NOMAD Milan edition 2009

CHRISTIEN MEINDERTSMA WINS RADO YOUNG DESIGNER AWARD 2008
What is your design philosophy?
I am interested in exploring raw materials at the most fundamental level, and so telling the stories behind them.
Only 100 years ago everyone knew how and where their daily objects were made, and who made them. Now
we know almost nothing. We have lost a sense of the interconnectedness of design and place.

Why does this matter?
Because if you don’t know the story behind a product you can’t appreciate its worth. Through not knowing you
lose the sense of value. And if you don’t know, you don’t care. This is how we became content with things that
are second-rate. But as soon as you tell the story of a product, as soon as people know who made it, how, and
where, you can make it interesting.

How do you hope to do this in your work?
I am currently working on a project with ﬂax, with artisans that make traditional ship rope. The Netherlands
were once the greatest maritime power of Europe and now hardly anyone knows how to make rope! Sometimes
I feel like an archaeologist.
Would you call yourself a traditionalist?
Not at all! The contrast between traditional and modern is misunderstood, and we have lost something as a
result. One of the designers and thinkers I admire is William Morris. I love the way he did so many things, his
feeling that old arts and crafts mattered to the world he lived in. He is a reminder that sometimes you can go
forward by looking back.
Tell me about your book, Pig 05049
Pig 05049 is the biography of a pig - the number was assigned to the pig by the farmer - all the way from birth
to its ﬁnal destination in a crazy number of products. It took three years to unravel the story of a single pig,
and it led me places I had never expected. Parts of the pig found their way into ammunition, biodiesel, chewing
gum, hair conditioner, photographic paper, among others, all around the world. There are 16 million pigs in the
Netherlands, but we never see them. If we knew more, we would act differently. It is the same with everything
I do. The story matters.
www.radostar.com a design and communication platform for young creative talent is launched in April 2009
Rado, the Swiss watchmaker, has awarded the Rado Young Designer Award to Christien Meinderstma. Her
work Pig 05049 was chosen by an international jury in recognition of its originality, inventiveness and remar-
kably far-reaching investigation of raw materials in October 2008, as part of the Dutch Design Prize.
2 NO MAD
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