Saved by Droog

Exhibitions / Product design

Start date: 17-07-2010

End date: 10-10-2010

Country: The Netherlands

City: Utrecht

Location: Centraal Museum

Just in case you missed their presentation in Milan this year during the furniture fair, see all the reclaimed items salvaged by Droog from Dutch bankruptcies at the Centraal Museum Utrecht this summer.

By Editor Design.nl / 15-07-2010

The collection 'Saved by Droog', which was purchased by the Centraal Museum Utrecht during the Salone del Mobile in Milan this year will be exhibited in the museum from 17 July until 10 October 2010.

For the collection, Droog commissioned 14 designers to create new products from objects salvaged from bankruptcies. This resulted in a series of 19 products from which the museum purchased one of each. Expect a colorful presentation ranging from trolleys for dogs to handkerchiefs embroidered with the latest news.

A second life
The Central Museum already has an extensive collection of works of Droog. The museum sees this latest acquisition as a major addition, in illustrating the international expansion of the acclaimed Dutch design collective. For Saved by Droog, both established and emerging designers participated in the collection. Droog asked 14 designers to give a second life to items which were purchased just a few months before through auctions of bankrupt Dutch companies. These objects include salt shakers, napkins, folding chairs and ladles which have been transformed into 'new' design.

Critical of Society
Without the intervention of the design group, these objects would most likely have disappeared into the oblivion. The Centraal Museum is interested in the social criticism of Droog. Central Museum Director Edwin Jacobs: "With Saved by Droog, Droog brings a beautiful, prosaic image in these times of financial crisis. Not everything needs to be created new, you can also give new value to something that already exists. Through the intervention of the designers, these new products came as a result. It is conceptually powerful, visually direct and aesthetically adventurous and layered."

Participating designers in Saved by Droog are: Atelier Remy & Veenhuizen, Atelier Ted Noten, Ed Annink, Eric Klarenbeek, Erna Einarsdóttir, Luc d’Hanis & Sofie Lachaert, Maison Martin Margiela, Marian Bantjes, Marije Vogelzang, Mieke Gerritzen, Minale–Maeda, Roelof Mulder, Stefan Sagmeister and Studio Makkink & Bey.

Saved by Droog
17 July until 10 October 2010
Centraal Museum Utrecht

Main image: Museum director Edwin Jacobs modelling a Beware of Software vest by Mieke Gerritzen
Photography: Stefanie Grätz