Dutch Design Week (DDW) 2020 is going ahead, albeit in a modified form. This was announced by the Dutch Design Foundation (DDF), the organiser behind the DDW and Dutch Design Awards (DDA), earlier this week. It will take shape as a combination of a physical and online festival, whereby relevant matchmaking for the designers is the central theme. For DDA this means that the Award Night will also take place in a modified form and that the exhibition will be postponed to a new date, as yet to be determined, in 2021.

Dutch Design Week 2020
A DDW as we know it, with over 350,000 visitors, large central locations and various organised transport options, does not seem realistic based on the current circumstances. Due to the coronavirus, it is not responsible to allow large numbers of visitors to move through the city, and to thereby significantly increase the pressure on public life in Eindhoven. Consultation with the Veiligheidsregio Brabant-Zuidoost has confirmed this. Read more about this on the DDW website.

In conjunction with the design community, the organisation has looked for a fitting solution. “We realise that these are difficult times for the design sector as a whole. That is precisely why, with the design community, we want to build the stage for them, says DDF director Paulen. The ‘live’ version of DDW20 will embrace a bottom-up ‘studio exhibition model’, with the focus on relevant encounters between the participating designers and professional visitors. In October the participating designers can open their studios by appointment. In addition, the large public event will take place online. It goes without saying that this will have a huge impact on the form of DDA.

Dutch Design Awards 2020
What is certain is that we will once again provide a podium, both physical and online, for a selection of the best Dutch design this year.

Award Night
In response to the situation concerning the coronavirus, we announced an extension to the deadlines earlier this year. The Call for Entries therefore closed last week, two months later than originally planned. This has led to a large number of good and relevant submissions. These submissions will be assessed by an independent committee of experts and the winners will be chosen in October. As we would like to offer the winners and nominees a podium in October as part of the DDW programme, we have decided to organise the Award Night online. We are currently exploring the possibilities for creating a festive ceremony, more information will follow.

Exhibition
In order to organise a worthwhile and valuable exhibition of this year’s 24 best projects, we have also decided not to organise the exhibition in October, but rather early in 2021. This decision gives us the time and space to create a fully-fledged exhibition in a special setting, in which the winners and nominees can come into their own and receive the attention they deserve. The exact form and location will be announced at a later date.