“Two people who hardly knew each other,” reads an “Epilogue” by Renny Ramakers and Gijs Bakker, “decided in February 1993 to join forces and make a mark at the Salone del Mobile in Milan.” They drew up a list of products they wanted to present, came up with a name – and six weeks later were in Milan with about 20 objects. “We had no plan, no expectations. All we knew was that we were coming with a strong story and bold designs. But we weren’t sure how our modest exhibition of work by completely unknown designers – the term Dutch Design didn’t exist at the time – would be received in the high-style design capital of Milan. To our surprise, we were the talk of the day. Since our exhibition proved to be an immediate success, we wanted to continue, and little by little Droog became an international movement.”
“Droog” was considered anti-conventional, fun and anarchic, and at the same time is part of an alternative design history, less a collective, more a movement that has always integrated new generations of designers*, but has not discarded those of the first hour. Now the exhibition “Droog30. Design or Non-Design?” at the Nieuwe Instituut in Rotterdam until August 27 celebrates what it calls the “unashamedly defiant reality of Droog and our renewed appreciation for the celebrated Dutch brand.” From its inception, the movement “turned against ‘dry’ (Droog) functionalism and instead viewed design as an art form that could express humor and be accessible to all.” With this attitude, Droog set trends and changed the rules of the game. With the result that the philosophy was imitated by countless brands.
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