Fieldwork

After graduating from the Design Academy in Eindhoven in 2006 Maarten Kolk (1980) and Atelier NL, a partnership between Lonny van Ryswyck (1978) and Nadine Sterk (1977), were invited to undertake research for a year in the Noordoostpolder, where Rianne Makkink en Jurgen Bey have a farm on a hectare of land. The farm serves as a laboratory for Studio Makkink & Bey’s own research. In addition they invite young designers to spend a year here to develop greater insights into their work.

Their fieldwork was inspired by the natural surroundings, the local culture and the history of the polder. Kolk studied the development of the Noordoostpolder’s vegetation since its establishment in 1936. He documented the vegetation from year to year in a book, showing how natural phenomena interact and the effect that mankind has on them. The plants are preserved in a herbarium and a growbox with the intention of creating a museum garden.

Atelier NL undertook research into the specific qualities of the soil in the polder. They first created a visual soil map made up of tiles fired from clay from each parcel of land. They employed the rich palette of colours and material qualities to design a local dinner service. The potatoes, for example, are served in a vessel made from the clay in which they were grown.

Areas of research once peculiar to biology, archaeology and ethnography have provided a generation of new designers with inspiration for a new language of forms. The result is a visual archive of the local culture, soil and vegetation and products derived directly from this research.