Lotte is a young product designer. She is a committed artist. Her projects carry a message, through them she is trying to respond to social problems and raise the audience’s awareness.

You are a designer, but not only. Your projects carry some message  - tell us about it.

As a designer I try to find ways to contribute in a positive way to the society. I am convinced that as a designer you have bigger responsibilities than just creating new products. You contribute with your products to the enormous stream of products which are used and rejected at great speed. I think you should do this in a way that their existence is legitimate. The projects I realise are answering or trying to give an answer to problems in society or are trying to create awareness among the public.


Do you think that an artist should educate society/public?

No, definitely not. Each artist or designer should work in their own way on their projects. For myself I can say that there are aspects in my projects that I want to create solutions for and raise awareness by the public, but in general I focus on concrete solutions for problems in society where I think design can make a difference and not as much on education. But I do think that art and design can create eye-openers for the public which can be educational, but I don't believe it should be a goal on its own.    
 
What is a Dutch member of art audience like? How are your works/projects received?

I don't understand this question, is not each person unique?
My projects are very well received at this moment. After the exhibition in Milan this year I have had very good response from the press, fellow designers and companies. This probably says something about the general ideas in design and the need for people to approach design from a different angle. There is a need for designers who work in an innovative but responsible, social and sustainable way


I have seen your project – a ball made of dirty coffee cups – where did that idea come from?

It is a bowl made of used Polystyrene coffee cups. It came from the idea that every day hundreds of cups are thrown away and that using your own cup (as seen as an alternative) hardly works. I wanted to find a way to re-use materials by upgrading them in stead of today's degradation. Normally, when materials are recycled, they are always used as raw material for low-quality products. I wanted to show that waste can also be used in higher quality products than the original product and that it can be used in a decorative way as well. That's why I started to create flower-like shapes from the cheap coffee cups. When the shapes are created (by heat) they can be linked so no new or extra material is added.
 
Tell us about your cooperation with Turkish women and your Bloei! project.

It is about Turkish tradition in a Dutch context. The first generation Turkish women live in The Netherlands since the late seventies. This group grew to around 90.000 women in The Netherlands today. 80 To 85% of these women are in a underprivileged position in the Dutch society.
When people come to The Netherlands they already have a certain “luggage”. This can be knowledge or skills. For the Turkish women it is their craft. The women practice their craft since they were little girls to create their dowry. The Turkish women took their traditional craft with them to The Netherlands and still practice it at their homes.

When their craft can be innovated into new and contemporary products it can find a place in The Netherlands. In this way it can become a bridge between the women and the Dutch society. It can raise the self esteem of these women and it can make them feel more at home in the Dutch society.

In series of workshops I have worked together with 10 Turkish women from the first generation living in Utrecht, The Netherlands. We worked with the Oya, a decorative edging around the veil which the women still wear. It is mainly made with the crochet. With the Oya we developed two new collections, one for the body and one for the interior. The world of Oya is a world of flowers. All the flowers contain different messages and these message are still present in the new products. With this project I hope to make a change in the situation of the Turkish women in The Netherlands. This way design can make a difference.


What are you working on at the moment?

At the moment I am working (as a volunteer) on a project for Zimbabwe. I am translating their craft into new products based on their traditional techniques. I am developing their website and I am designing gadgets which can support finding sponsors and which can be used as "advertisement". Beside this I am still working on the project Tulipa where I am detailing the vases and I am guiding the production so that they can be introduced onto the market in autumn. I am also doing research to find out if I can start a project with problem youth here in Utrecht and I am still working on the Bloei! project, the collection went to the textile museum in Tilburg last week where it will be sold in their museum shop. And of course, I have to change my website and professionalize this a bit!
 
Is your activity your source of income? Is it enough to make a living or do you have to do some additional job(s)?

At the moment I have a side job of two days a week. Since I graduated from my master last year I think you have to give yourself the time to come to fulltime employment. I hope to find a more design-relevant side job but part-time employment at a design studio is rare.

Are Dutch art students taught management? If yes – how?

That completely depends on your type of education. It is a general complaint about Art schools that students are badly prepared for the real life and commercial aspects of art en design. But Industrial Design is taught at many different universities and academies and they all give you a different equipment. My first study, Industrial Design at the University of The Hague, taught me general management classes in a way that you learn all the aspects of running a design agency (like project planning, communicating with clients and producers, writing tenders and hour registrations etc. ). My master degree was much more about creating and specifying my own vision on design.

Tell us something about your cooperation with companies and foundations.

At the moment I am focussing on my own projects like the Bloei! project and the Tulipa vases. I am working on new projects with youth where I am searching for ways to cooperate with a foundation who already works with youth. I work with companies in a way that they can include my outcomes of projects (the product) into their collection, on a royalty base. I am working also on assignment of companies but this is not my main work.

What I do a lot is starting cooperation with foundations. My projects are addressing social issues or social problems in groups. You need professionals in this field to give your project a solid base. For the Bloei! project for example I worked with a community centre so that I can discuss with them how the project evolves, what can be improved and social problems of the participants can be talked through with professionals. They often also facilitate projects, they have a space to work and help me financing, or finding subsidy, to make the project possible.

Do you think you could find customers in Poland? How do you perceive Poland? Do you know any Polish artists?
 
I have never been to Poland but I perceive it as a country with a rich history and culture. This must also lead to great contemporary artists and architects. After the communist influence I hope there is a lively and vibrant artistic culture where there is space for different approaches and expressions of culture. Looking at the number of Polish workers here in The Netherlands it has probably a hard working mentality as well...
I would love to meet people (artists, designers but customers as well) but at this moment I don't have any professional contacts in Poland. But if you ask me if I COULD, of course, you can meet people in every corner of the world! Customers, I don't know, I am not familiar with the Polish market. But I am not so much interested in finding customers, I think when there are possibilities and connections between companies/ persons, you will meet somehow, somewhere.  
 
What advice would you give to young Polish artists? 

Follow your dreams and don't feel threatened by the difficulties you might encounter while working in any way, find people who can support you and start cooperation which bring your project to a higher level and try to learn from people who are already working in the field for years.