@droog, things are never what they seem and never seem to be what they are.

“Was Droog Design a generation of young designers? That’s what it appeared to be. Or was it a movement? Not really. A collective, perhaps? A label? A manifesto? It was none of the above and all of them at once, but never at the same moment – certainly not for the long term.” – Wim Pijbes in “Renny Ramakers – Rethinking Design” by Aaron Betsky, 2019.

It all started in 1993 when art historian Renny Ramakers and designer Gijs Bakker presented a collection of works from a group of young Dutch designers at the Salone del Mobile in Milan under the name ‘Droog’. Ramakers and Bakker had noticed a fresh trend in design in the use of everyday, recycled materials, combined with a down-to-earth mentality. The designs where simple yet humoristic – literally ‘dry’; ‘Droog’ in Dutch.