Envisions

Thank you Piet Hein Eek and Residency for the People for sharing the bad news. And taking action! 🙏 Apparently there are serious plans to move Design Academy Eindhoven to Roermond. (Nothing against Roermond in general) Personally i find it unbelievable that this might happen. As an alumni and tutor i have a connection with the Academy for 20 years. I have witnessed the importance of design and creativity that was part of the transformation of the city of Eindhoven. It contributed to the development of the international event Dutch Design Week and inspiring initiatives such as Dutch Invertuals and Envisions. There is a rich international design scene including many studios, also our own Raw Color. All of it wouldn’t exist without DAE. But maybe more visible for the inhabitants of the city is the atmosphere in the city. This includes progressive places that people like to visit when they go out such as Kazerne. Many of these spots that make the city lively and bring creativty to the public life would simply not be there. I also witness that current students are confronted with a challenging housing market which makes it almost impossible for them to find affordable space to life. I really hope that Gemeente Eindhoven will find a solution together with Design Acamdemy for the location of the school and student housing. In times of growing commercial interest it can be easy to forget about those that don’t deliver big numbers on first sight. Not everything in life can be measured in numbers. And often the importance of something is only visible once it is gone.