Art director of brands such as furniture company Vitro, rug company Danskina and upholstery company Maharam, Dutch designer Hella Jongerius’s other projects include redesigning airline KLM’S cabin interiors. Hella is also famous for her signature dots seen on her textiles and ceramics.
Hella’s ‘mission’ is to have a holistic approach to design, believing designers have a responsibility not only culturally and aesthetically but socially and environmentally too.
She believes good design should be long lasting and ’embrace the viewer’, appealing to their imagination and emotions, aspects lost in the world of modern consumerism.
At Design Indaba this year she shared how designers should create the important relationship between object and the person:
1. Design materials to speak in an energetic way. Be innovative when it comes to using materials – find innovative materials, design colours, look to nature and mix products to make a product that communicates.
2. Be hands on in the design process. Experiment, readjust ideas and involve others in the project.
3. Celebrate imperfection. The ‘misfits’ trigger the imagination and keep the options open.
4. Work with the archive. Draw on a collective memory and the past to continue good design.
5. Do research. Investigate colours and shapes to form a strong identity of a product.
KLM
KLM
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