Jongeriuslab



	Hella Jongerius has been using her fascination with materials to design products since 1993. Both ancient craft techniques and the latest high-tech glass fibre are used and abused by Jongerius until they yield their ultimate potential and boundaries. Just as material research is crucial to the final design in the world of avant-garde fashion, here the materials largely determine which products inevitably roll out of her Jongeriuslab. In a short period of time she has managed to create a unique image. Her work comments on the field of design and her products share a common mentality. Hence, the simple but optimal exploitation of the material polyurethane has resulted in the Soft Vases (1994) and the Pushed Soft Washtub (1996). She was also invited by the Technical University in Delft to experiment with a number of high-tech materials so as to chance upon new applications. This resulted in the knitted glass fibre lamp (1997), an inevitable consequence of the material's characteristics at different temperatures. Jongerius' work is typified by materials, history and archetypes, and by transformations from the old to the new. At first her designs look familiar and simple but behind that simplicity lurks plenty of intelligence. This is certainly true of the Slightly-Damaged Dinner Service (1998) where she pushed the application potential of porcelain beyond its normal boundaries. Firing this sublime but extremely fragile material at too high a temperature wilfully deforms each of the serially-manufactured plates in its own unique way. The horror of the ceramics industry has been transformed into a blessing. The result is not an anachronistically perfect dinner service rather it is a wobbly pile of serially-produced one-offs: plates with a soul. In addition, Jongerius opted for an archetypal vase form as her point of departure for a number of recent vase designs, and she also allowed materials and histories to collide. The two ancient craft techniques of glass and ceramics were softly but firmly held in place by a mundane element from the packaging industry: the garish tape that bears the imploring inscription 'handle with care'. One of the most striking designs to come out of the JongeriusLab is the transformation of an old African prie-dieu into a contemporary product. This chair was crafted in wood but has been transformed into a high-tech modern folding chair that carefully preserves the poetry of the original. (Kasese Chair, 1999) Louise Schouwenberg, Amsterdam 2000 Projects: 2001 My Soft Office: Bed in Business, weekly dinner, weekend dinner, powerpatch Candle Holder for Atlantis Cristal, Portugal 2000 Prince and Princess, porcelain Giant Prince, stonewear and cotton Embroidered Tablecloth, dragon and flower Groove Bottles and Long Neck Bottles: a marriage of glass and porcelain Interior for visual handicapped elderly people in 'Het Schild', Wolfheze (NL) in co-orperation with Jurgen Bey Big Porcelain Pot and Jar in collection of Cappellini 1999 Kasese Foam Chair, folded chair with foam skin, Cappellini produced by JongeriusLab Kasese Sheep Chair, folded chair with felt skin, Cappellini produced by JongeriusLab Felt Stool, Cappellini produced by JongeriusLab Big Porcelain Pot and Jar, Donna Karan New York Pink Soft Urn and Chocolate B-set for '100% Design London' Basketstools, Fruitstring, Poncho and Wrappingmaterials Oranienbaum for Droog Design with Picknick cloths 1998 7 Pots/ 3 Centuries/ 2 Materials: Updated 14th century shards in co-operation with the Museum Boymans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam B-service; Porcelain Tea-set, produced by Koninklijke Tichelaar Makkum 1997 Porcelain Waterset; during working-period EKWC, Den Bosch Winded Stool, for Dry-Tech 2 in co-operation with Space & Aeroplane Laboratory TU-Delft Porcelain Stool, for Rosenthal and Droog Design Waterset for Eurotop meeting, for 'Kunst & Bedrijf' 1996 Folded Washtub, for DMD Den Haag Pushed Washtub Tea-cozy, for the Dutch departmentstore 'HEMA' 1995 Knitted Lamp, for Dry-Tech in co-operation with Space & Aeroplane Laboratory TU Delft 1994 Pictureholder Young Giant Collection of 3 Soft Vases 1993 Collection of 3 poly-urethaan Bathmats Collection of 10 inflatable textiles top Exhibitions: 2001 'Workspheres', The Museum of Modern Art, New York (USA) 8 febr- 22 april 2001 Participation in exhibition Dutch Textile Museum, Tilburg: Kasese Sheep Chair, Embroidered Tablecloth, Felt Stool 2000 Participation in exhibition 'Pleidooi voor intuitie', Gemeentemuseum Den Haag: Long Neck Bottle, Groove Bottles, Red/White Vase, Big White Pot and B-service 'Pseudofamily, Halffabrics in ceramic', Institute of Contemporary Art Philadelphia (USA) 'Pseudofamily, Halffabrics in ceramic', Museum Het Princessehof, Leeuwarden (NL) 'Design World 2000', Museum of Art and Design, Helsinki (Fi) Exhibitions with Droog Design in Frankfurt, Milaan, Jerusalem 1999 '100% Design-show' London: Felt Chair, Chocolade B-set ZAPP exhibition: Kasese Foam Chair and the Kasese Sheep Chair Oranienbaum exhibition with Droog Design in Milano (Italy) 1998 'Do Normal', Dutch Design exhibition, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (USA) '7 Pots/ 3 Centuries/ 2 Materials', exposed in Mendini's Office, Milano (Italy) Participation with B-service and Waterset in Droog Design exhibition Inevitable Ornament, Milano (Italy) 1997 Several exhibitions with Droog Design in Cologne, London, Helsinki, Berlin, Frankfurt, Hamburg and Weimar Participation in '5 Years Droog Design' in Central Museum, Utrecht (NL) Participation with 2 Soft Wash-Tubs in the Droog Design exhibition 'Dry Bathing' and with the Winded Stool for Dry-Tech 2, Milano (Italy) 1996 Several exhibitions with Droog Design in Cologne, Montreal, Bremen, Stuttgart and Paris Participation in exhibition 'Tresholds in Contemporary Design from the Netherlands' in MOMA, New York (USA) Participation with Knitted Lamp, Soft Vases and Bathmats in the Droog Design exhibition 'New Plastic Treats', Milano (Italy) Participation in exhibition 'Self Manufacturing Designers', Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam (NL) 1995 Several exhibitions with Droog Design in Cologne, Bremen, Verona and Paris Participation in Droog Design exhibition, Kunsthal, Rotterdam (NL) Participation in exhibition 'Mutant Materials in Contemporary Design', MOMA, New York (USA) Participation in Droog Design exhibition with collection Soft Vases, Milano (Italy) 1994 Participation in Droog Design exhibition with collection Bathmats, Milano (Italy) 1993 Participation in exhibition 'Le Vent du Nord IX', Paris (France) Museumcollections: 2001 Gemeentemuseum Den Haag (NL): Long Neck and Groove Bottles, Giant Prince Museum of Modern Art, New York (USA): Kasese Sheep Chair 2000 San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (USA): Kasese Sheep Chair Centraal Museum Utrecht (NL): B- set, Waterset, Soft Wash Tub Dutch Textile Museum Tilburg (NL): Kasese Sheep Chair, Felt Stool, Embroidered Tablecloth 1999 San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (USA): Kasese Foam Chair Centraal Museum Utrecht (NL): Kasese Sheep Chair 1998 San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (USA): Washtub and Tea-cozy 1997 Museum of Modern Art, New York (USA): Knitted Lamp Centraal Museum Utrecht (NL): Soft Vases, Bathmats, Knitted Lamp and 2 Soft Wash-tubs 1996 Museum of Modern Art, New York (USA): Collection of Soft Vases Publications: 2000 'View on Color': Groove and Long Neck Bottles 1999 'Harpers Bazar NY' featuring Hella Jongerius Interview in 'View on Color' Interview in 'Intramuros' 1998 'International Design Yearbook 1998': B-service 'Spirit of the nineties', Droog Design 1997 'International Design Yearbook 1997': Knitted Lamp 1996 'International Design Yearbook 1996': Soft Vases 1995 'International Design Yearbook 1995': Bathmats 1994 - 1999 Several interviews and publications in national and international magazines: 'Items', 'Domus', 'Abitaire', 'Iterni', 'Blueprint', 'View on Color', 'Interior View', 'Design Report', 'New York Times'. Awards: 2000 AVA Ceramic Award, for Groove and Long Neck Bottles 1999 World Technology Award for Design, World Technology Network London 2x Nomitated for the Rotterdam Design Contest, for the B-set and the Soft Washtub 1997 Incentive Award Industrial Design, Amsterdam Foundation of Art, for 2 Soft Wash-tubs Additional jobs: 2000 - Director of a new department 'Het Atelier', at the Design Academy Eindhoven (NL) 1998-1999 Teacher in Design, at the Design Academy, Eindhoven (NL) 1998 Summerworkshop Domus Academy, Milano (Italy) 1997 Workshop at the Hochschule fur Bildende Kunste, Karlsruhe Workshop at the Hochschule fur Bildende Kunste, Hamburg (Germany) 1996 Teacher in Design, at the Rietveld Academy, Amsterdam (NL)