frederik roije

l: frederik roijé © designboom
r: ‘lampscapes’, 2004 photo by gerrit schreurs

in the last 10 years the leading figures of dutch design such as renny ramakers and gijs bakker (droog founders), marcel wanders, richard hutten, tord boontje, juergen bey
and hella jongerius, have achieved international recognition.but recently young talents in the
netherlands are said to be in crisis.in fact few designers achieve real commercial success,
production and distribution survive mainly by extensive government support. this situation might
be caused by the main characteristic of current dutch design (the design language):
it seems to be based on a palette of eco-friendly-and-politically-correct ideas, but the results
are rarely any 'explosion' of new forms.
‘giving form’ often is made out of assemblages or collages (citations from flemish art history...),
and design projects are relying mostly heavily only on a concept rather than a manufacturing
process. in this large and varied design scene, there are a few newcomers, who try to find their
own way. frederik roijé is one of the new dutch talents who is not concentrating too much on
conceptual thinking and is not neglecting the ‘making of things’. even if most of his designs are one-of-a-kind objects, they are made in series. their different characters, their uniqueness come
to live by the process of making.

‘I get inspired by the things around me. I often fall in love with
a product, technique or material with which I have a personal relation. I like to create
new products and I think the relation between product and user is very important.’ -FR

l:'lampscapes’, recently presented in a milan gallery, during the design week 2004.
r:‘spineless lamps’, 2003