Queen Máxima visits Design Academy Eindhoven

The visit had the purpose of highlighting the value of developing young design talent in the Netherlands. For the Queen, a noted admirer of design, this visit to Design Academy Eindhoven came following previous encounters with Design Academy Eindhoven students and their work at Dutch Design Week and Milan Design Week.

To begin, she spoke with DAE Directors Joseph Grima and Raf de Keninck about the future of the Bachelor and Master programmes, and the institution’s overarching direction as a highly conceptual, contextual and international school. After speaking with Design Academy’s Executive Board, the Queen moved into the workshops on the first floor. Here, she was introduced to several students in the heat of end terms preparation.

Many of them, likely in a state of hyper focus for end terms, were eager to speak with the Queen and introduce their projects and processes. Other students recognised the longer term significance of her visit, such as third year student Zoe Wunderlich, who later commented that “[Queen Máxima’s visit] was important for the future of designers, in bringing in a larger network, support and appreciation for design”.

The tour continued with the silkscreen workshop where she spoke with instructor Lara De Greef. De Greef was explaining the different dyes and inks being used by students, including more environmentally sound options, which the Queen took great interest in. "It was a very brief visit, but I like that she took the time to come [to Design Academy Eindhoven] and meet with some of us personally” she mentioned.

Following a tour of the workshops, Queen Máxima went up to the fourth floor where she could get a closer look at the final results borne from students’ countless hours of labour. The fourth year Focus Module end-terms of Ceramics, Cartographic Explorations, Digital and Textile were underway and the Queen met with students from each module to get a sense of the design methodologies behind the upcoming cohort of graduating students. Many students, including fourth year Siem Oosterhof found the queen quite easy to speak with. Siem was presenting his digital focus end terms project to her majesty and remarked: “[Speaking with the Queen] was a kind and nice conversation, like as if she was visiting the museum.”

Her final stop took her to the 5th floor, where she met with the GGzE institution, a collaborating partner of Design Academy Eindhoven focussed on addressing mental health issues and spoke with them about their more creative and conceptual approach to the topic. In addition she met with EE Labels, a weaving company that worked with nineteen DAE students, who are part of the Studio Bodybuilding, in designing a tapestry with AI. The visit concluded as the Queen was welcomed into the Trans Realities Lab for a presentation of some of the projects that students following the Digital Focus Module had been working on.

The Academy would like to thank Queen Máxima for her visit and continuous support for the future generation of designers.