GLUE’s talkshow met Arthood Collective, Lamiae El Hajjaji, 1m2 Collective en Rosa Smits.
The fourth and final edition of the four-part Alternatives of the Unexpected took place Tuesday, June 10, at Pakhuis de Zwijger. Five makers, creatives, and perhaps most importantly, connectors, took the stage to tell their stories. Talk show host Marsha Simon kicked off the evening with ‘We are going to listen to stories of people who give a damn’.
Expressing emotions in a different way
Kristel Anna Frich and Denise Admiraal of Arthood Collective took the audience through the process of how they use creativity to bring people together. To create together, to make together, to share stories and especially to come together to exchange ideas and learn from each other. They do this with a huge network of people who together form Arthood Collective. A platform for and by creatives in Amsterdam that addresses social issues around mental well-being.
A richness of storytelling
Lamiae El Hajjaji creates impactful stories by combining her skills in graphic design, illustration and animation. In this way, she takes the viewer into her world and creates a layered story full of symbols and small details. She talked about her process and how she got to where she is now, about expectations and not wanting to fit into boxes. She is now working on a project HIA, Arabic for “her,” a multiverse told through various designs, this one now includes ceramics, a two-meter-long hijab and a handmade mirror. “By working on my own brand, I found out more about what stories I wanted to tell.”
A protest, exhibition, conversation starter and, above all, a way to come together.
1m2 Collective strives for an inclusive and diverse design industry, created as a protest against the expensive square meter prices at (design) fairs. With the presentations, 1m2 Collective takes the viewer into a story about why design events are not as inclusive as they often claim to be, and how you as a maker can carve out a place in this.
What does it mean to be a community? We need to give more as a community instead of just taking? Jeffrey Heiligers calls us all to: ‘show up’ when something is happening within the sector. There is so much great stuff being offered by different platforms, how do you get people to really connect with you and get involved in a process?
Weaving voices
Rosa Smits closed the evening and talked about singing together, making together, sharing stories and working together on a collective woven work. With her work, she designs and creates encounters. By working together, other stories emerge, Rosa noticed: ‘when the hands are already busy, you have the space’.
People tell very honest and vulnerable stories while weaving. For Rosa, weaving is a technique, a method of making and coming together. She does this in different places with different groups of people, always creating different stories. Come weave and sing together with Rosa at the Waag during GLUE on Sept. 18, 19, 20 and 21.
About Alternatives from the Unexpected
Change is the word of the times, change in politics, change in behavior, change in how we look at the world. But what does it take to change a system? Where do we start? And who starts? Alternatives from the Unexpected is the name of this lecture, but also of the exhibition of designers assembled to participate in GLUE 2025. Change can come from the wings of a butterfly, and from designers who challenge the expected.
About GLUE
GLUE is a four days design-route in Amsterdam for designers, the general public, architects, brands, labels, showrooms, galleries, academies and other colleagues. GLUE amsterdam connected by design connects all locations and provides a substantive and attractive program for colleagues and the public. Aside from the design-route in September, GLUE organises community meetings to connect the creative sector year-round.
Report by Anne Pieterse, GLUE amsterdam
