Newspaper

Dutch Design Week Bigger Than Ever

Published in the Weekly Newspaper Groot Eindhoven, 15 October 2008

Dutch Design Week 2008 brought together approximately 1,500 designers from the Netherlands and abroad, making it the largest design event in the country. Throughout Eindhoven, exhibitions, workshops, lectures and product presentations showcased the latest developments in Dutch design.

To illustrate the diversity of the event, the newspaper featured a selection of products and projects from participating designers.

Ring Set by Bas van Leeuwen

Among the featured designs was a minimalist ring set designed by Bas van Leeuwen.

The design consists of a series of simple geometric rings that can be worn individually or combined in different ways. The product reflects the minimalist and functional design approach that characterised much of the emerging Dutch design scene at the time.

By reducing the object to its essential form, the rings demonstrate how a simple idea can create a strong visual statement.

Dutch Design Week 2008

The event showcased work from established designers, young talents and students from institutions such as Design Academy Eindhoven. Sustainability, innovation and experimentation played a central role throughout the programme.

Dutch Design Week continued to strengthen Eindhoven’s position as an international centre for design and creativity, providing a platform for both emerging and established designers to present new ideas and products.

Publication Details

Publication: the Weekly Newspaper Groot Eindhoven
Publication date: 15 October 2008
Featured designer: Bas van Leeuwen
Featured product: Ring Set
Event: Dutch Design Week 2008
Location: Eindhoven, The Netherlands

Woonkrant – De Telegraaf

Woonkrant is the weekly living and interior supplement of De Telegraaf, the Netherlands’ largest-circulation daily newspaper, with a readership of more than two million. Published every Wednesday, Woonkrant covers interior design, home furnishings, architecture and lifestyle, reaching a broad consumer audience across the Netherlands. The supplement is distributed as part of the main newspaper, giving featured products and brands exposure to a large and diverse general readership well beyond the specialist design press.

The edition shown is dated Wednesday, 12 August, and features a multi-item product page presenting notable items in the home and living category alongside one another.

Spelenderwijs – Facet by Bloomming

Under the heading “Spelenderwijs” (Playfully), Woonkrant presents Light Facet by Bloomming as a product suitable for use as a sunscreen or room divider. The short editorial item describes how the interconnected plastic panels form crystal-like stars that can be opened or closed independently of one another. Each diamond shape can rotate freely on its own axis, allowing the user to play with light and shadow within a space. The product is accompanied by a photograph showing Facet installed as a large-format ceiling-suspended screen, with its characteristic faceted geometry creating a shifting, three-dimensional surface. Photography is credited to Bart Roos. The item directs readers to www.bloomming.com for further information.

Editorial Context

The Woonkrant page on which Facet appears presents several products side by side, including a limited-edition wooden cabinet by Foresti and a wall cladding product, reflecting the supplement’s typical format of grouping design-led home products in short, accessible editorial items. The placement of Facet within this context — alongside furniture and interior finishing products aimed at a general consumer audience — reflects the product’s accessibility and broad appeal beyond the specialist architectural market.

The front page of the same edition of De Telegraaf is visible in the photographs, confirming the newspaper context and the scale of the publication’s reach.

Publication Details

Publication: Woonkrant, weekly living supplement of De Telegraaf
Date: Wednesday, 12 August (year partially visible; consistent with early-to-mid 2000s based on product timeline)
Item title: Spelenderwijs
Product featured: Light Facet room divider / sunscreen
Photography: Bart Roos
Company: Bloomming
Designers: Bas van Leeuwen & Mireille Meijs
Category: National newspaper living supplement, the Netherlands

Why this feature mattered

De Telegraaf’s Woonkrant supplement represented one of the highest-circulation consumer platforms available to Dutch design brands. With a readership exceeding two million, a feature in Woonkrant brought Bloomming’s Facet to a mainstream audience at a scale no specialist design publication could match. The short, accessible editorial description — focusing on the playful, interactive quality of the product and its ability to manipulate light and shadow — communicated Facet’s core appeal in straightforward consumer language, reinforcing its relevance beyond professional design circles and introducing it to a broad audience of homeowners and interior enthusiasts across the Netherlands.