Glass design by Miriam Van der Lubbe and Niels Van Eijk


Dirk Schrijvers
Miriam Van der Lubbe graduated at the furniture and jewelry department of the University of Art and Design, Helsinki, Finland (1994); attended the Man and Living department of the Design Academy, Eindhoven, The Netherlands (1995) and the glass design department of the Rietveld Academia in Amsterdam, The Netherlands (1995), and obtained a Master degree at the department of Applied Arts at the Sandberg Institute, Amsterdam, The Netherlands (1998).


Niels Van Eijk studied at the Mechanical Engineering department of the Polytechnic School, Helmond, The Netherlands (1991) followed by the Handicrafts department of the TeHaTex in Nijwegen, The Netherlands(1992) and graduated from the Man and Living Department of the Design Academy, Eindhoven, The Netherlands (1997)


They founded the design company ‘Usuals’ in 2011. Usuals designs products that raise questions: they work with familiar forms and products and add benefits without losing the characteristics of the products but with an edge. They challenge us to look at the world differently with their products in limited edition or unique pieces. They try to re-use materials that are not produced from scratch but recycle materials for which no further use is at the present time.


Their work is in the collection of the Museum Boymans van Beuningen, Rotterdam, The Netherlands; Manchester City Art Gallery, Manchester, United Kingdom; WOCEF Korea, Museum FIT, New York, USA; and Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, the Netherlands. They designed for Habitat, Fortis, Premsela Dutch Design Foundation, Philips, Mooi and Rosenthal.


Glass by Usuals

Usuals designed different products in glass. The first series were the ‘Deco Bulbs’ (Figure 1). These covers for lamps are decorated with different prints to create a fairy tale-like atmosphere. The prints were recovered from an old Factory from the Netherlands.

A second product in glass is the ‘Personal caraf’ (Figure 2). In this line, old glass bottles are recuperated and a print is added to the bottle. The print can be very personal remembering an event. The client can sent an empty bottle with an picture that is put on the bottle making it a very personal unique object.

A third line of products in glass is the series ‘Cantel’. This glass collection is made by local craftsmen in Guatemala. All items are hand blown of recycled glass. The collection consists of vases and tops. The various elements can be combined in many ways. The series was designed for the label ‘Imperfect Design’ form the Netherlands.

The company has a philosophy of recycling old materials and by adding something making a unique and interesting object. Because of the future lack of basic materials, they are already learning how to design in such an environment.


References

http://www.usuals.nl
http://www.droog.com/designers/niels-van-eijk---miriam-van-der-lubbe
http://imperfectdesign.nl