
Hella Jongerius
A Conversation with Hella Jongerius…
Louise Schouwenberg + Vitra M, August 26, 2013
PORTRAITLouise Schouwenberg + Vitra M, August 26, 2013
Hella Jongerius (born in 1963) studied industrial design at the Design Academy in Eindhoven. In the nineties she worked in close collaboration with Droog Design. In 2000 she established her own studio in Rotterdam under the name Jongeriuslab. She became well known mainly for her Soft Vase Collection produced by Droog Design. In 1999 two of her chair designs were produced by the prestigious Italian furniture manufacturer Cappelini. This was followed by a number of commissions from clients including Het Princessehof Museum in Leeuwarden (clay vases), the Museum of Modern Art in New York (My Soft Office) and Swarovski (chandelier).
In 2005 she designed the Polder sofa for Vitra, various products for Ikea and a PET bottle for Evian. Her designs are included in the international collections of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Centraal Museum Utrecht, the Textile Museum of the Netherlands in Tilburg, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, The Fabric Museum and Workshop in Philadelphia and others. She has also won various international prizes for design, such as the Kho Liang Ie Award, Amsterdam (1997), the World Technology Award for Design, London (1999), the Best Product Award, the Neo Con Chicago (2002) and the Rotterdam Design Prize (2003).

Hella Jongerius/Office pets_Vitra.
Louise Schouwenberg: What advantage is there in the credit crisis?
Hella Jongerius: Every crisis offers new possibilities. At this moment, everyone is being exaggeratedly optimistic in saying that. Still, it is not necessarily just allaying fear, but it is true. Through the exorbitant growth of well-being and the attention paid by the art market to design, prices had grown completely out of hand. A kind of design had evolved that makes you ask what it possibly has to do with the design profession. I suspect that the crisis can be a kind of wake-up call. We again have to ask ourselves what it is really all about. Ours is a service profession, but over the last few decennia, that has been pushed back, out of sight.

Hella Jongerius/Lights Blossom
LS: Apart from the financial crisis, the design profession has been confronted with a growing call to work with more sustainable materials and production methods. We stand eye to eye with potential ecological disaster if we continue to produce, transport and consume the way we have done over the last century.
H.J.: Globalization and the enormous rise in welfare have led to a situation in which it was all about consuming as much as possible, regardless of whether this was at the expense of the environment and regardless of whether that consumerism had to do with real needs or just needs that someone else convinces us of. Now that we are confronted in many areas with the limits of that unbridled growth, it brings new challenges. In literature, they say, ‘An unhappy childhood is a writer’s fortune’. I think that holds true for all creative professions. When everything goes well, we become lazy and just go with the flow, reacting to success. In times of adversity or setback, we have to rely on our creativity. In a crisis, as a designer, you are forced to design more precisely, more compactly and more clearly. For the design profession, the global crisis can consequently be a very good thing.

- The benefits of ecology, Vitra�
- The Minimalism in Ornamentation, Making a comeback to bolster design and conquer new markets
- The Office of the future, NET NEST, a living space
- Fibre[s] Design, Innovative materials & objects for better living
- Edge design + the way things are, Jean Louis Frechin's Thoughts
- Hans J. Wegner, The Man of details...
- Habita Hotel MTY in Mexico, The Joseph Dirand tour...
- Kossi Aguessy, Twenty things you should know about Kossi Aguessy...
- David Ericsson, Twenty things you should know about David Ericsson...
- Why Design Now?, The National Design Triennial Series
- Cities: “living space”, Street furniture
- The Growing materials, The Wood
- The Clouds' flavors..., WHAF by David Edwards + Marc Bretillot
- Front Design, Design with senses...
- Design For a Living World, Life cycle of the materials
- Verner Panton, Panton Chair, 1959-1960
- Charles & Ray Charles, An Iconic couple of modern design
- The New Design Cities, Creativity + Technologies + Sustainability
- Ingo Maurer, Maestro of Light
- Electronic Shadow, Naziha Mestaoui + Yacine Aït Kaci
- Hiromichi Konno, Design with your senses
- Cheick Diallo, A Journey in Dapper Museum
- Blazys Gérard, Domison
- 2012, International Year of Ecological Design, Hicham Lahlou, Industrial Designer of the Year
- Jaime Bouzaglo, Elizabetha, Your Majesty...
- Is design still the preserve of the few?, The useful can be beautiful, the beautiful has to be affordable
- The Nouveau Art, Revival: 1900 - 1933 - 1966 - 1974
- Gordon Guillaumier, Signs + Aestheticism
- Iris Mondelaers, No Frills Objects!
- 5 Creative People, To follow in 2011
- 2011: Bright and lights..., Ango, Eco-lights + Friendly by Angus Hutcheson
- Julie Tremblay, Twenty things you should know about Julie Tremblay...
- George Nelson, George Nelson - Architect, Writer, Designer, Teacher
- 6x11 Alpine Hut, OFIS Architects' retraite
- Zaha Hadid in London..., Home House
- NOMIYA, Last season at Le Palais de Tokyo!
- Mikiya Kobayashi, Simplicity with heart
- Philippe Starck, Design in time of crisis
- Simon Hasan, Vauxhall Collective
- Patrick Martinez, Twenty things you should know about Patrick Martinez...
- Cecilie MANZ, The culture of a good design
- Mercedes-Benz F-CELL Roadster, Tradition meets the future
- The Scandinavian TOUCH, IN BELGIAN FURNITURE - 1951-1966
- Y-3 by Yohji Yamamoto, Spring/Summer 2010 Men's & Women's Collection
- Destrøy Design, Objet Oblige
- Richard Hutten, 18 years of playing
- The Whif, New "Breathable Chocolate" Design Offers Chocolate Without the Calories
- Creative Reuse in Canadian Design, Cut/Paste
- VIA Design 3.0, 1979-2009 : 30 years of furniture design
- Quebec in Design, 75 Years of Works from the Collection of the MNBAQ
- Design Academy Eindhoven 2009, The beginning of change
- ARTĚL, Art for Everyday Use (1908-1935)
- Siegfried De Buck, Jewellery designer and silversmith
- Sylvain Dubuisson, Get out of my sun
- RAOUL DUFY, Ceramics
- Post mortem, Ten creators rethink the funerary urn
- Nature in a Kit, Nature and its double
- But where is Swedish design going?, From De Karin et Carl Larsson à Front Design
- Louise Campbell, To be continued
- Yrjö Kukkapuro, The functionalist
- Esplanada Studio, Tatiana Bilbao & at103, architects and designers of lightness
- Naoto Fukusawa + Jasper Morrison, Making things visible
- Javier Mariscal, Drawing Life
- Tom Dixon by George Smith, Wingback chair
- Cuisines en ébullition !, Young designers imagine the kitchens of tomorrow
- TOM DIXON, BACK TO BASICS - UTILITY 09
- COOL DOZEN+, The joy of discovery
- Per Emanuelsson & Bastian Bischoff, Cross Lounge Chair
- CHANEL, Toys for Aficionados…
- Design available for production, 13 VIA Projects Assistance Grants
- Sebastian Brajkovic, The Lathe Chairs
- ONE STRIPE, A collection for Domestic
- Paris / Design in mutation, New generation of designers
- Liset van der Scheer, The Bonnet Pouffes Collection + Casalis
- Christophe Pillet, The Outsider of french design
- OVO Editions, Duo with Pol Quadens
- Ron Arad, No Discipline
- Hèrmes…vu du ciel, Luxe, Design and Leisure
- Hermann Jünger, Found Treasures
- ENZO MARI, A view on the immensity
- Ettore Sottsass, Ettore Sottsass & Sottsass Associati
- Serge Mouangue, Twenty things you should know about Serge Mouangue...
- Marcel Wanders, The Kid from Boxtel
- David Trautrimas, HABITAT MACHINES
- Lagranja Design, Audace and Optimism
- Hella Jongerius, Dutch Design Days
- The Hotel PUR, Simplicity + balance
- Frank Tjepkema + Janneke Hooymans, The duo beyond Heineken The City
- Prisunic and design, A unique adventure
- Aqua Creations, Et la lumière fut !
- Design with a smile, Picture, if you will, design to be funny, humorous and impractical
- Pop Culture - Pop Style, Design from the fifties and sixties
- Gabriele Pezzini, Simply design
- 2008 VIA Labels, Manufacturer + designer + one vision
- Marie-Aurore Stiker-Métral, Have a seat!
- Dirk Schrijvers, An avant-gardiste collector
- Voices, Contemporary ceramic design from Sweden
- A Tribute to Müller-Brockmann, 19th International Poster and Graphic Design Festival of Chaumont
- Studio Fulguro, Interactive designers
- CHINA DESIGN NOW, The Red Dragon
- MOBIJunior, Kids + Design
- Moroso, Hi-tech design haute couture
- Andrew Aloisio, Somewhere in Between
- Olivier Peyricot, PSYCHOMOULAGES
- Joris Laarman, Strange shapes. Strange sizes. Strange spirit.
- Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec, The French Touch
- Oki Sato + Nendo, XXIst Century Man for Issey Miyake
- Outofstock, Sebastian + Gustavo + Wendy + Gabriel
- Reza Abedini, A Persian slant
- 5.5 Designers, Un pour tous, tous pour un
- What kind of design for the 21th century?, Object or Piece of Art...
- The 21th Century will be feminine!, 9 designers who are transforming the contemporary design world
- Hetal Jariwala + Eva Bauer, Deux filles et un sac Flip & Tumble
- Nathalie Dewez, A luminous talent
- Marina Bautier, Atelier A1
- Goodbye Mister Ettore Sottsass!, 1917 - 2007
- Tomorrow Now, When design meets science fiction
- Mathieu Lehanneur, BEL-AIR, a new air-filtering system using plants
- Fabio Novembre, Women, I love you
- Great Indoors Awards winners 2007, Photographic Report
- Oki Sato, From Toronto to Tokyo by Nendo
- Stephen Burks, Designer of Natural Geometries
- Konstantin Grcic, The Galaxy of Objects
- Julie Mathias + Michael Cross, Romanticism and poetry by Wokmedia
- The emerging design, Palm Enroute Awards in mobility design 2007
- Inga Sempé, Sophisticated Lady of French design
- 5 Designers at Nike Bauer Hockey, Time out!
- Ron Arad, Industrial design by architecture influences
- Ahn Sang-Soo, Master of Korean graphic design
- Nipa Doshi + Jonathan Levien, The Ying and Yang of London’s industrial design
- Esthétique Domestique, Household appliances then and now
- International Contemporary Furniture Fair, ICFF Editors Awards 2007
- Joe Colombo, The Invention of the Future
- Airs de Paris, Paris as a point of convergence of design and architecture
- Toshiyuki Kita, Environmentalist designer
- American Streamlined Design, The World of Tomorrow
- Elhadi Yazi, Portrait: Elhadi Yazi, graphic designer in some letters…
- Design Life Now, National Design Triennial 2006
- Do not disturb - Drake Hotel, The Drake Hotel in Toronto
- MASSAUD, From chaos to meaning
- Omer Arbel, 20 things you should know about Omer Arbel...
- Vancouver's Cito Espresso Café, One of a kind
- Poul Kjærholm, The Furniture Architect
- Portrait: Gino Finizio, Under the banner of the transavantgarde
- Do not disturb - Gault Hotel, Comfort Zone
- 3rd Uncle Design, A multidisciplinary design studio
- ORA-ITO, Audacious designer
- Alain Michel FAGNIDI, A contemporary and refined view of African art
- Generation X, The global village
- Design Home
Lululemon Outlet
Five Fingers Shoes
ray ban sunglasses
Oakley Sunglasses Sale
Cheap Michael Kors
Michael Kors Outlet Canada
Lululemon Canada Sale
MK Outlet
Tiffany and Co
Lululemon Yoga Clothing Will Make You Moving Freely
Nike Air Max 2013 Plus
spy+
Vibram Five Fingers Sale