about the Lab
the next generation of global design 2009-2012
droog
Droog Design Foundation
Staalstraat 7a/b 1011JJ Amsterdam
t +31 (0)20 523 5050 f + 31(0)20 320 1710
info@droog.com www.droog.com
Droog Lab Initiated by Renny Ramakers, Droog Lab is a design platform run by Droog in collaboration with local partners and designers worldwide. Aiming to define the next generation of global design, the Droog Lab seeks inspiration from diverse societies in a series of eight projects from 2009-2012. Lessons learned locally are translated into globally-relevant design outcomes and publications. Droog Lab is supported by Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science and City of Amsterdam www.droog.com
droog
Droog Design Foundation
Staalstraat 7a/b 1011JJ Amsterdam
t +31 (0)20 523 5050 f + 31(0)20 320 1710
info@droog.com www.droog.com
principles 1. Celebrate differences. Though globalization has the tendency to make places seem more and more alike, in reality there are numerous differences. The differences are the Lab’s source of inspiration, and its projects start with the unique qualities of a place, whether positive or negative. 2. Visit to learn, not to change. We resist the temptation to re-design what we see and to solve the problems we encounter. The goal of the Lab is not to try to have a positive influence on the region as such, but to learn from the place and to bring this to a broader audience. 3. Observation is your greatest tool. The world is full of rich content. We start our projects not with introspection but by observing a particular place. New perspectives on what we see can bring new outcomes. 4. Take an optimistic perspective. Even so-called problems, when looked at with an optimistic perspective, can inspire new direcitons. 5. Listen to anyone. Input can come from official and unofficial sources. We talk to people on the street, and also call the experts. We consult all sorts of people—the hairdresser, the roofer, the taxi driver, the urban planner, the politician, the nursery teacher. 6. Experience the ordinary. What is ordinary in one place is extraordinary in another. During our visits to foreign places, we put special attention on experiencing day-today life. 7. Get used to mixing. Confrontation with the unfamiliar and dissimilar can be the start of something new. The Lab brings together insiders and outsiders, designers and non-designers, professionals and nonprofessionals. 8. Be open to the outcome. The design world has become product oriented, but its role is in fact much broader. Being context-driven, the Lab is open to any outcome, whether a product, a business model, piece of software or a city, for example.
droog
Droog Design Foundation
Staalstraat 7a/b 1011JJ Amsterdam
t +31 (0)20 523 5050 f + 31(0)20 320 1710
info@droog.com www.droog.com
past & current projects
droog
Droog Design Foundation
Staalstraat 7a/b 1011JJ Amsterdam
t +31 (0)20 523 5050 f + 31(0)20 320 1710
info@droog.com www.droog.com
Droog al Arab theme: ambition partner: Traffic, Dubai lead designers: Jurgen Bey & Saskia van Drimmelen presentation: May 2010 An online hub for collaborative content creation and development has been envisioned by Jurgen Bey and Saskia van Drimmelen. On this platform, the leading designers can invite emerging designers, makers and other collaborators to contribute ideas and skills. The platform features a time bank—a place where time contributions are collected and traded, and a library—a place for supportive material that anyone can add to. The platform brings together design, production and consumption, and can pop up anywhere in the world as an alternative pop up mall. Inspired by a closely knit family business model with new notions of hierarchy, this platform is about community thinking and its vast potential.
Open house theme: service economy partner: Studio-X New York lead designers: Diller Scofidio + Renfro presentation: April 2011 Inspired by the service-oriented mentality of New York City, Open House is a movement in which non-urban inhabitants discover their inner service provider and open up their homes to the public for service exchange. Open House aims to revive non-urban areas by stimulating encounters, social cohesion and introducing new economic activities. The project proposes new models for suburban housing, striking a new balance between the private and public realm. Encouraging selfinventiveness, offering ideas and streamlining implementation, the movement brings more activity, diversity, social cohesion and capital to non-urban areas through service exchange. www.openhouse2011.com
droog
Droog Design Foundation
Staalstraat 7a/b 1011JJ Amsterdam
t +31 (0)20 523 5050 f + 31(0)20 320 1710
info@droog.com www.droog.com
Fantastical Investments Store-It theme: consumption partner: Strelka Institute for Media, Architecture and Design lead designer: Daniel van der Velden presentation: Sept 2011 Store-It is a storage space for your future. It contains the products, concepts and fantasies that you expect to use in the future. Food, shelter and fiction are equally important. The project presents a future-oriented vision on consumption, based on a premise that durables will become more reliable assets than money or capital. Consumables are arranged as points on a series of concentric circles, resembling the rings of a tree trunk, symbolizing the life span of a human being. At the heart of the circle is ‘home’; the objects are positioned on the rings, as they move outward into the future.
Inspired by ways of living in the context of an untrustworthy state, Fantastical Investments proposes an optimistic model for a postinstitutional reality. Integrating the critical role of durables, friendship and escapism, Fantastical Investments meet basic needs throughout one’s lifetime. The possessions that surround you are a snapshot of what is to come. You keep them around you, look at them, and dream with them. They ground you. They are fantastical basics.
droog
In today’s climate of uncertainty and austerity, Fantastical Investments encourage spending to secure one’s future. The future is both reliable and imaginative, a space where fiction is as raw as food, gold and sleep. Russia Consumes
Core concept
24/11/10 Not for release
Luxury of the North theme: sustainability partner: University of Alberta lead designers: Winy Maas & Cynthia Hathaway presentation: Oct 2011 The Canadian North is simultaneously characterized by scarcity and abundance. Its extreme qualities—extreme coldness, remoteness, lightness, darkness, feasts and famines—shape people’s living practices and ways of using resources. Luxury of the North by Droog with Winy Maas (MVRDV), Cynthia Hathaway, Christien Meindertsma and Pirjo Haikoja explores how qualities of the Canadian North can inspire new urban luxuries and future city concepts.
droog
Droog Design Foundation
Staalstraat 7a/b 1011JJ Amsterdam
t +31 (0)20 523 5050 f + 31(0)20 320 1710
info@droog.com www.droog.com
Informal Mumbai theme: informal economy partner: Studio-X Mumbai lead designer: Bas Princen presentation: Dec 2011 Though their reality is harsh, slums demonstrate people’s capacity to improvise, self-organize and create value regardless of circumstance and institutional wellbeing. As people selfcoordinate around common goals, they show that improvisation, as a means of coping, can have structural implications that can be surprisingly sophisticated and robust. Led by Bas Princen and in partnership with Studio-X Mumbai, the Droog Lab will seek to convey the possibilities of informal societies and to translate them into a broader design outcome.
Belgium: Identity matters? theme: identity partner: Z33 lead designer: Erik Kessels presentation: Jan 2012 Clinging to one’s identity can cause a lot of hardships—stagnation, cultural clashes, alienation and political instability. One of the original six founders and home to the current capital of the European Union, Belgium now holds the world record for the longest period without government. As one of the few countries lacking a quintessential national identity, the Droog Lab believes Belgium could be a model for how individuals, companies and institutions could formulate their future identities. Led by Erik Kessels, the project will explore the value and real potential of (no) identity.
droog
Droog Design Foundation
Staalstraat 7a/b 1011JJ Amsterdam
t +31 (0)20 523 5050 f + 31(0)20 320 1710
info@droog.com www.droog.com
upcoming book
droog
Droog Design Foundation
Staalstraat 7a/b 1011JJ Amsterdam
t +31 (0)20 523 5050 f + 31(0)20 320 1710
info@droog.com www.droog.com
Here, there and everywhere Initiated by Renny Ramakers (Droog), ‘Here, there and everywhere’ offers a new vision on the future of global design. In collaboration with designers, consulting experts and local partners, Droog speculates how Dubai’s ambition and capacity to build new worlds might influence a design process unhindered by real-world constraints, how New York City’s service economy could stimulate a bottomup revival of the suburbs, how consumption patterns in Russia could give rise to future- and fantasy-oriented consumerism, and how ways of surviving in the remote North of Canada can inspire new urban luxuries and future city concepts. Issues raised are deepened with essays and interviews by contributing writers on themes such as social media, alternative currencies, collaborative design, service design, collaborative consumption, fiction, corruption, sustainability and transparency. The series aims not to solve world problems but to speculate on the future of design and to stimulate debate. Four new projects have been launched and will be published in 2013. Leading designers: Jurgen Bey (Studio Makkink & Bey), Saskia van Drimmelen (Painted), Diller Scofidio + Renfro, Daniel van der Velden (Metahaven), Cynthia Hathaway and Winy Maas (MVRDV and The Why Factory). The initiative is funded by Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, City of Amsterdam and local partners traffic (Dubai), Studio-X New York (USA), Strelka Institute for Media, Architecture and Design (Russia) and University of Alberta (Canada).
droog
Droog Design Foundation
Staalstraat 7a/b 1011JJ Amsterdam
t +31 (0)20 523 5050 f + 31(0)20 320 1710
info@droog.com www.droog.com