Maarten Baas and Bas van Abel ambassadors for the Dutch Design Week anniversary edition

Designers Maarten Baas and Bas van Abel are the new ambassadors for Dutch Design Week (DDW). The event organisers (Dutch Design Foundation) announced this today. Baas and Van Abel will fulfil both representative and intrinsic roles during and in the run-up to the week. Both providing a face for the 15th edition of the week, that is to take place from 22 until 30 October 2016 in Eindhoven (The Netherlands).

Motivation
Since 2009 DDW has appointed two parties from the field of design to champion Dutch design in general and the week in particular. The ambassadors engage their network to create links and help fledgling designers on their way, they are a sounding board for participants, media and visitors and, together with the organisers, they develop various activities that take place during the week.

Dutch Design Foundation looks forward to working with these internationally recognised designers. Through the appointment of Maarten Baas the DDW organisation emphasises the growing importance of an interdisciplinary approach and creates plenty of space for experimentation, cross-overs and conceptual thinking. Choosing Bas van Abel is in line with the organisers’ conviction that there is an increasing, widely supported demand for new schools of thought for social issues and honest, sustainable products.

Maarten Baas
Autonomous designer Maarten Baas (1978) balances on the fine line between art and design. His work is famous for being unconventional, humorous and artistic. He is always able to uniquely transform his ideas and designs into products and projects. His work is on show in various museums and extremely sought after by collectors around the world. For additional information: www.maartenbaas.com.

Maarten Baas: ‘DDW shows design the way I like to see it: as a connecting factor between various disciplines and schools. This is also my intention for the coming anniversary edition: I want to empower visitors and colleagues to look beyond conventional borders. I expect an exceptional 15th edition, with plenty of opportunities for surprising cooperation, cross-overs that lead to new insights and results that will shake up and expand prevailing ideas.’

Bas van Abel
Designer Bas van Abel (1977) founded Fairphone in 2013 and is its Chief Executive Officer. He was the Creative Director at Waag Society, one of the initiators of Fablab Amsterdam, and is co-author for the book Open Design Now. With the Fairphone, Van Abel is working towards a new industrial standard for honest and sustainable products. This year he received a Momentum for Change Award from Ban Ki Moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations. For additional information: www.fairphone.com.

Bas van Abel: ‘I consider it to be a true honour to be involved in one of the world’s most innovative design festivals. DDW doesn’t just focus on the final products, but actually provides lots of space for experimentation. The event doesn’t raise design to distant heights, but emphasises the role of design in social issues. I expect a widely oriented event with lots of emphasis on social topics and a critical angle on technological themes.’