The DOEN | Materiaalprijs, welcomes submissions from all designers, visual artists, fashion designers and architects living and working in the Netherlands. The closing date for entries is 8 June 2012 (!) For more information and registrations see: www.doen-materiaalprijs.nl

Why participate?
- we think € 15,000 and € 5,000 are two very nice money prizes
- your work will be on show during the upcoming Dutch Design Week
- and… no guts, no glory!

Says who?
Aart van Bezooyen is happy to join the committee of the 4th edition of the DOEN | Materiaalprijs,  a special award to promote the sustainable design practice. Together with Max Bruinsma, Tjeerd Veenhoven, Arjen Bangma and Joanna van der Zande, he will be nominating entries based on recycling, upcycling, ecodesign, cradle to cradle, biomicry and superuse to name a few.

The Materials Café (www.materialscafe.de) is a materials and design exhibition focused on sustainability from 23 to 27 April at the HANNOVER MESSE 2012. With over 300 square meters full of innovative materials, inspiring lectures, creative workshops and tasty coffee, the organizers created a professional hub for designers, engineers and scientists to exchange ideas and discover what’s new.

This year’s exhibition focuses on materials, products and services from around the world to inspire and enable a more intelligent and sustainable future. On the first day of the exhibition, Oliver Erichiello brings us the inspiring background story of Magno Radio from Indonesia which is all about hands with crafting skills and a heart for social business. Ecovative (USA) features a new type of packaging which is not manufactured but grown by mushrooms. A more local contribution is by Florian Schmid, a young German designer who explored a new material called Concrete Canvas to develop surprising furniture pieces that combine the strength of concrete with the looks of fabric.

A five day program with demonstrations, lunch lectures and workshops is organized to reveal stories and experience the exhibited materials and products. Tuesday, the Changers from Berlin explain how they aim to stop global warming with the introduction of a new currency created by solar energy. Thursday’s special guest is Oskar Zieta from Poland who will tell (and show) more about the FiDU technology, a whole new approach to creating lightweight objects by inflating metal. Finally, the daily afternoon workshops allow visitors to enjoy hands-on experiments materials such as SUGRU from the UK, a colorful substance that brings back the spirit of repairing the things we love.

Whether it is by growing packaging or by inflating metal, the Materials Café 2012 wants to demonstrate us that innovation requires us to rethink business as usual. Also, by presenting well known exhibitors such as BASF and Dyson next to young entrepreneurs such as Stefan Canditt (Formulor.de) and Dutch designer Tjeerd Veenhoven (PalmLeather), the organizers demonstrate that smart and sustainable thinking matters for all. The over 30 participants makes this exhibition a great place to experience innovative materials and products to see, feel, hear, smell and, of course, with the taste of coffee.

The Materials Café is an initiative by Thomas Bade (Universal Design Germany), Tim Oelker (Tim Oelker Industrial Design) and Aart van Bezooyen (Material Stories). The event is powered by the HANNOVER MESSE, Zieta Prozessdesign and the Leibniz University Hanover. This year’s materials and design exhibition is focused on sustainability and takes place from 23 to 27 April at the HANNOVER MESSE 2012 (Hall 6, Booth B 54).

Contact
Materials Café 2012
Date: from 23 to 27 April
Location: HANNOVER MESSE – Hall 6, Booth B 54

Invitation: Materials Café 2012 (download here)
Web: www.materialscafe.de
Facebook: www.facebook.com/MaterialsCafe
Email: info(at)materialscafe.de

We just published our latest newsletter Get Inspired #04 – VEGAN, a special edition that reveals the first discoveries of last year’s research journey around the world.

VEGAN focuses on the beauty of plant-based materials, such as Vegetal Ivory and Golden Grass, and takes a closer look at the ‘Made Of..’ material library which opened its doors this month in The Netherlands. The newsletter also includes an invitation for companies, designers and students to participate at this year’s Materials Café, a special platform for sustainable materials and design. An additional surprise is the bamboo illustration on the backside of the newsletter that demonstrates the beauty and various uses of bamboo around the world. All together, happy reading!

Last month, 44 design experts from around the world were gathered in Germany to select the winning entries of the iF Design Awards 2012. During two days they explored the huge exhibition halls to review over 4000 entries featuring products, communication, packaging and materials – all brought on location. To get an impression of the enormous selection watch the iF closeup video (above) including juror statements and an explanation by Prof. Fritz Frenkler (awards chairman).

Material experts George Beylerian (Material Connexion), Michael Lanz (designaffairs) and Aart van Bezooyen (Material Stories) were jurors for the materials entries. Keeping in mind criteria regarding the material’s innovation, sustainability, presentation and commercial value we took a close look, and feel, to select the winning entries of the iF Material Design Award 2012.

What does this mean for Material Stories?
Material Stories gathered a lot of information by getting face to face with sustainability experts and by experiencing local crafts and natural materials. We love to inform and inspire you with materials and ideas that can make your designs more sustainable. If you share our interest in sustainable design – then keep in touch via Twitter or subscribe to the Get Inspired newsletter.

From March to August 2011, Material Stories is out of office, or better, traveling around the world for the It‘s Not Easy Being Green project.

It‘s Not Easy Being Green is a six month project by Aart van Bezooyen and Paula Raché focusing on sustainability in materials and design around the world. You can read more at www.itsnoteasybeinggreen.net

Want to see what we are doing?
- Join us on Facebook
- Follow us on Twitter

Last December, the Design Platform Limburg invited Aart van Bezooyen to conclude their great A-Z Lezingen lecture series for 2010. After some 600 kilometers of snowy landscape Aart arrived in Belgium at the Z33 venue for his lecture titled Aging focused on the use of time in design and materials selection (more materials lecture photos after the jump).

Unlike history, in 2011 we will put our focus on future of our planet. Material Stories is doing this with the following two projects.

Firstly, a special show titled Materials Café at this year’s Hannover Messe (from 4-8 April 2011) will bring together the latest materials developments and the people behind the scenes who made this all happen. All of this in an enjoyable setting bringing together great stuff with great coffee.

Secondly, if we talk about future we should talk about sustainability. Currently, Material Stories is planning a worldwide journey focused on sustainability in materials and design (Read: skills of people, materials of places and the lifetime of products). Stay tuned!

For now, best wishes from Hamburg – more writings soon!

See the full A-Z Lezingen lectures agenda here: www.a-zlezingen.be

Last week, the Stille Stars exhibition (Silent Stars exhibition) opened its doors at the Wilhelm Wagenfeld House. After entering the building we walk into a range of “super suits” made of innovative materials that protect us from burning fire, freezing water and dangerous chemicals and other harsh conditions – which is what this exhibition is all about. Silent Stars are materials that enable more innovative products, sustainable products and products that might save your life (see photo).

The exhibition can be visited until February 27, 2011. Watch more materials photos and information after the jump.

Materials information is available along a red wire.

Sustainable alternatives such as flooring made of bamboo.

Special sharpener made of a technical ceramic (made in one piece).

Light installation in front of the Wilhelm Wagenfeld House.

Wilhelm Wagenfeld House
The Wilhelm Wagenfeld House explores current trends in design and everyday culture with special exhibitions, conferences and lectures that explore current and historical trends and developments in all areas of design, with a focus on the significance of the creative industries for innovation.
Visit website: www.wwh-bremen.de

Congratulations to Claudy Jongstra who has been awarded with the DOEN | Materiaalprijs last weekend at the Dutch Design Week 2010. For years, Claudy Jongstra not only designs but also produces unique fabrics for objects and interiors. She even keeps her own herd of Drenthe Heath sheep and a botanic garden to grow natural dyestuffs and realize unique color schemes. We love her personal approach that goes from sourcing the raw material to finishing the final design.

I’ve added a short documentary to understand more about her creative process and way of working (see video above). The documentary itself is part of a new series of so called Dutch Profiles focusing on the international position of Dutch design, fashion and architecture.

Read on for more information about the DOEN | Materiaalprijs and Dutch Profiles videos.

The DOEN | Materiaalprijs was created in 2009 to promote sustainable design practice where the core values of innovation and sustainability go hand in hand with style and functionality. This annual prize intends to mobilise everyone at the cutting edge of art and design to devise new ways and means of designing for a sustainable future. Visit website: www.doen-materiaalprijs.nl

Dutch Profiles is a series of short documentaries about architects, graphic, product and fashion designers in the Netherlands. Dutch Profiles focuses on the conceptual, context-oriented and research-based practice of Dutch designers and includes interviews with, among others: MVRDV, 2012 Architects, Jurgen Bey, Claudy Jongstra, Gerard Unger, Paul Mijksenaar, Marlies Dekkers, Alexander van Slobbe and G-Star. Visit website: www.dutchdfa.nl/profiles

Tel-Aviv-Yafo is not only the place to be for beach tourists in Israel, it is also the venue of this year’s CASA Matter, a special conference on materials and technologies.

The conference takes place on 19.10.2010 during this year’s CASA 10 fair and is organized by Mrs. Efrat Friedland, founder an director of Israel’s materials library  iMatter. Together with materials experts Chris Lefteri, Dr. Isa Hofmann and Nina Saller, I welcome the invitation to lecture about materials (watch the video above for a first impression).

My lecture “RETHINK, RE-EDUCATE, RECYCLE” focuses on how we can use materials to do things differently in order to realize a more human, intelligent and sustainable future. You can download the invitation here (in Hebrew).