For three months, designer Marie Caye worked from Make Eindhoven. She experimented with techniques that were new to her, such as fusing copper and glass. During the process, she noticed that the copper discoloured due to the high kiln temperatures required for working with glass. She wanted to remove that discolouration, but the question was how. One morning at Make Eindhoven, her perspective shifted after a conversation with a group of makers in the graphic workshop. What if she submerged the copper parts in the acid bath used for etching? It worked. The acid removed the discolouration from the copper. Experiment successful. Nico: “This is exactly the magic of Make Eindhoven. Designers from different backgrounds run into each other, start talking. That’s how new, exciting experiments and ideas emerge.”
‘‘This is a place where it’s okay to say: no idea if this will work, let’s try it.’’
A year ago you started as director at Make Eindhoven. What attracted you to this place?
“This is a place where it’s okay to say: no idea if this will work, let’s try it. Experiment is at the heart of everything here. Makers from Eindhoven and across the Netherlands come here because they want to work with a combination of metal, glass, graphic techniques, or digital methods. They work independently, but when needed, an enormous amount of knowledge is available in-house. People who help designers carry out their experiments.”
Nico walks up the stairs to a large archive cabinet on the mezzanine. She opens one of the drawers and takes out a printed work. “We always try to stimulate the designers and artists working here. I do that myself as well. I’ll walk through the workshop and see something very special happening in the metal workshop, something I know could inspire a designer who is currently working in the graphic studio.” She points to another cabinet and takes out a small glass object. “And we keep everything. What is a failed experiment for one person can be the starting point of a new line of research for someone else. Through the interaction here, designers grow in what they are capable of. That’s wonderful to see.”
‘‘What is a failed experiment for one person can be the starting point of a new line of research for someone else.’’
What does this place mean for the maker climate in the city?
“At Make Eindhoven, a lot is possible. Probably more than you would imagine as a designer yourself. And that’s important, because you only discover what’s possible when you come into contact with other techniques. That’s when you develop further as a maker and start to innovate. With the help of our experts here, and through interaction with other artists. Make Eindhoven is unique. In one place, we have a graphic workshop, a glass workshop, a metal workshop, and a CAD/CAM lab. We are the only ones in the wider region to offer this combination. I dare say that Make Eindhoven gives a significant boost to Eindhoven’s maker climate. Here, you work with craftsmanship; you really feel the materials in your hands. And through research, you push that craftsmanship further.
Experiments can be large or small in scale, but just as boundary-pushing. Because we can keep prices relatively low, thanks to structural support from Stichting Cultuur Eindhoven and the Province of North Brabant, Eindhoven designers have a makers’ space right on their doorstep where they can challenge themselves and the materials they work with. That fits perfectly with the innovative character of the city and region, with the technical university and Design Academy just around the corner.”
You mentioned that makers help advance craftsmanship here. How does that work?
“There’s something reciprocal about working at Make Eindhoven. Everyone who experiments here as a designer or artist also brings something with them. In principle, we work open source. What you do, the techniques you use, it’s all available to others. We strongly believe in cross-pollination and peer-to-peer development. One way or another, you raise the level of the craft here as a designer, whether through artistic possibilities, knowledge or inspiration. So you’re not just experimenting for your own practice, you’re also contributing to the development of our field as a whole.”
What is your vision for Make Eindhoven?
“For me, Make Eindhoven should become the hotspot for experimentation with metal, glass, graphic, and digital techniques in this region, but also nationally and internationally. I strongly believe in a makers’ ecosystem that continues to strengthen and enrich itself. Ideally, this will become a hub where designers from all over Europe collaborate with designers from Eindhoven. That’s why we’re now taking steps towards further professionalisation, and we’ll soon communicate even more clearly what we stand for and what kind of projects fit with Make Eindhoven.
It’s not that we need to look for applications. Quite the opposite, in fact. The glass workshop and metal workshop are already fully booked for the coming months. Currently, we still work reactively, responding to the applications that come in. I’d like to steer that a bit more. So that we focus on experiments that really help advance both the field and the makers themselves, and that inspire others as well. That’s what we’ll be working on in the years ahead.”
