Six statement furniture projects by rising stars from the Dutch design scene

From shaggy tassels to shimmering bioplastic, six furniture projects by emerging Dutch designers confirm a trend for colourful and textured furniture at this year’s Dutch Design Week.

The festival, which took over Eindhoven last week, presented projects across a wide range of disciplines. Among this year’s offerings was a selection of statement furniture pieces united by distinctly vivid hues and tactile surfaces.

Below, we’ve rounded up six examples by emerging designers that were unveiled at Dutch Design Week 2024.

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Fringe Friends by Maori Kimura

Rotterdam-based designer Maori Kimura has created a tasselled furniture collection that explores upcycling selvage – the frayed textile edges that accumulate as a byproduct of the weaving process.

Called Fringe Friends, the project was created to give damaged or worn-out pieces of furniture a new life. Kimura wraps their frames in the multicoloured fabric edges to create “an eco-friendly invention for decorating furniture, railings and objects”.

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Splitted by Teun Zwets

Splitted (top and above) is a furniture collection by Teun Zwets – an emerging designer whose work has a cartoonish quality.

From chairs and tables to cabinets and coat racks, the collection includes unique pieces of furniture crafted from split Douglas fir wood. Each piece was finished with a gleaming coat of colourful lacquer.

“I was splitting wood for a campfire,” Zwets told Dezeen. “And I thought the shapes were really beautiful, as well as the graininess of the material, so I made a vase.”

“And after I made the vase I thought it would be nice to make a chair and then a table and then it got out of hand,” he joked.

At Dutch Design Week, Zwets presented Splitted in a show home installation, with each piece signalling a different living space. Cardboard and masking tape were used to playfully construct added details, including a lifesize radiator and bathroom toilet.

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Mocking Chair by Willem Zwiers

Willem Zwiers graduated from Design Academy Eindhoven in 2023, making a splash with a collection of marbled furniture composed of second-hand books, which has been put into production by Dutch design brand Moooi.

This year, Zwiers presented a lumpy rocking chair made from colourful ceramic tubes extruded with an old meat grinder. Zwiers milled metal strips into the feet of the chair, allowing it to rock back and forth.

The designer is showing his Mocking Chair alongside his Whimsy Pourers – playful vases designed to look like children’s drawings of watering cans, decorated with pastel-hued scribbles.

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Stool by Sofie Aaldering 

Textile designer Sofie Aaldering graduated from the University of the Arts Utrecht in 2021, before collaborating with fashion house Dior in 2023 to create a custom artwork in her distinctive tactile style.

At Dutch Design Week, Aaldering presented a sculptural stool made from balls of sandy-hued bridal tulle.

“When I was making the stool, I was considering the boundaries between when something is considered an object, and when it’s a sculpture,” the designer told Dezeen.

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From Plants to Plastics by Hoogvliet Jongerius and Avantium

Materials company Avantium has created Releaf, a bioplastic made from 100 per cent plant-based PEF (polyethylene furanoate).

For Dutch Design Week, the company worked with design studio Hoogvliet Jongerius to create an installation showcasing various applications of Releaf including a striking furniture collection.

Among the pieces is a spindly metal stool covered in glittering layers of bioplastic, creating an irresistibly tactile surface.

“PEF offers a wide range of industrial uses, including foils, sheets, yarns, flakes and granulate, which inspired us to experiment with its many possibilities,” said Hoogvliet Jongerius.

“We applied a variety of techniques to not only showcase the aesthetic potential of this sustainable material but also highlight its versatility and artistic applications.”

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I Make Objects by Dirk Duif

Design Academy Eindhoven student Dirk Duif has not yet graduated, but the designer has already caused a stir with his chunky steel furniture presented in an installation titled I Make Objects.

Shaping the metal without predetermined measurements or fixed plans, Duif created a range of pieces including chairs, lighting and playful vases shaped like teapots. The pieces are arranged in angled compositions and finished with bright, glossy colours.

Dutch Design Week 2024 took place in Eindhoven from 19 to 27 October. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

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