Episode #2: Who are ”we”?

Designers write. A podcast about the role of designers in the climate crisis and all the other worldwide disasters we face. Moderator Aynouk Tan questions designers about their profession on the basis of short essays they have written themselves. Participants in the second episode are the designers Trang Ha and Dirk Osinga.

Dirk Osinga

Dirk Osinga works as an independent architect and researcher. He graduated in 2010 from Eindhoven University of Technology with a MSc. in Architecture, Building and Planning. Earlier he gained a BSc. in Civil Engineering and Management. Since 2018 he develops his own independent architectural design and research practice STUDIOSINGA. Dirk Osinga’s essay “What design can’t do” is an urgent plea for more modesty in the design sector: solving the world’s problems should not be the task of the designer. Instead, Osinga posits, the aesthetic and pleasurable side of design should be foregrounded more often. The text is analysed by our text curator Florian Cramer.

Trang Ha

Trang Ha is a multidisciplinary designer and artist. She considers art something constantly uncertain and doubtful, always in the seek for other perspectives. By incorporating other disciplinary and inviting collaborations, she wants to unveil the complexity of the con-temporary and a-temporary scattered in the ever expanding (art) world. Trang finished her BA Graphic Design at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague (NL) in 2020.Trang Ha’s essay, “Of the wrap culture”, uses making and eating a wrap as a metaphor for a more communal, blended, and messy approach to design. Further reflection on the essay is given by one of our text curators, Aminata Cairo.

Head curator Joeri Pruys reads part of an essay by Constant, “Opkomst en ondergang van de avant-garde”, published in 1964 in literary magazine Randstad. Constant was a writer, designer and artists who predicted a future where automation would liberate us all.

Useful links:

• Essay “What design can't do” by Dirk Osinga: https://designerswrite.org/essays/what-design-cant-do/
• Essay “Of the wrap culture” by Trang Ha: https://designerswrite.org/essays/of-the-wrap-culture/ 
• Historical text: “Opkomst en ondergang van de avant-garde” (1964, excerpt) by Constant: https://designerswrite.org/historical-text/opkomst-en-ondergang-van-de-avant-garde-1964-excerpt/ 
• Dirk Osinga’s studio’s website: https://www.dirkosinga.net
• Trang Ha’s website: https://tranghas.work
• More about Constant: https://stichtingconstant.nl
• Moderator Aynouk Tan's website: https://aynouktan.com 
• Text curator Florian Cramer’s website: http://floriancramer.nl
• Text curator Marjanne van Helvert’s website: https://www.dirty-design.net
• Text curator Florian Cramer’s website: http://floriancramer.nl 
• Text curator Aminata Cairo’s website: https://aminatacairo.com
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