Design Academy Eindhoven

22Jan10

I’ve been looking at the vision of the Design Academy in Eindhoven, Netherlands. They organise the 8 departments as follows which is an interesting approach: the departmental titles focus the attention on the proposed function of design rather than the subject title.

The eight departments form all human activities in relationship to design.

Man and Living

Man and Communication

Man and Well-being

Man and Leisure

Man and Mobility

Man and Identity

Man and Activity

Man and Public Space

Ilse Crawford, Head of department of Man and Well-being

What connects us to our surroundings, gives meaning to the things, spaces and services we use? Man and Well-Being connects form with the way we experience the world around us, emotionally, physically, sensorially and subliminally. Students in the department of Man and Well-Being combine their ‘cool’ head with their ‘warm’ heart – “Form follows feeling,” is their mantra. Their quest is to refine design so that it brings out the best of us as humans. They apply their fine-tuned consciousness and their subtle understanding of human experience to different dimensions, from taste to tactility, from health care to self care, from poetry to technology, in short to daily life. Recent projects have covered: a new water consciousness; flooring – the surface we touch all the time; our sense of colour; and flowers. Product design here reflects social awareness and human relations in everyday life, as well as sustainability and the value of the resources we use. A graduate from the department of Man and Well-Being is fascinated by the emotional value of a product and the range in which the product is applied. He has come to grips with the emotional dimension of design playing a part in the experience of a product or a situation. He combines a keen susceptibility to atmosphere and detail with a competence for working with other disciplines.

I hope to visit the Academy to find out more about its ethos – until then – this book is a celebration of 60 years of great design that’s come out of the college.                                                                     

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