Kyra Meilink

Product design

In just under one year since leaving Design Academy Eindhoven, Meilink has set up her own studio and already has one of her graduation projects in production with the other close behind.

By Gabrielle Kennedy /asdf 22-03-2012

During the Design Academy Eindhoven graduation show at last year’s Dutch Design Week, Kyra Meilink had a very positive reaction to both of her projects. TOON is a radio for elderly people with dementia that simplifies usage. She received offers to have this included in books and magazines about care and welfare. Her other project, SEC, is a collection of transformable raincoats, which goes into production next week.

Was it financially hard to get your studio set up initially?

When I was still studying at the Design Academy Eindhoven I also worked as a Youth Care Worker for children with autism. I used this money to start up the studio. I was fortunate enough to start with no debt and I received no government funding.

How did you get your projects into production?

After my graduation I went for two and a half months to New York City. When I got back I searched for conferences and exhibitions that were related to my graduation work.

I did a presentation at the “Eindhoven Summit on Service Innovation in Cities 2011” and I participated in conferences. At these I was actively seeking potential producers for my product TOON.

I visited a few potential producers to see if they wanted to produce SEC. Some producers contacted me after meeting me at an exhibition or a conference. Others I contacted myself or I was introduced by someone from the network I have built up.

So what did this all amount to?

For SEC I will sign a contract next week. I met this company at the GREEN TODAY EXPO in the RAI in Amsterdam.

So it is been a busy year. Did you ever lose hope?

Not at all! All the exhibitions and conferences gave me more energy to start thinking about new projects! It is a little strange to graduate as a designer because you quickly need to become an entrepreneur if you want your products to be produced. But I found the right balance between these two roles.

So where to from here? Will you solely focus on product design?

I mostly create concepts and products inspired by daily problems as well as global issues. I am always trying to find realistic and optimistic solutions designed in a minimalistic and playful way. I like to work without a specific target group or a specific problem. Some people call me a problem solver or a social designer.

SEC images by Masha Ru.