Collaboration: from method to content
This research focuses on collaboration between designers. The conjecture is that collaboration of this specific kind could enrich and deepen the profession from within. This would broaden the basis for design in general and enable better alignment within the context of an assignment.
The scope of designing in the Netherlands has been expanding during the last few years (diversity and quantity of designers has increased); the recent shift from ‘author designers’ to ‘process designers’ seems to have signaled a turning point. (To put it simply: ‘author designers’ operate and produce single-handedly on the basis of a powerful individual vision and signature, while ‘process designers’ seek quality in the level of service and efficiency of a design within the context of a larger entity). The shift has meant that new areas of application need to be explored in order to meet the latest demands faced by the profession. Complex issues such as the future of healthcare, identity versus multiculturalism or sustainable enterprise are in need of attention at various levels. The assumption is that if designers were to cooperate, they would be able to exchange similar experience and insight, thereby increasing their knowledge. This professional (not purely theoretical) knowledge could be used to give the sector a more solid grounding and to turn the design process into an instrument that provides insight (but which will not necessarily become comprehensible!).
Sophie Krier has lived and worked in Rotterdam since graduating in 1999 from the Design Academy Eindhoven. Between 2005 and 2009 she coordinated the Design Lab at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam, where she has also lectured since 2002. In her design practice, Sophie Krier designs exhibitions such as the Simply Droog 10+1 retrospective. She also writes columns and essays for Stichting Premsela et al., and researches the social dimension of design through self-initiated projects such as Nuits Blanches or 5050.