The presentation of Dirk Vander Kooij's current collection during Dutch Design Week 2014 took place at Kazerne - the new star in Eindhoven's already well illuminated design sky.
Established by designers/curators Annemoon Geurts and Koen Rijnbeek who used run the temporary Eat Drink Design "exhibition restaurant" during Dutch Design Week, Kazerne is their new permanent "exhibition restaurant". They obviously having tired of "popping up" once a year.
Featuring a combination restaurant cum design gallery cum design shop cum design lab Kazerne is, according to one independent person we spoke to, the second biggest institution devoted to contemporary design in Holland. And that despite only having just opened.
And the expansion plans are already well advanced.
Particularly pleasing is the owners decision to use young Dutch designers for much of the furniture and fittings rather than opting for established international classics or that older generation of Dutch designers and architects who already receive so many international commissions. And so, for example, Kazerne have opted for Fresnel Suspension Lamps and Melting Pot Tables by Dirk Vander Kooij in the bar, while the restaurant features dining tables from Daphna Laurens and dining chairs by Geke Lensink & Jesse Visser.
In addition to the contemporary design in the restaurant Kazerne also features a design gallery whose inaugural exhibition is entitled Open Mind and includes works by young designers such as, for example, BCXSY, Arnout Meijer or Lex Pott. A genuine highlight however is the completely charming Leaning Bench by Polish born artist and designer Izabela Bołoz. Somewhat inevitably a Design Academy Eindhoven graduate.
Most sofas spend most of their time close up to a wall, ergo most sofas don't need the back legs.
So Izabela Bołoz removed them. And in doing do so has created an object which is as logical as it is practical as it is space saving as it is unassuming.
What however really appealed to us was the truly delightful form Izabela has managed to achieve. Singularly unique yet unquestionably very classical, Leaning Bench has a character which freely references several design epochs while remaining very much its own piece.
A wooden garden bench? A wooden balcony bench? A wooden kitchen or living room bench? Its all three. And obviously could be so, so, so much more.
should you be in Eindhoven Leaning Bench by Izabela Bołoz can be visited at Kazerne, Paradijslaan 2-8 aka Venue 52
