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 if it were up to you?

Function, form, and concept are qualities in 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 returned to the economy as a useful building block. Our current time and future will be all about Material Follows Material.

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, beautiful and new. In 10 years, design will be about creating something that was already there: already mined material will 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. Designing becomes redesigning; new methods to reuse existing products is becoming a whole new industry. 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.

This may sound utopian, but already we see that the avant-garde is starting to focus on reuse. In recent years, brands have been 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.

Brands will increasingly devote themselves to the reuse of their used products. The last phase is that reuse will become their core 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

rubber recycling factory, and Lego and Avis become a chain for renting building materials.

What can every architect or designer do differently tomorrow to make the world a better place?

I think a small redefinition of the terms ‘designer’ and ‘architect’ is the most important start. We are supposed to be creatives, however, I think creativity is a misleading term. It implies a human can create. But we can’t. Everything in the universe we use is a combination of already existing materials. Even new ideas are really merges of already existing ideas. Designers and architects do not create, they compose. They aren’t gods, but smart material managers always looking for a better solution. In this day and age, the better solution lies not in making something more beautiful, something lighter, or more spectacular. Now that the profession of design has been more clearly defined, their role is more important than ever. Designers that realise and smartly use their potential as material manager will be able to leave a better world than they found.

Which advice would you give designers and architects?

It is too bad that studios are forced to produce, otherwise, I would advise to refuse an assignment in which the terms or budget cannot lead to a satisfactory solution. Or just make sure you will find a very smart solution, because that is where chances lie nowadays.

Name an example of an architect or designer who makes the world a better or more sustainable place.

I think Simone Post is a good example, partly because she works with large companies, ensuring her ideas have impact. Additionally, I think an organisation like Label Breed is really great, which brings together designers and manufacturers to find new applications for their production techniques. Graduation work is still searching but encouraging. Much attention goes to material research and redesigning production chains. When this generation of designers has found their place in the industry, exciting things can happen. Smart rethinking is the future.

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