In 1993 I arrived in Amsterdam to start work at the Netherlands Design Institute as its first director. I then had nearly seven years of on-the-job training in the design and development of a new knowledge-based organization - a “think-and-do tank” whose objective was to reframe the way we perceive and use design.
Below are listed some of the highlights of that exciting project. Some bright and extremely hard-working people were involved in making them happen: most of the credit is due to them.
1999
o Presence – European project on elderly and internet
o Maypole - European project on social computing
o Trespassers - publication on design scenarios for sustainability
o Wisselstroom 2 - design scenarios for transport intersections
o Kust op de Kaart - website and knowledge map of coastal projects
o If/Then - Europe/USA publication of "yearbook of the near future"
1998
o Doors of Perception 5 - "play" o O2 Website - for eco-designers worldwide
o Lightness – book + lectures
o Young Designers and Industry 18 European companies + scenarios
o From Practice To Policy - new media conference with Virtual Platform
1997
o Design In The Knowledge Economy - seminar series
o The Flat Space 2 - screen design futures
o European Design Industry Summit
o European Design Prize
o Winners! - book published
o Wisseltroom - design scenarios for the future of mobility
o Eternally Yours – conference and book on long-life products
1996
o World Internet Expo: Dutch Pavilion
o Doors of Perception 4 - "Speed" o Legible City - conference on cities and information
o Things That Think : design/business workshops on smart materials
o Doors of Perception 4 - 'Speed'
1995
o Doors of Perception 3- "Info-Eco" o The Flat Space - exhibition and CDRom of design for electronic screens
o The Prototype- workshop series
o From Dada To Data, conference, with Virtual Platform & Council of Europe
1994
o European Community Design Prize (with EU)
o European Design Industry Summit (with EU)
o Design Across Europe - report on the European design industry
o Toshio Iwai: Media Artist - exhibition for opening of Institute's building
o Action-Reaction - exhibition in Japan
o Doors of Perception 2 "Home" o Smart Matter - smart materials seminar, with Stedelijk Museum
1993
o Tomorrow's Literacies - lectures and exhibition at Frankfurt Book Fair
o Eternally Yours - conference and book on product endurance
o The New Old report and conference (with UK DesignAge Network)
o Materials of Invention: seminar series and book
o The Cultural Economy Of The Applied Arts - report
o Design And The Culture Industries - international professional meeting
o Doors of Perception 1: plus DoP CDRom
