V-SERIES, 2025 — Osaka

For the Dutch Pavilion at the Osaka Expo developed five variations of a single chair design in collaboration with around ten Japanese partners, from industrial manufacturers to small traditional workshops The project began with a simple intention, to create a chair that could travel, adapt, and be remade through different hands and contexts while maintaining an essential structure. At its core lies a system of custom-engineered aluminum components forming a flexible skeleton that unites diverse materials such as steel, wood, textile, bamboo, and leather into one coherent structure This modular framework allows transformation without losing identity, balancing precision with openness I have long been interested in what happens when a design is transferred to others, not only as a form of production but as a way for the work itself to evolve am less drawn to exporting fixed blueprints than to observing how a design changes when it absorbs local conditions, when it returns shaped by different tools, techniques, and perspectives Earlier projects explored this idea n Contrabande for the Boijmans useum developed chair variations in orocco using local labor and materials to question authorship and value n Dashilar Flagship Store in Beijing reconstructed fake brand shoes with local shoemakers into new hybrids These speculative gestures led me to imagine a system of standardized components produced globally but open to local reinterpretation, much like open-source design. I began to think of products as we think of cars, modular, adaptable, and expected to be customized The same principle could apply to chairs, shoes, or other everyday objects, systems designed to encourage modification rather than resist it This approach was reinforced by the so-called pirate phone makers in Shenzhen who assembled devices from interchangeable parts Their work revealed how open modularity can expand creativity and function beyond branded production From these influences started to consider furniture as a platform rather than a product The TRTONS reflects this thinking, designed for varying levels of user engagement ndividuals can assemble their own chairs, architects can co-develop site-specific versions, or users can simply acquire a finished chair ach mode holds equal value The system aims for coherence without hierarchy and flexibility without loss of clarity The three-month collaboration in Japan became a study in how far such a system could stretch before refinement was required ach chair tested the limits between adaptability and efficiency Some components remained open to variation, others were fixed for production logic The goal was always functional, affordable furniture suited to everyday use The aluminum parts were revised repeatedly to improve performance, simplify assembly, and reduce cost Through this iterative process the design advanced toward greater efficiency and elegance, defining the transition to current state of development ll aluminum components were produced in the Netherlands by TailorSteel This decision was both symbolic and practical, the Dutch-made elements form the structural spine connecting Japanese materials and methods, while automated production in the Netherlands proved more efficient than local manufacturing Such systems enable independent designers like myself to remain small yet precise, combining experimentation with professional production standards n the end the project became less about the chairs themselves and more about the system that allowed them to exist ach version marked a point along a continuous process of refinement The work revealed how design can function as a shared language, one that connects people, skills, and materials across distance, while still remaining open to change