Dutch Design Heritage
Hella Jongerius (1963), designer
Jongerius was born in De Meern and as early as a child she already enjoyed tinkering. She started out as an occupational therapist at a woodworking shop for people with mental disabilities, however, she wanted to make things herself and so she started to follow courses in carpentry and furniture making. Afterwards, she studied at the Eindhoven Academy of Industrial Design until 1993, after which she began to cooperate with Droog Design. She made her breakthrough with the Soft urn, a vase made of rubber: her work is characterised by experiments with materials and studying shapes. In 2000, she founded her own agency, JongeriusLab, and she led the design agency of the Design Academy. Jongerius also taught courses abroad. Her clients include Cappellini, Koninklijke Tichelaar Makkum, Rosenthal, Ikea, Marharam and Vitra.
The Louis Kalff Instituut is the Dutch heritage centre for industrial design, located in Eindhoven, the Netherlands.
