oris
Droog obstaja od leta 1993, ko ste skupaj z Gijsom Bakkerjem na milanskem pohištvenem sejmu postavili skupno razstavo oblikovalcev, ki so imeli podobne poglede na oblikovanje. Izdelki, ki ste jih izbrali za to razstavo, so se precej razlikovali od tedanje oblikovalske produkcije. Kaj vas je spodbudilo k temu?

ramakers
Bila sem glavna urednica revije za oblikovanje Items in oblikovanje me je začenjalo počasi dolgočasiti. Nekako ob istem času sem v različnih oblikovalskih šolah po vsem svetu opazila neko novo miselnost in pomislila, da gre morda za znamenje časa. Ti novi predmeti so mi bili všeč, saj so se tako zelo razlikovali od vsega, kar je bilo narejenega prej. Do takrat je bilo vse povezano z obliko in funkcijo, vse je bilo lepo in dobro oblikovano, vendar ni imelo zgodbe. Sama imam zgodbe rada, takrat pa sem prvič gledala projekte, ki so pripovedovali zgodbo. Te zgodbe so bile različne, vendar so imele vse neko rdečo nit. Skupna značilnost vseh teh predmetov je bila, da so bili v vizualnem smislu precej “neposredni”, včasih zelo surovi. Bili so brez okrasja in slogovno nedodelani. Samo koncept. Pomislila sem, da bi se lahko iz tega porodilo gibanje, podobno tistemu skupine Memphis iz osemdesetih let prejšnjega stoletja. To me vedno pritegne, kadar opazim kakšen nov pojav, kakšno novo miselnost, ju poskušam predstaviti. Tu se je začelo moje sodelovanje. Z Gijsom Bakkerjem, mojim partnerjem v Droogu, sem poskušala prikazati in opisati to miselnost, ji dati ime. In uspelo nama je.
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oris
Droog has existed since 1993 when you and Gijs Bakker put up a group exhibition of designers who shared the same views at the Milan Furniture Fair. The products you selected for the exhibition were completely opposed to design production at the time. What was the motivation behind it?

ramakers
I was editorinchief of Items design magazine and I was a little bit bored by design. At the same time, I realized there was the same mentality in different schools around the country, so I thought this might have been a sign of the times. I loved all these new items because they were so different from anything that was done before. Before that, it was all about form and function, nicely designed, but without any story behind it. I like stories, and for the first time I saw projects that told stories. The stories were different but they all had a connecting element. What these products had in common was that they were all very straightforward, sometimes very rough. They had no decoration and were stylistically incomplete. They only had the concept. I thought that this might turn into a movement, like in the 1980s with the Memphis Movement. I was always attracted to new phenomena, new mentalities, I always try to bring them together. My participation began there. Gijs Bakker, my partner in Droog, and I tried to bring this mentality together and explain it, give it a name. And we succeeded.
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