Bertjan Pot

Shared Space is a project Bertjan undertook with Frank Bruggerman in 2007 for Tent and Witte de With - 2 art foundations that share a space in Rotterdamn. Bertjan came up with this fantastic oversized patchwork sofa and a persian rug embellised with a simple but effective pattern created from duct-tape pieces melted into the surface of the rug... genius!

My love affair with Dutch design continues.... and again it's another graduate of the Design Academy of Eindhoven that has caught my eye. Bertjan Pot's non-random lights for Moooi would be familiar to most design lovers... but I wasn't aware of his more experimental projects... aaahh there are so many amazing installations and creations on his website! It's a truly unique way of thinking that produces designs like this...

non-random lights for Moooi

Iboedel, 2007 - images from an exhibition designed by Bertjan. A collection of items are displayed under the clear inflatable bubble... (more info about this exhibition on his website).

Carbon Cloud (2005) blurs the distinction between fine art and design - this 3-dimensional structure delicately envelopes 2 shelving units and a bed, creating a border between the real world and a sleeping place.

Old Fruits, Tops and Bottoms (2004) are simple light fittings created from particular old dried fruits (gourds? perhaps?). The inside is painted white to reflect the light, and the outside coated black. Each half is then fitted with a 25watt light globe. These were created in a limited edition and sold in pairs - so you get 2 halves of the same fruit! This simple idea ensures each product is completely unique in shape, yet uniform in style. LOVE it.

More Old Fruits (2004) - the desk lamp versions, using slightly different shaped fruits, were entitled Versatile. The image above has such personality! (more on Bertjan's website)

The Rollercoaster (2005) - amongst other materials, 135 light globes, 30m of electrical cable, and 120m of black ribbon went into this chaotic creation for a Paris shop window.

Bertjan Pot's website is well worth a look... his unique designs are truly inspiring, but also his commentary and captions are candid and really entertaining :)

There are such incredibly talented alumni coming out of The Design Academy of Eindhoven! Other favourite graduates (who I've mentioned here before) include food designer Marije Vogelzang (and her inspired 'eating design' business and restaurant - Proef) and the incredible Christien Meindertsma.