A VARIETY OF PROJECTS FOR DUTCH DESIGN FOUNDATION

Dutch Design Foundation has commissioned Justine Kontou for a variety of projects since 2012. A multidisciplinary approach and connecting design/art with business/retail can be seen as the main focus of this collaboration. Most of these projects were executed for the likes of the annually held event Dutch Design Week. Justine Kontou was entitled project manager in most of these cases.

Some examples:

Matchmaking

- Justine Kontou created a strategic format for custom-made tours during Dutch Design Week (2014, 2015 and 2016). This way she connected companies and government institutions with matching designers to encourage possible future collaborations and/or projects.
- Another example is a custom-made program Justine set up for a group of designers from Beijing in July 2015. This program consisted of five days of lectures and visits to a variety of different Dutch Designers and Design studios.
- In 2013, the projects Justine managed for Dutch Design Foundation were mainly focused on attracting Dutch Design Week visitors to the city centre of Eindhoven. She connected designers and retailers in order to show a diverse audience the works of talented designers displayed in windows of different shops throughout the city centre of Eindhoven. Therefore, she revised the strategy for this project by creating less (36) Design Windows, but improving quality by making custom-made matches between designers and retailers. Justine also expanded the program by initiating an evening program in collaboration with retailers, restaurants, bars and designers. The result was a cutting edge program throughout the city centre of Eindhoven which really complemented existing exhibitions and activities set up by Dutch Design Week.

Substantive collaborations

- Justine Kontou executed different projects to visualise the substantive collaboration between main sponsor ABN AMRO and Dutch Design Week. For example, the annually held ABN AMRO DDW preview (2014 and 2015) but also by creating inspiring programs and custom-made tours during Dutch Design Week for ABN AMRO officials. (2014, 2015 and 2016).
- In 2015, she also was in charge of concept and execution (again as project manager) of different projects to visualise the substantive collaboration between partner Eneco and Dutch Design Week. This partnership led to a variety of activities such as “Toon design challenge”, “Eneco laadplein” and “Smart home day” during Dutch Design Week 2015.

Communications

For the edition of Dutch Design Week 2013, Justine worked at the department of Communications. One of the tasks included assisting the editorial staff (Dailies on Tour) for the daily DDW paper.

* Dutch Design Week

Dutch Design Week (DDW) takes place annually in the city Eindhoven. It is the biggest design event in the north of Europe and presents the works and ideas of more than 2500 designers to more than 295,000 visitors native and abroad. In over one-hundred locations across the city, DDW organises and facilitates exhibitions, lectures, prize ceremonies, networking events, debates and festivities.
DDW is different from other design events, because it concentrates on design of the future. Although during the event every imaginable discipline and aspect of design is on display, the emphasis is on experiment, innovation and cross-overs. Extra attention goes out each year to the work and development of young talent. 

Photography by Nick Bookelaar and Jeroen van der Wielen