Studio Thinking Hands
‘Improving the quality and beauty of life with our thinking hands.’
Studio Thinking Hands focuses on the crucial relationship between mind and body in the creative field. It is a course of study designed to counterbalance the virtual aspects of modern life, far away from screens, 3D models, or copy cut Instagram accounts. The Studio teaches students how to enhance and build an inquisitive and intellectual mind with making and crafting as a part of the design process.
Thinking Hands offers a methodology that respects the physical experience of making as a source of unique inspiration—head in the clouds, feet on the ground. The dreamer and realist go hand-in-hand here.
When action and thinking are hand-in-hand, we can be very resilient, even in ad hoc and unpredictable situations. This approach is about improvisation and adapting to what a situation, a problem, a design process needs.
As a designer and a human being, you’re constantly rediscovering yourself on a micro-level. At a macro level, the world is also rediscovering itself. How do you position yourself and your values and goals within this macro perspective? We see it as a crucial part of the design process to turn ideas into reality. It’s important to communicate, seduce and express.
Knowledge of materials, shapes, proportions, colour and crafts are basic skills that help express personal and autonomous ideas. How to express without compromise? How do you make it happen? If something needs to be produced, then how and where by whom? With what kind of materials, what kind of production process? How does marketing, exposure and sales work in reality? How will the result be present now and in the future? What is the context in which the works are created?
Everything created in the Studio will be autonomous, outspoken and thoughtful original creations. Therefore, a solid knowledge of art and design history is key to be able to position yourself.
Grounding - not just working from the head; this might be a counterpart to the digital world we live in. The ability to think in spatial terms, in contrast to digital software. An eye-brain-hand neural network makes it possible for touching, gripping and seeing to work in harmony. A dialogue between concrete actions and thinking.
Sometimes it starts with a mental journey, and then the next stage is testing it by hand. Sometimes the process is the other way around: after starting with the hands, immediate reflection follows, and the path follows from there.
This approach is useful in many different fields. For example, when doing scientific research, one draws out graphs to better understand the information, illustrate it, and make it tangible. A specific example: Lewis Caroll, the author of Alice in Wonderland and a mathematician, made up a story for his daughter during a boring boat trip. Turning his idea into a book with illustrations brought the story to life and made it widely accessible, inspiring new readers and storytellers for decades and perhaps even centuries!
Collaborative Projects
2021: Collaboration with Leeuwerik Eindhoven, an importer and wholesaler of structural and decorative sheet material. you can see the work-in-process here. 2022: Collaboration with French crystal glass manufacturer Saint-Louis. The results were amazing. 2023: workshops at Make Eindhoven and the glass-blowing lab of the National Glasmuseum Leerdam 2024: Collaboration with Dutch floor manufacturing company Forbo Flooring.