Contemporary Dutch Design: Selections from the Museum’s Collection May 19–November 25, 2018
Rody Graumans, Droog Design, 85 Lamps, designed 1993, made 1997, wire and bulbs, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Museum purchase funded by Michael W. Dale.
Saar Oosterhof, Droog Design, manufactured and distributed by DMD (Development, Manufacturing, Distribution), Tablecloth with Bowl, designed 1998, made 1999, polyurethane, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Museum purchase funded by the Design Council, 1999.
Wieki Somers, “High” Tea Pot, designed 2003, made 2005, porcelain, muskrat fur, stainless steel, and leather, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Garth Clark and Mark Del Vecchio Collection, Museum purchase funded by Clinton T. Willour in honor of Garth Clark and Mark Del Vecchio.
Sebastian Brajkovic, Lathe III (Black), 2011, bronze, leather, and silk, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Museum purchase funded by the Mary Kathryn Lynch Kurtz Charitable Lead Trust, the Design Council, 2013, and the Decorative Arts Endowment, with additional funding from the Art Colony Association, Inc., the Simon & Louise Henderson Foundation, Sara S. Morgan, Michael W. Dale, and Barbara and Mark Paull.
Geert Lap, manufactured by Cor Unum, Garbo, designed 1993, earthenware, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Garth Clark and Mark Del Vecchio Collection, Museum purchase funded by the Susan Vaughan Foundation.
Joke Brakman, Ring Set, 1981, acrylic and elastic, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Helen Williams Drutt Collection, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Museum purchase funded by Friends of the Design Council.
Dutch designers—with an interest in tradition and history, as well as the possibilities of technological intervention and mass production—have long placed an importance on functionality, craftsmanship, and the individual experience. By reimagining objects, many of the designers represented in this exhibition take cues from the rich historical past of Dutch culture while incorporating new materials and technologies.
The first half of the 20th century marked a period of innovation in the Netherlands through the radical ideas of De Stijl and the Bauhaus. Since the early 1990s, with the establishment of the collective Droog Design, international attention has once again focused on the Netherlands. Droog’s generation of designers, as well as those who have emerged more recently, are transforming expectations. Their designs build on the possibilities of material exploration and broadening the relationships between form and function, beauty and iconography.
Contemporary Dutch Design showcases objects from the MFAH collection demonstrating a range of materials, techniques, and unprecedented approaches that place Dutch designers at the forefront of the contemporary design field. This exhibition is presented in conjunction with Joris Laarman Lab: Design in the Digital Age, on view in the Beck Building from June 24 to September 16.
Contemporary Dutch Design: Selections from the Museum’s Collection | May 19–November 25, 2018
This exhibition is organized by the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.