gijs bakker: droog for the taiwanese

Milan

gijs-bakker-portrait

Gijs at the Yii exhibition (the serious look)

‘Why can’t some designers be just nice’, I asked myself last week when I was in Milan during the Design Week. A friend of mine said some are not nice because they dont like the stuff they do either. Another one added that some spend a lot of time in solitude living inside their heads so maybe they become socially inept. I had the feeling that often nice is for the PR-guys but I still think that the really talented once are nice…That’s when I met Gijs Bakker.

Gijs is the father of Droog, the Amsterdam-based design company. For many Droog is the answer to Dutch design and the birth of conceptual design. Last year Gijs decided to leave Droog. Since then he continued working as a designer. One of the new things is his position as the creative director for Taiwanese company Yii. For his recent project he worked together with 15 Taiwanese students and 20 Taiwanese craftsmen. The biggest challenge was nurturing some sort of understanding between designers and craftspeople. The outcome of the collaboration was exhibited at the Triennale Design Museum during the Design Week in Milan last week.

That’s where I met Gijs. He was punctual, smartly dressed and said hello, like he would be glad to see me. He answered my questions very politely and draw for me. My encounter with Gijs was not very long but it was nice to hear what a big Skype fan he is (that’s how he mainly communicated with the Taiwanese) and how much he enjoys working for Yii. It sounds like he is happy to work on a new project. He complimented me on my drawn interview idea and asked if I will sell them later. We both laughed. ‘Not a bad idea, Gijs’. But I think I will stick to my book project and publish them here.

gijs-bakker-business-card

the back of his business card

 

 

Draw yourself

gijs-bakker-01

Describe yourself in one word

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Draw your favourite object

gijs-bakker-drawn-interview

A seating made by one of the Taiwanese students. See here.

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