Cohesion is a concept with which we are very familiar. Largely because it is a state we never achieve. Much like the geometry's asymptote never touches its associated curve, so to do our lives approach cohesion, without ever achieving such a condition. It remaining something tantalisingly ahead of us. Infinitely so.
And so it was with a particular personal interest we viewed the new 2014 Dutch Invertuals' exhibition: Cohesion.
As is traditional with Dutch Invertuals the participating designers and design studios were given a brief and then invited to develop a project based on that brief. Or at least as closely based on the brief as they wanted.
And as ever produced one of the most interesting and rewarding shows at Dutch Design Week.
Formally the brief asked the participants to investigate the "interrelation between objects, materials, parts and dimensions"; the results varied from largely conceptual works such as Volume 01, 02 & 03 by Alissa + Nienke or Frames & Volumes by Studio Mieke Meijer over more targeted research projects such as Arnout Meijer's Light is a vector (projecting a line) and on to projects that positively radiated "product", most notably Thomas Vailly & Laura Lynn Jansen's Tension matter project and the Flat light collection by Daphna Laurens.
And just as any given entity is the result of the cohesion of its associated elements, so to is and was the strength of Cohesion the interplay and interaction between the projects. No two projects covered the same territory, but often explored themes which overlapped in their result if not their materials or approach. And so, for example, whereas Jeroen Wand created with his Flat Solid a room divider that presented a different optic and aesthetic depending on the position from which one viewed it and the nature and direction of the light passing through it, so to did Jetske Visser & Michiel Martens' Hue blinds explore the largely transient nature of our perception of light. Albeit in an object where in contrast to Flat Solid the designer can control how light passes through it and so influence the end result.
Although by no means always an easy or straightforward exhibition, for lest we forget it was a Dutch Invertuals exhibition, Cohesion contained all the inquisition, dissecting and juxtaposition that makes contemporary design so interesting, and did so in away that not only made you want to understand those elements that weren't instantly obvious, but ensured you had the tools to do just that.
All in all a most entertaining showcase, and for all who missed it in Eindhoven we're sure you'll get another chance to see it in Milan next April.
Or online. For in addition to presenting Cohesion Dutch Invertuals also used Dutch Design Week 2014 to formally launch "Dutch Invertuals Collected" an online gallery of Dutch Invertuals projects past. The current Cohesion projects are not yet there, but the gallery does feature such much loved projects as CaCO3 – Stoneware by Thomas Vailly & Laura Lynn Jansen from 2014's Happy Future showcase, Daphna Laurens' Cover collection from Dutch Invertuals – Untouchables Retouched or the unforgettable and endlessly endearing Drawn By Time from Edhv as premièred at 2010's Matter of time exhibition. The full Dutch Invertuals gallery can be viewed at www.dutchinvertualscollected.nl
