Hella Jongerius at home in TextielMuseum, who saves the other design archives?Hella Jongerius at home in TextielMuseum, who saves the other design archives?

Earlier this year it was announced that Hella Jongerius' extensive archive will be split up and partly go to the Vitra Design Museum. This means that - from a Dutch perspective - the archive will be less reachable and accessible. Her archive is no exception: the Netherlands lacks a central policy and budget for the management and preservation of design and digital cultural archives. This results in a fragmented and poorly preserved design memory. If even the work archive of one of the most influential Dutch designers like Hella Jongerius -recently named Honorary Royal Designer for Industry because of her groundbreaking work- cannot be housed in the Netherlands, imagine what other creators are (or will be) missing.

You need to know what you're building on to make progress. Design archives are essential to give researchers, historians and future generations of designers insight into innovative thinking and working processes. Jongerius' work spans multiple disciplines, for example, and her archive contains the blueprint of her experimental making process that led to key works in textile, furniture, ceramic and interior design. The innovative nature of Jongerius' research into materials, decorations, colors and weaving, as well as her critical view of the design field in general, constitutes her archive. Deprived of these records, we are at risk of “reinventing the wheel” or having to create from scratch what previous designers might have already progressed far in developing. These records can also clarify questions of authorship and origin, ensuring accurate attribution. Securing Jongerius' textile archive is just one step toward securing the archives of makers who have put the Dutch design field on the map internationally.

Fortunately, the Network for Archives of Design Digital Culture (NADD), with partners such as the TextielMuseum and more than 45 leading heritage-, educational- and cultural- institutions in the Netherlands, is a booster to secure the archives of creators and designers. With the Archives at Risk: Seeking Shelter campaign, NADD does a call for action because without a national policy and structural budget, many design archives will be lost. To show exactly what is at stake, NADD is presenting design and digital cultural archives across the country which are seeking shelter. Jongerius' textile archive, for example, was also on display at the TextielMuseum. Upcoming months presentations will be on show at Design Museum Den Bosch, Allard Pierson, Museum Boijmans van Beuningen and Nieuwe Instituut.

High resolution images of Archives at Risk: Seeking Shelter - Hella Jongerius can be downloaded here.
Photo credit: Video still from Archives at Risk: Seeking Shelter - Hella Jongerius. By: Luc Schraauwers.

For more information, contact Christie Bakker, via 06-21934483, or christie.bakker@nieuweinstituut.nl