Dutch design in Turkey

Five design companies (design companies, engineering firms and one strategic consultancy) visited Istanbul in June 2010 in a trip organized by Designlink (the only organization in the Netherlands focussing on the entire design chain) in order to explore the export of design services to Turkey. The assumption was that the large and fast developing industrial base in Turkey would be interested in the design services that the visiting designcluster of these five companies could offer. Even though the design cluster experienced some cultural differences, they also are hopeful to find commercial clients in Turkey in the short term. The five design companies formed the design cluster in 2009 because each of them was too small to export on their own, but together they can offer complementary design services under the new brand name NWXSE. The Dutch EVD International was very busy at the time with the development of a pilot for clusters that could help such initiatives with resources, human resources and knowledge. The visit resulted in 9 months in contacts with large Turkish companies and fellow-design companies in Turkey. While Turkish companies like Arcelik and Makel would like to increase their market potential in Western-European markets with the help of NWXSE, the Turkish design companies are surprised by the possibilities to collaborate. Currently NWXSE is in the process of formalizing these collaborations and a second visit is being prepared. As a spin-off of these contacts the opportunities arose between Universities in Istanbul and Delft, between the ‘Design Turkey Awards’ and the ‘Erkenningen Goed Industrieel Ontwerp’, ‘Istanbul Design Week’,‘Dutch Design Week’ and IDEA (Rotterdam).

In 2009 Dutch designers Bas van Beek, Lara de Greef, Frank Willems and kunstenaar Gerrie Starreveld participated in a workshop organized by aforementioned ‘Made in Şişhane’ and exhibition ‘Dutch Design Made in Şişhane which took place in the small church on the grounds of the Dutch Consulate General. At that time a Dutch trade mission’ headed by Minister of Foreign Trade Frank Heemskerk’ visited Istanbul and opened the exhibition. The Minister also got a guided tour by the Made in Şişhane team.

Designplatform Rotterdam received an invitation from the International Design Fair Istanbul to be represented with their expo 'Ideas from Rotterdam' during the Istanbul Design Week, starting 29 September 2010. The expo is a small collection of globally proven successful products whose designers are from Rotterdam. They are icons of the design world. In some cases, one or more later versions have already been developed. Some examples were added which had a strong impact in the media and in public debates.

Jeroen Deckers, Designplatform Rotterdam Jeroen Deckers <jeroen@werkdraad.nl *

Danca Design Furniture is a Dutch company which has its products produced in Bursa, Turkey. They began their production in 2000, and produce high-quality seats. See www.danca.nl , info@danca.nl

http://www.internationaalondernemen.nl/zoeken/showbouwsteen_mvo.asp?bstnum=234582

Haaz is probably the best known contemporary design shop in Istanbul and also sells Dutch design (Droog). www.haaz.info

Mozaik Design is a design shop in Istanbul that also sells Dutch design (Ingo Maurer en Moooi). One of the owners is American: Susan McMurrain-Erturan. www.mozaikdesign.com

The office and home furniture and accessories manufacturer and retailer Koleksiyon also sells Dutch Design. Gerard van den Berg designs for Koleksiyon. www.koleksiyon.com.tr

The Dutch brand Bugaboo has a sales office in Istanbul.

In 2007, Maureen Mooren en Daniel van der Velden took part in the Grafist 11: International Istanbul Graphic Design Week in Istanbul. See www.grafist.org and http://designtaxi.com/news/8437/Grafist-11-International-Istanbul-Graphic-Design-Week/

In 2007, Dutch trend forecaster Lidewij Edelkoort gave a lecture at the 2007 Istanbul Design Week.

http://www.istanbuldesignweek.com/ , http://trendunion.com/

In 2008, designers Rene Knip and Janno Hahn took part in the Grafist 12 International Istanbul Graphic Design Week.

Rene Knip’s main interest is the spatial, architectonic possibilities of language and characters. See http://atelierreneknip.nl/

Janno Hahn is a typgraphic designer; http://www.jannohahn.nl/

In 2008, Premsela, a Dutch Platform for Design and Fashion, had an exhibition at the Istanbul Grafik Sanatlar Musesi (Istanbul Graphic Arts Museum). The title of the exhibition was ‘Golden Age, Highlights of Dutch Graphic Design (1890-1990)’. The period concerned consists of the styles Art Nouveau, De Stijl, Expressionism, Dutch Constructivism and Rationalism after the War. See www.imoga.org and http://gratepe.blogspot.com/2008_09_01_archive.html.

In 2010, Jewelry designer Ted Noten had a solo exhibition at Soda Istanbul. See www.tednoten.com  and www.sodaistanbul.com.

In 2010, the design project The Flying Grass Carpet came to Istanbul. This project was initiated by 3 Dutch designers and it moves from one city to another. In each of these cities the grass carpet functions as a public park. Its visit to Istanbul is part of the Istanbul Cultural Capital 2010 program.

www.flyinggrasscarpet.org