Celebrate the opening of the MECCA x NGV: Women in Design Commission, and hear from the recipient, renowned Dutch designer Christien Meindertsma.
Christien Meindertsma is internationally recognised for her in-depth exploration of raw materials, uncovering their stories, properties, and the industrial systems behind them. Focused on sustainability and the life cycle of products, her innovative work invites us to reconsider our consumption of materials, encouraging a deeper understanding of the connections between the objects we use and their impact on the world.
Christien Miendertsma is the third designer to be celebrated as part of the MECCA x NGV Women in Design Commission series. For the 2024 Commission, Meindertsma has produced her most ambitious work to date. First there was a mountain is a large-scale work made from European wool that would be otherwise disposed of, revolutionising the ways that waste wool can be re-purposed. Developing a world-first robotic technology for 3D felting, in collaboration with Netherlands-based company Tools for Technology, Meindertsma shows us it is possible to build structural, three-dimensional objects from wool and introduces us to the beginnings of a new material era.
Speaking live at NGV, Meindertsma will discuss her research-led design practice and share the process behind her Commission, focusing on how design can be used to drive innovation and challenge conventional practices.
Following the talk, there will be a Q&A facilitated by NGV Curator of Contemporary Design and Architecture, Gemma Savio.
Includes an opportunity to view the Commission from 5.15–6.15pm, before it opens to the public.
The 2024 MECCA x NGV Women in Design Commission will be on display from 3 October 2024 – February 2025 at NGV International.
Speaker
Christien Meindertsma Meindertsma founded her studio in 2004. Based in Asperen, the Netherlands, she has gained international recognition over the past two decades for her design projects that investigate animal by-products, household and textile waste, and forestry. Her notable works include the multi-award-winning Flax chair, an innovative, sustainable, and biodegradable piece of furniture made from flax; the book PIG 05049, which meticulously documents all the products made from a single pig; and One Sheep Sweater, where she produced twenty sweaters from the coats of individual merino sheep.
Meindertsma has won three Dutch Design Awards, and her work is included in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art (New York), The Victoria and Albert Museum (London), and the Vitra Design Museum (Weil am Rhein).
Christien Miendertsma’s presentation for the MECCA x NGV Women in Design Commission, which annually, over five years, invites a leading female designer or architect to produce a work for the NGV Collection, is made possible through MECCA’s social change program, MECCA M-POWER.
PRESENTING PARTNER
