Pioneers in the spotlight
In Here We Are!, the designs that pioneering women have been making since the beginning of the past century are given a well-deserved place in the spotlight. On show will be iconic designs such as Greta Magnusson’s ‘Grasshopper Lamp’, Liisi Beckmann’s colourful, plastic armchair, and Cini Boeri’s glass ‘Ghost Chair’. Other highlights include modernist pieces by the famous designers Charlotte Perriand, Eileen Gray, and Clara Porset, who all created their legendary designs in the shadows of their male counterparts. But the exhibition will also shed light on some lesser-known trailblazing women. In 1909, Louise Brigham published a revolutionary book on how to make your own furniture out of discarded materials. Also exhibited is a rarely shown tapestry by the innovator Gunta Stölzl, who was the first woman to lead a Bauhaus department.
Designing the future
Today, women are pushing the boundaries of what we call design and for whom it is intended. Sustainability and the newest technology are the defining factors for this. The German Julia Lohmann, for instance, is developing new materials out of seaweed, while the Dutch Christien Meindertsma critically investigates production processes. Her Flax Chair is a biodegradable chair made of fortified flax. Apart from Dutch Design by, among others, Hella Jongerius, work by women designers and design collectives from around the globe is also featured: a chair based on the Indian bicycle culture, for example, or an installation that was especially made for the exhibition and focuses on the personal experiences of designers on the African continent. And finally, projects in the fields of social and urban design, and digital fashion offer us a glimpse of the future.
