During Dutch Design Week, E52 will be introducing you to the festival’s Hidden Gems. Ten special designers who we feel are the stand-outs of this edition. A different Hidden Gem will enjoy the limelight each day of DDW. Today: in4nite (ten visions on the material Colback)
What in4nite
By Low & Bonar
Where TQ gebouw, Strijp-T
In4nite is worth visiting, even if it’s only for the location. On the top floor of the usually closed TQ building on Strijp-T, ten designers from Arnhem organize a special program in collaboration with Low & Bonar.
“Colback especially shines in the background”Rick Tegelaar, in4nite
During DDW, it is all about smart materials, and Colback® in particular. That probably doesn’t ring any bells, and yet you can find the material everywhere. In roofs, car mats and at the back of carpets. “Colback especially shines in the background”, Rick Tegelaar jokes, one of the designers of in4nite.
Tegelaar explains what Colback is exactly. A special material developed in The Netherlands, made up of composite yarns with a core of PET (plastic). Strong and very solid. Low & Bonar, producer of Colback, was curious to find out what else could be done with the material and invited ten young designers from Arnhem to give their vision. It resulted in 10 special projects.
Tegelaar took on the challenge by not just thinking about applications but also about ways of producing. His course of industrial design, which he did before the art academy, came in handy. He built a 3D printer with which the Colback yarn could be printed onto something. That way it is possible to apply a reinforcing layer on desired places.
Useful for example the interior of cars (which involves a lot of Colback): by only applying an additional solid layer where necessary, you save material and so also weight. Another designer that can be seen is Mieke van den Hout. Large, open spaces where sounds are hollow are more and more often used to build in. That is why Van den Hout did research after the acoustic features of Colback and designed beautiful panels with the material.
Colback also has porous features. It inspired Robbin Baas to design ‘hanging gardens’. He uses the material in a smart way, which allows excess water to easily flow off and to be collected. The hanging gardens are entirely made out of recycled PET, known as Colback Green.
In the TQ building, it won’t only be about the innovative designs with Colback. The collective has made a broad, substantive program about smart materials and the use of technical textile. Designers and guest speakers will give lectures in the specially designed theatre and videos of the designers and their projects can be seen. Besides content, there is a pop-up restaurant. And of course, one of the most beautiful views over Eindhoven.
The ten pearls of DDW came about in collaboration with Dutch Design Daily and curator Katja Lucas of DDW. Do you want to admire the pearls yourself? Every day, Urban Exploring Tours and KOGA bikes organize a special bike tour along the selected designers. Find out more here.
Translation by Anneke Maas