Premsela.org | dutch platform for design and fashion

The Fashion Institute Arnhem launched Madrid’s first Dutch Design Month (Mes del Diseño Holandés) at the end of February with a catwalk show in the city streets. A range of exhibitions, lectures and discussions on Dutch design followed in March and will continue into May. Premsela has contributed to several elements of Dutch Design Month, an initiative of the Dutch Embassy in Madrid. The events will increase awareness of Dutch design in Spain, strengthen ties with the country, and foster communication between the Dutch and Spanish design worlds.

Binnen/Buiten: Make the Street Your Home , an exhibition focusing on Dutch indoor and outdoor furniture and household objects, is on view at Madrid’s Matadero Design Centre through 31 August. The show explores the possessive Dutch attitude toward public space. Curator Delfina Moran Arnaldo has grouped 114 objects according to seven themes: protection, interaction, work, eating, play, lighting and relaxation. Young designers Demakersvan are exhibiting the decorative chain-link Lace Fence. Other items on view include Tjep.’s Nest sofa and Jurgen Bey’s Tree Trunk Bench.

The last in a series of workshops accompanying the exhibition will take place 22 through 25 May. Dutch and Spanish designers will lead the English-language session on interactive design. Waag Society, the Lloyd Hotel and Droog Design have contributed guest lecturers to the workshop series, which began in March. The workshop is open to all and costs €300 (€200 for students and DIMAD members). To participate, register via talleresholandes@uem.es . The workshops have been organised by Premsela, DIMAD and the Universidad Europea de Madrid. More information on the workshops and exhibition is available in the downloadable PDF.

A design-shop walking route has been created for Dutch Design Month. It is available at www.holamad.com and in a free programme published by design magazine Experimenta .

Dutch designers and experts making appearances in Madrid during Dutch Design Month included household-products designer Hella Jongerius, who gave a presentation at Vitra’s Milan shop. José Teunissen of ArtEZ, the Arnhem Academy of Art and Design, lectured at the clothing museum Museo del Traje. Book designer Irma Boom gave a talk on her work at Escuela de Arte 10.

The exhibition Golden Age: Highlights of Dutch Graphic Design (1890–1990) was on view through 13 April at Madrid’s Fundación Carlos de Amberes. US graphic designer Alston Purvis and his Dutch colleague Gert Dumbar gave a presentation on subjects including Golden Age , which Purvis co-curated. Purvis also lectured on the life and work of Dutch graphic designer H.N. Werkman.

Policymakers and scholars met in Madrid during Dutch Design Month to discuss the study of design’s economic value. Part of Premsela’s Common Ground series, the meeting was organised by Premsela, the Dutch Embassy in Madrid and the Spanish state design agency DDI.