

Jo Meesters

Jo Meesters’ main motive is the search for sustainable innovation in materials and techniques. He especially focuses on the reuse of materials. Meesters attempts to bridge the gap between craftsmanship and mass production and to add emotional value to his products. He graduated from the Design Academy Eindhoven in 2001 and started his own studio in 2007.

Andrea van Pol

Editor and presenter Andrea van Pol is known for AVRO's Kunstuur and De Slag om Nederland. She is closely involved with the Dutch cultural sector. She acts as a presenter and moderator for events throughout the country.

New Material Award

The New Material Award is a partnership between Stichting DOEN, Fonds Kwadraat and Het Nieuwe Instituut. These institutions believe that artists, designers and architects have an important role to play in initiating new developments in society and in providing answers to urgent questions particularly in relation to developing new materials or innovative uses for existing materials.

Thursday Bite

Before Thursday Night Live! you can grab a bite to eat with the speakers and staff of Het Nieuwe Instituut. At 18:00 Het Nieuwe Café will serve soup with bread or a quiche with salad. Dinner vouchers are available for € 7,50 up to a day before the particular Thursday Night event via the Tickets link or at the bar this evening.