Pioneers of Industrial Culture by Premsela, Dutch Platform for Design and Fashion

Journalist Tracy Metz speaks with its director, Renny Ramakers, about Droog's ongoing quest to observe, question and reshape the world through research and design in the seventh instalment of Premsela's Pioneers of Industrial Culture interview series.

The British graphic designer Angus Hyland, a partner at Pentagram in London and the winner of more than 100 international awards, was our 6th guest in the Pioneers of Industrial Culture series. Gert Staal interviewed him on Thursday 15 September 2011 in Amsterdam. He talked about his education at the Royal College of Art in London, his early work and his work for graphic design studio Pentagram.

Leading product designer Konstantin Grcic appeared as our fifth guest in the Pioneers of Industrial Culture series. Gert Staal interviewed Grcic on stage at Amsterdam’s Stedelijk Museum about the iconic value of his work, the use of technology in design, designing experimentally, and working with industry. Konstantin Grcic trained as a furniture maker and studied design at London’s Royal College of Art. Since founding Konstantin Grcic Industrial Design in Munich, he’s created furniture, products and lighting for leading brands like Vitra, Magis, Plank and Established & Sons. His designs have won international awards and are found in the permanent collections of top museums around the world.

This fourth interview in the series continues the discussion at the Design Museum, London, with a conversation between Deyan Sudjic (Museum Director) and Wim Crouwel. The interview took place at the museum during Wim Crouwel: A Graphic Odyssey, the first retrospective exhibition of his work in the UK. Regarded as one of the leading designers of the twentieth century, Crouwel embraced a new modernity to produce typographic designs that captured the essence of the emerging computer and space age of the early 1960s. Spanning over 60 years, Wim Crouwel: A Graphic Odyssey covers Crouwel's rigorous design approach and key moments in his career including his work for design practice Total Design, the identity for the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, as well as his iconic poster, print, typography and lesser known exhibition design.

The graphic designer Thomas Widdershoven of the agency Thonik spoke with the curator and critic Aaron Betsky on stage in Milan about Thonik's prominent position in the Netherlands and abroad. Thonik can be seen as a forerunner of the New Sobriety movement. Thomas Widdershoven and his partner Nikki Gonnissen are advocates of the idea that graphic design should act in the public domain where it can and participate in public debate. Their work spans graphic identities and communication materials for countless cultural institutions, such as the Marta Herford Museum in Germany and the 2008 Venice Architecture Biennale, as well as a political party and a newspaper.

Tim Vermeulen interviews pioneering designer, educator and entrepreneur Gijs Bakker, the co-founder of Droog Design and founder of the jewellery brand Chi Ha Paura...?, about the importance of raising cultural awareness and the role of design education in industrial culture. Bakker talks about jewellery design and its relationship to his industrial practice, his role in design education in the Netherlands, and his culturally focused entrepreneurship. Vermeulen pays particular attention to Bakker’s ongoing efforts to develop a worldwide cultural design practice. This interview was recorded before a live audience during Tokyo Designers Week 2010. Learn more about Pioneers of Industrial Culture at www.premsela.org.

Premsela is honoured to to open the series Pioneers of Industrial Culture with a man to whom design connoisseurs will need little introduction: the cultural innovator, political activist, artist, architect and designer Michele De Lucchi. In June 2010, the critic Gert Staal interviewed De Lucchi on stage about his ideas, products and way of working, both for clients and for his personal studio, Produzione Privata. There, he works with traditional craftspeople, creating furniture born of experiment. He has designed museums, factory buildings, bridges and private housing. His product designs, which include the Tolomeo lamp for Artemide, can be found in many houses and offices.