May
19 - 22, 2007 open daily from 11am -
8pm
Dutch
Design Port exhibition at Milk Gallery during New York Design
Week 2007, Meatpacking District, New York City
Milk
Gallery
450 West 15th Street
New York, NY 10011
The best
compliment ever paid to Dutch Design came from an American.
In 2004, Aaron Betsky, director of the Cincinnati Art Museum,
published an ode to the design from the Netherlands : False
Flat: Why Dutch Design is So Good. In this book, Betsky characterizes
Holland as ‘the world's center of great modern design’.
He says that nowhere else in the world there is “as much
innovation, experimentation and sheer beauty in architecture,
urban planning, industrial design, and graphic design as in
this small country”.
To underpin
his statement, Betsky presents in his book lavish photos of
the embroidered ceramics by Hella Jongerius, the Treetrunk bench
by Jurgen Bey, and the 'No sign of design'-furniture by Richard
Hutten. Clever conceptions, in-your-face designs, successful
examples of Dutch design.
But how Dutch are these designs actually? Just like the Bone
Chair by Joris Laarman, the Random Light by Bertjan Pot, and
the pieces of furniture by Atelier van Lieshout, these designs
are all 'Made in Rotterdam'.
Rotterdam
is the number one design city in the Netherlands. Designers
are trained at the Design Academy in Eindhoven. Design shops
are mushrooming in Amsterdam. But Rotterdam is the city where
most designers settle after their graduation.
People with
a superficial knowledge of Rotterdam might wonder about the
attractiveness of this down-to-earth seaport town. Rotterdam
is a city that does not open up easily. An angular, unromantic
metropolis with an un-Dutch appearance – the inner city
canals and stepped gables were bombed into oblivion during the
Second World War. A no-nonsense working city: ‘no words
but deeds’ is what the fans of the largest football club
sing during matches. Rotterdam is a hospitable international
city, with a multi-ethnic and multicultural population. This
hospitality also extends to creative industry workers. No other
municipality in the Netherlands can pride itself on an equally
generous supply of workspace, and an equally productive artistic
climate.
Rotterdam
is therefore a dynamic city as well as a city of architecture.
So many skyscrapers have in the past decades been erected in
the city centre along the banks of the river Maas that the Rotterdam
population lovingly call their city ‘Manhattan on the
Maas’. Another reason why Rotterdam should show the very
best of the Rotterdam design world in New York.
Under the
title Orange Alert, an initiative of the Consulate General of
the Netherlands in New York, New York's most prestigious museums,
retail stores and exhibition spaces presented in 2005 an unprecedented
roster of Dutch design projects. The sequel to this initiative
will take place during the International Contemporary Furniture
Fair. Rotterdam-based VIVID Gallery in collaboration with CBK,
the Centre for the Arts Rotterdam, presents the exhibition Dutch
Design Port/Orange Alert 3, a show with work by ten designers
from the capital city of 'the world's center of great modern
design', that is: Dutch Design, made in Rotterdam.
Work
can be seen by: Bertjan Pot, Chris Kabel, Demakersvan, Hella
Jongerius, Atelier van Lieshout, Joris Laarman, Jurgen Bey,
Richard Hutten, Simon Heijdens, and Wieki Somers. Click here
(pdf 1,6 MB) to download the exhibition brochure. All photo's
were taken by Thijs
Wolzak.
Contact:
Aad Krol & Saskia Copper
Designws.com
Vivid Gallery
Email: a.krol@designws.com
Tel.: +31-6-1467-5278
www.designws.com
For more info about Orange Alert:
Robert Kloos
Director for Visual Arts, Architecture & Design
Consulate General of The Netherlands
One Rockefeller Plaza, 11th Floor
New York, NY 10020-2094
Tel.: 646-557-2237
Fax: 212-581-6594
Cell: 917-640-8670
E-mail: robert.kloos@minbuza.nl
E-mail2: robert@dutchdesignevents.com
www.dutchdesignevents.com
About
Meatpacking District Design Week 2007
The Meatpacking
District, New York’s rapidly evolving design destination,
will host the second annual Design Week ’07, a series
of exhibitions, product launches, panel discussions, and cocktail
parties. The events coincide with the International Contemporary
Furniture Fair (ICFF) on May 18, 19, 20, 2007.
The renaissance
of the Meatpacking District has drawn many world-renowned retailers
from Vitra to Diane von Furstenberg and arts organizations such
as Milk Gallery to the Whitney Museum, all of whom have staked
their claim in this lively, twenty-four hour neighborhood. “New
York Design Week is becoming a more vibrant design destination
on the international landscape,” says Abe Gurko producer
of Design Week ’07, who has spearheaded off-site design
culture in the city for the past five years. “The Meatpacking
District is the perfect place to stage alternative design events
since so many exciting architectural and design projects are
currently underway here.”
The theme
for Design Week ’07 is Colliding Worlds of Design, Fashion
and Art which embodies the spirit and diverse membership of
the Meatpacking District Initiative. MPDI is a community based
organization which co-produces Design Week ’07 in association
with Abe Gurko. Design Week ‘07 features an extraordinary
series of international exhibitions and panel discussions which
are designed to drive daytime foot traffic to the neighborhood.
“Our member retailers can participate by hosting design
related exhibitions and events which we promote and populate
with design industry influencers as well as aficionados”,
says Annie Washburn, Executive Director, MPDI. Highlights include:
- Bodum
will exhibit their recent award winning designs at their home
store which also serves as the welcome center to Design Week
’07 sponsored by Metropolitan Home
- Milk
Gallery hosts Dutch Design Port featuring new works by ten
Rotterdam based designers such as Hella Jongerius, Richard
Hutten and Jurgen Bey
- Vitra
presents a major installation by Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec,
the French design duo.
- Valvomo
in association with Design Forum Finland presents New Finnish
Design in the abandoned Down East Fish Locker
- Gansevoort
Open Air Gallery presented by Peroni features Garden Variety
a “sculpture garden” of commonplace objects by
curator Shonquis Moreno, Design Editor, Surface
- New York
Talks a series of high-profile panel discussions held at Bumble
and Bumble hosted by New York magazine
- A new
collection of wallpaper by Flavor Paper at Michael Angelo’s
Wonderland Beauty Parlor featuring ‘Scratch n’
Sniff’ fruit flavored wallpaper designs
- Iceland
Cometh, a collective of Icelandic designers presented by Iceland
Air
Click here
for a complete listing or here
for the MPD Design Week '07 booklet
Additional
exhibits will include presentations by Karim Rashid at Hotel
Gansevoort, Studio Dror at Yigal Azruel, Andy Harman at Trina
Turk and a lighting installation at Karkula and more. The piece
d’resistance is sure to be The Happening, a block party
on Gansevoort Street that Sunday May 20. The MPDI invites the
invite the industry and design savvy New Yorkers to what is
sure to be a memorable event complete with food, music, outdoor
exhibitions and people coming together to celebrate New York
Design Week.
Contact
Abe Gurko
Tel.: 212-924-0510
abe@abenyc.com
www.abenyc.com
www.meatpacking-district.com
