This year, Dutch Design Awards (DDA) works with ten former winners or nominees in the Young Designers category. Each of them highlights one young designer and promising name in the current design field working on the same mission as themselves.

Diego Grandry 

Young designer spotlighted by Marius Jopen

Dutch Design Awards 2024

Diego Grandry embraces the expanding possibilities of the digital to share narratives that stress how relative concepts like normality and normativity are. Blending the digitally hand-made, his work is sculptural and painterly, best described as visual poetry that re-imagines the body through technology. He explores this recurrent theme by embodying a certain ‘otherness’ across different media: drawings morphing into 3D software, virtual reality, and hacking and repurposing video games, all of which results in illustration, film and sculpture. By transporting and manipulating physical objects from popular culture into virtual realities, he re-appropriates their meaning and creates a unique set of visual languages and symbols.

Diego is a graduate of The Royal Academy of Art The Hague, where he now teaches in the Interactive Media Design department. He shares socio-political stories that ignite a common consciousness of belonging and actualises them for a society-in-the-making. To do so, he navigates the friction between hegemonic ideals of ugliness and beauty to explore discourses on exclusion, difference, identity, and body politics. In ‘Man on a Horse’, Diego represents the contemporary French story of the cavalier du 93—a myth referencing the vibrant Parisian suburb of Seine-Saint-Denis (93) often associated with immigration and marginalisation, that evokes the image of a modern-day hero emerging from this context. Man on a Horse provides a positive and sensitive portrayal of a community often stigmatised, magnifying the grandeur and timelessness of its imagery. Coupling techniques from classical painting portraiture with modern technological means achieves  a level of detail that reinforces a sense of tradition and cultural significance. ‘Frères et Sœurs’ crystallises a pivotal moment in the political climate in France—the uniting of the left as Front Populaire to combat the rise of the far right. In light of the recent elections, Diego emphasises a painstaking attention to skin in mobilising politics, as a reminder of the complex role that this organ plays in divisive propaganda. 

Marius Jopen

Young Designer Dutch Design Awards 2016

Marius Jopen has a solid creative presence in the field of AI. His work merges traditional design with technological innovation. From the onset of his career, Marius strongly represents designers expanding their field of activity. His work is diverse and unites various disciplines, ranging from graphic design to charitable strategies, independent cinema production, logos, and exhibition design. With a signature style that constantly oscillates between cheeky, lovely, uncomfortable, ironic, unpolished, and intelligent observations, he reflects the broad possibilities of a modern visual artist. He has taught himself many techniques throughout his career, embodying an autodidactic spirit through which he continues to pave the way. He continues to explore emerging technologies and share his AI and Creative Code knowledge with others. 

Since graduating from the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in 2014, Marius Jopen has established/built a considerable portfolio in which he blends his skills as a graphic designer, visual artist, AI explorer, and educator. Marius was ahead of the curve of designers adopting other roles. He is co-director of web-development studio 100k and produces independent sci-fi and ghost movies (including the critically acclaimed Spacebirth2). His early daily poster series adopts a journalistic guise, illustrating news with raw words and image jokes. Jopen has also worked for clients including Marvel, Burberry, Black Mirror, and Hypebeast. On top of teaching in the field of AI, he also actively collaborates with musicians, both to create AI-enhanced music videos that offer a fresh take on the genre and as a VJ (video jockey). He is co-founder of the Love Foundation, a network of activists and artists who collectively generate money for social projects through organising various activities.

Dutch Design Awards
Dutch Design Awards (DDA) has been a leader in interpreting Dutch design for years. DDA’s goal is broader than rewarding the best design: we want the conversation about Dutch design to continue. With great openness and curiosity, we therefore facilitate exchanges between designers and curators, public and professionals. In order to continue emphasising the essential impact of design on society and to contribute to the development of the profession.

Portrait photo Diego Grandry: Arianna Cavalensi