text by Matylda Krzykowski

Design Platform Limburg and Z33,  organised the 15th edition of Toegepast, which every year (since 1996) focuses on the support of recent graduates. The premise is simple: Elected designers receive a budget of 1000 Euros and mentoring for a period of 1 year. With the help of a coach, the graduates begin work on a concept or a product. Once completed, the work is presented in a group exhibition.

This year the participants choose to work with a central theme: 'Meeting'. The idea of adding a theme comes from the Fashion Design duo Ti+Hann, who were the coaches for the 15th edition. The two former Royal Academy Antwerp graduates are well known within the Belgian fashion scene and have now proved their worth as design coaches. They created a unified image of the exhibition with a white carpet that will show the footsteps of the visitors of the exhibition. Ticuta Racovita-Cordemans and Hanne De Wyngaert are both former participants of Toegepast, who also made their first steps in the creative industry through this concept.

The previous editions are proof of its success. Some recently graduated designers who made their debut in Toegepast have already achieved international acclaim. Within this list are Geoffrey Brusatto, Casimir, Davy Grosemans, Linde Hermans, Roel Vandebeek, and Michaël Verheyden, among others.
This year's emerging designers are Liesbet Bussche, Rocco Verdult, Andries Vanvinckenroye, Jon Stam and Mieke Dierckx. They were acquainted at Toegepast and now present this fortunate 'Meeting' in an exhibition of their individual work.
The fifteenth edition of Toegepast presents five young designers in the house of the Beguinage at Z33- Hasselt (Belgium). The exhibition runs until 12th December 2010.

Information about the 5 participants:
Inside jewelry by Liesbet Bussche (Gerrit Rietveld Academy - Silversmith) // Liesbet transformed a space by inserting jewelry into it. She says that she is asking questions about jewelry within the medium of jewelry. In this medium she sometimes uses unexpected scales and creates unexpected forms.

Design for gathering by Rocco Verdult (Design Academy Eindhoven) // Rocco is one of the three finalists of the Rado Young Designer Award, which will be held during the Dutch Design Week this month. For him design is about experience. For Toegepast he presents a resume of his work, four videos, where he demonstrates the experiences that he creates.

Private courtyards by Mieke Dierckx (PHL - Jewellery Design) // The Z33 Beguinage building, a place for lace-making and handicraft, has inspired Mieke. She created her own lace and various other patterns by using bobbins, because in a normal lace you can't see how it is made. Mieke has created many little objects by using different techniques.

          

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Toegepast 15 will be also shown during the Interieur fair in Kortrijk, Belgium, from 15th - 24th October at the Young Designers Fair.