about

STUDIO JOLANDA VAN GOOR

Jolanda van Goor is a young product designer from the Netherlands. She studied at the Amsterdam School of the Arts (Academy of Fine Art in Education) and at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy (Architectural Design). After graduating in 2010, she founded Studio Jolanda van Goor. Jolanda makes functional products with a wink. Her work is pure, simple, and fresh.“My goal is to design products that are functional, and that make people happy.” That’s why Jolanda creates products with a casual design, that easily fit in different rooms and interiors. But these are also products that stand out: “I hope that people sometimes stop and really take a look.” To make this happen, she works with special and beautiful materials, and with abstract but still recognizable shapes or bright colours.Jolanda prefers to work with natural and recycled materials. She explores these materials, and is curious about what you can do with them. She takes the time to research, experiment, and test things out. Her products are produced in an artisanal way.She gets her inspiration from the different textures, shapes, and colours that exist in nature. “If you look carefully at things, under the microscope, you sometimes see the most vivid colours and unusual shapes. You can see phenomena that you wouldn’t expect to exist in nature.” Another inspiration is the hectic pace of the city, and how people move within it. “In the city, you can find so many functions in such a small space. This forces you to do things as functionally and economically as possible. That’s why my products sometimes have multiple functions.”Jolanda also works with other designers, including Ruben van Klaveren and Laurien Oversier. With Laurien, she designed the Shelf Fulfilling Prophecy, a bookcase and two bedside cabinets that was presented at the 2012 edition of the Salone Internazionale del Mobile di Milano. Jolanda will present her latest design Lighten Up and Contorno No 9 & No 14 at the Salone 2015 edition.Her work has since been exhibited in various Dutch and international fairs, such as the Design Festival in London, the Arnhem Fashion Biennale, the Abitare il Tempo 100% Project in Verona,Maison & Object in Paris, Design Day in Maastricht, Dutch Design Week Eindhoven, the Design Salone and ELLE Inside in Amsterdam. In 2010 she was nominated for the DOEN | Materiaalprijs and was selected for Gespot Talent 2010. Her work has been exhibited in the Kunst paviljoen Museum House in Nieuw Roden. Also Jolanda won the jury price at the Present Time Design Contest in 2013 for The Missing Bulb and in 2014 for her design My Granny…