DAE welcomes new Master graduates to its alumni community
Joseph Grima, creative director of DAE, highlighted the importance of this year’s event, as students, tutors, staff, family members and friends came together and celebrated the accomplishments of the last two years. “It was incredibly moving to see the graduation works of so many great designers… all really sharing, expressing, and manifesting through their work the values of the school,” said Grima.
Photo by Boudewijn Bollmann
Reflecting on the last two years, Saskia van Stein, head of The Critical Inquiry Lab (CIL), proudly declared that this group of graduates was ready to confront both big and small questions of design. As well as presenting the class’ graduation exhibition and a publication of the students’ writings, she announced the CIL nominees for DAE’s Gijs Bakker Award, recognising graduates Maxime Benvenuto and Janfer Chung with Cum Laude awards and giving the Thesis Award and a Cum Laude to Oshin Siao Bhatt.
A special moment was taken to say goodbye to Joost Grootens founder and former head of the Information Design MA. On behalf of the DAE community, Grima thanked him for his curiosity and enlightened attitude towards design. Raffaela Vandermühlen, head of Communication, and Ilse Meulendijks, head of the MA Programme, also expressed their gratitude and presented a framed graduation catalogue from 2017, designed by Grootens.
With the question “Do artistic practices transform the world?”, Grootens presented the works of his final batch of graduates. He awarded Alfonso de Matos with Cum Laude and the Thesis Award, while he named Nick Monro-Meares and Alfonso de Matos nominees for the Gijs Bakker Award.
Afaina de Jong, the new head of the Contextual Design MA welcomed her first graduates to the stage. “Product design is a space for many practitioners to come together,” she said. The work of her 2022 graduates raised questions on gender and new technologies, among other topics. Joon Song and Martynas Gailiušas graduated Cum Laude, together with Camila Capra Messales, who also received the Thesis Award. Alex Werth and Clara Schweers were awarded with a Cum Laude and Gijs Bakker Award nominations.
The first graduates of the Geo-Design department were presented by Andrea Trimarchi, from the FormaFantasma studio, head of the department. “Together, we invented what Geo—design is,” said Trimarchi. Yassine Ben Abdallah, Connor Cook and Ayla Kekhia were awarded Cum Laude. Yassine Ben Abdallah also received the Thesis Award and nomination for the Gijs Bakker Award, together with Connor Cook.
Finally, the floor was given to Marina Otero, head of the Social Design MA. After expressing her gratitude to her colleagues, she noted that “the social role of design is an intersection between ethics and politics.” Her students maintain a critical stance, and for that, she honoured Damian Cehlarik, Gaia D’Arrigo, Jan Schulz and Marte van Haaster with Cum Laude. Jan Schulz received the Thesis Award. The two nominations for the Gijs Bakker Award were given to Damian Cehlarik and Marte van Haaste.
The ceremony ended with drinks and finger food by the enthusiastic team from DAE’s Zbar!
