On Wednesday evening, November 26, Room 2 of Focus Filmtheater filled with Arnhem’s creative scene. They came for the presentation of Arnhemse Nieuwe 2025, six promising designers selected by Ontwerp Platform Arnhem as the promises of tomorrow. These young design talents are eager to get started.
Arnhemse Nieuwe (Arnhem Newcomers) started in 2006 as a springboard for recent graduates of ArtEZ Academy of Art & Design. Nowadays, graduates from all design programs in Arnhem are eligible to participate. A creative professional jury selects the most promising talents, who are given a platform to share their work and ambitions with a wide audience. This initiative by Ontwerp Platform Arnhem (OPA) gives young designers a flying start in the creative industry.
Debating with the expert jury
The expert jury (Thijs van Exel, Roos Meerman, Simone van Bennekom, and Dewi van de Klomp) had the difficult task of selecting six designers from an impressive stack of portfolios. These six Arnhem Newcomers were each given an hour to discuss their work with a jury member.
Lotte Bruinink, Wout van Slagmaat, Anna Fehn, Anne-Mirthe Huijser, Lucas Zuidema, and Tabitha Skye Anderton presented their projects to OPA members and other interested parties on Tuesday evening, November 26. Moderator Jesse Laport guided the audience through the presentations with flair and enthusiasm.
What stood out: this group does not think in terms of pigeonholing. They use technology as a tool, sustainability is a given, and the boundaries between disciplines are blurring. Creativity is increasingly linked to technology and social challenges. Almost all of their projects deal with current issues and try to make us aware of problems and/or come up with solutions for society. Below, we introduce you to the Arnhemse Nieuwe 2025.
Lucas Zuidema (ArtEZ Graphic Design): Empty Space between your Files
Lucas (graphic designer, creative coder, and podcast creator) devised a new way to organize your photos on your computer: not in folders, but by linking them together like a spider web. “The folder structure of Windows Explorer or Finder has limitations. I wrote software to connect images in a personal and human way. This automatically creates an overview of all your images. A voice-over guides you through this new structure.”
Tabitha Skye Anderton (ArtEZ Graphic Design): Towards The Conscious Contact: Past Folds and Motion
For her project, Tabitha created an interactive installation that explores how we interact with our phones and other screens. She created a work of art in which a paper sculpture ‘breathes’ when you touch the screen. This makes you a kind of caretaker of the artwork and encourages you to think differently about your phone use. She deliberately built in a little ‘fuss’ so that everything doesn’t work super smoothly. In doing so, she shows that a little resistance can actually help us to use technology more consciously and attentively.
Lotte Bruinink (ArtEZ Product Design): Hot under your feet
Lotte’s project investigates how visualization and interface design can increase our daily understanding of climate change. Lotte designed a smart thermostat that shows you how much CO2 you emit when you turn up the heating. She also came up with a candle-shaped radiator. This automatically makes you think about how much energy you use. She is now investigating how her ideas can really help people: at home, at school, or in society.
Anna Fehn (ArtEZ Product Design): On Eyelevel
With her project, Anna shows how things in the world are often made to one standard size. Anna herself is quite small (155 cm) and wondered: why is everything always at a standard height? With her interactive and playful designs, she shows what it’s like to be taller or shorter than average. For example, she made a table with a high and a low side, and an adjustable seat.
“Being small sometimes literally means feeling small. Physical objects can change that perspective. Suddenly, big or small becomes tangibly relative.”
Wout van Slagmaat (ArtEZ Product Design): blurring line between work and private life
Wout van Slagmaat is a product designer and creator. He presented no fewer than three projects at Focus Filmtheater. He investigated what happens when you work from home: when is your living room your office and when is it your living room again? Using furniture and objects, he shows what is good and less ideal about working from home.
He also came up with the WalkMate app, which allows you to find a walking buddy for your lunch break. He is also experimenting with a clay press to make building blocks that can reinforce dikes. He also invented the ‘floatbin’: a converted wheelie bin that can serve as a life raft if sea levels continue to rise.
Wout makes everything in his own workshop. Together with Peter Barends, he started Studio Naaan.
Anne-Mirthe Huijser (artist educator and docent): Polarization Poetry
Anne-Mirthe Huijser works as an artist educator and creates art that gives everyday life a surprising twist. For her project, she collected nasty online comments from social media and websites. Anne-Mirthe brought these to life in the real world by turning them into posters, bags, and a poetry collection. Suddenly, you see how crazy, funny, or strange those angry comments actually are.
“I like it when my art makes people laugh, feel, or think. I want to open up the conversation about empathy and anonymity.”
About the expert jury
Thijs van Exel is Lead Practices at PONT (De Publieke Ontwerppraktijk). PONT is a program that strengthens cooperation between designers and government on social issues.
Roos Meerman is co-founder and creative director of Fillip Studios in Arnhem. She creates interactive art installations that can be seen worldwide, from New York to Tokyo.
Simone van Bennekom is Head of Program CreativeNL (Ministerie van Economische Zaken) and director of Stichting Creatief Arnhem.
Product designer Dewi van de Klomp is a project manager and program creator at BNO (Association of Dutch Designers), with a focus on emerging design talent.
Text: Nicole Beaujean
Photography: Michele Giebing
