Complete overview

Dutch Design Daily

1 / 4

By

By

By
Daan Rietbergen www.daanrietbergen.com

Graphic Days Torino – Daan Rietbergen

By 15-05-2021

ONE WEEK ABOUT Graphic Days by Dennis Elbers, founder of Graphic Matters and guest-curator of Graphic Days ‘Eyes on the Netherlands’.

As a guest-curator, I was allowed to put together part of the programme. Never before had I worked on a project in which one country was central. Of course, Dutch designers have an enormous hero status abroad. But I find it hard to define what ‘Dutch Graphic Design’ is today.

Globalisation has brought Dutch design fame. Designers speak about their work and vision in all corners of the world. Foreign students travel to the Netherlands for masters and internships. This dissemination of knowledge is perhaps the reason why Dutch design is becoming less distinctive. Simply because the rest of the world copies elements. So fame can also be the downfall.

How can my selection honour the supposed hero status and yet also challenge the public to look beyond the images they already know? This is where the importance of self-initiated projects comes into play. Projects that arise from the inner urge of designers. Projects that not only give depth to their own practice, but also shape the substantive debate surrounding their profession. That is why I asked Daan Rietbergen to show his Nespor and Rosdar letters and why we worked together with Richard Niessen to translate his imaginary Palace of Typographic Masonry into a travelling collection.

Graphic Days Torino
‘Eyes on the Netherlands’
14 – 30 May, 2021
www.graphicdays.it