AN INTERVIEW WITH DAVID HELDT
DAVID HELDT Connecting the Dots
Part of the independent MaterialDistrict Advisory Board, David Heldt is producer and curator of various international design exhibitions such as Design Language, Tuttobene or Enlightened Design. He studied Architectural Design (BA) at ArtEZ Institute of the Arts in Enschede and Design Futures (MA) at Goldsmiths University of London. In 2009, he founded the design magazine Connecting the Dots. What are his views on sustainability and the future of architecture and design? How do we build or design in 10 years
Designing becomes redesigning; new
Function, form, and concept are qualities in
becoming a whole new industry.
if it were up to you?
which we can express ourselves. We can execute them tirelessly in all imaginable
combinations. That’s great for the industry, but it’s a system for the old economy. In
the coming years, the subject will be what
something is made of and how that can be
This strongly influences how the world
will start to look, a new design language is inextricably interwoven with a mindset in which new is viewed as wasteful and reshaping and reusing as innovative.
returned to the economy as a useful building
This may sound utopian, but already we see
about Material Follows Material.
reuse. In recent years, brands have been
block. Our current time and future will be all
Our principles of what design is about
has changed drastically in recent years.
20 years ago, we learned to start with a concept to create something original,
that the avant-garde is starting to focus on experimenting with recycling their waste materials into new products, or leasing
instead of buying furniture. The main theme is the circular economy and circular building.
beautiful and new. In 10 years, design will
Brands will increasingly devote themselves
already there: already mined material will
phase is that reuse will become their core
be about creating something that was
be in the limelight. Renovation will become cheaper than building something new,
recycling will be cheaper than new material, and local will be cheaper than imported. 96
methods to reuse existing products is
to the reuse of their used products. The last business. The contemporary designer thinks in loops and no longer linearly. Once that
system is scaled up, it becomes a revenue
model. Ikea becomes a thrift store, Adidas a
