An interview with Olga Flór
The awards included The René Smeets Award for professionalism, Melkweg Award for exceptional talent at BA level and Gijs Bakker Award for exceptional talent at MA level. All three were announced at the DAE Graduation Show during Dutch Design Week. Each award recipient received a €2000 prize and a trophy designed by Olga Flór in cooperation with EE Labels. We caught up with Olga to ask her a few questions about the commision.
What is your thinking process behind moving from a static notion of an award trophy to a wearable one?
Olga Flor: When I think of what it is to win an award. It feels almost sacred in an old fashioned way to imagine someone putting a medal on your shoulders to tell you congrats, you managed. That is what I liked about the idea of a cape: the performance, the interaction and the feeling.
I wanted to focus on the moment the award is given and the more quiet one after, like the extrovert and introvert sides that come with it.
Exploring the idea of a shoulder piece that offers a transitory feeling is something you can find in the scapular worn by priests – defining their belonging to a community and the heroes cape that involves a certain attitude. I liked these references to play on the more vivid and lively aspects of the notions that come from winning an award.
The cape is also a wall piece, just like a clothing piece that went through something special and that you want to keep. It is more about your own reflection and contemplation that comes after graduation : the space that opens up more broadly. I made the hole for the head into an abstract sun or a surface and from there I developed these abstract aspects in the composition of the drawing itself, referring to the specific awards and what they encapsulate and symbolise.
How was your collaboration with EE labels?
OF: The process went very smoothly, early on Robin understood my ideas and was ready to start testing. I went there a few times and we mostly exchanged over the phone, discussing the technical options we had and also about the yarns and the colour options. I enjoyed the shared enthusiasm and the possibilities that I had. I would be glad to collaborate with them again !
Do you have a word of advice for these award nominees and winner, as a fellow alumnus?
OF: I would advise to continue developing what you honestly enjoy and believe in and try to find the space for that. I would not rush into results, everything takes time. I think it is important to remain patient while working forward in knowing why you do things and keep exploring. It is also good to stay in touch or get in touch with friends and people who develop in similar ways. First it’s important to stay connected and not isolate, and it can be inspiring when you feel you jump in a deep unexplored ocean when many paths have already been explored.
