"If not now, then when?"
In October 2019, I was invited to exhibit my project, Noggin - Bringing Safety to Ridesharing, at Dutch Design Week in Eindhoven, Netherlands.
Dutch Design Week Eindhoven is the largest design event in Northern Europe, presenting work and concepts from more than 2,600 designers to over 350,000 visitors worldwide.
In October of each year, Dutch Design Week (DDW) takes place in Eindhoven. DDW displays projects from the entire spectrum of design, with a specific emphasis on experiment, innovation and cross-overs.
DDW concentrates on the design of the future and the future of design. It is our objective to show how designers from around the world shape a positive future… (from ddw.nl)
My exhibit was located in the Klokgebouw, which is centrally located in the creative area of the city in Strijp-S. This former Philips factory is the starting point for the majority of DDW visitors.
Within the exhibit space, I showcased the Noggin flat-folable origami helmet design, modeled on a 90th percentile male accompanied by a commercial video explaining how the concept of the Noggin service works with electric vehicle companies to create a safe and convenient user experience.
Displayed are a series of paper prototypes of the Arc-Miura origami pattern, showing the exploration process and development of the foldable helmet. By altering the pattern’s geometric properties, we can achieve an infinite number of possible curvatures.
The beauty of origami is that it can serve not only as art, but it can also be used to create structures. The Arc-Miura’s geometry and flat-foldability property allows the helmet design to conform to the human head while remaining compact and convenient.
While at the festival, I had the privilege of meeting and speaking with visitors from around the world. It was interesting to hear people’s questions when it comes to safety and cycling and how their culture shapes their differing perspectives.
I was excited to share not only my passion for design, but also my love for origami. More and more, origami is being used in architecture, furniture design, and aircraft. However, it doesn’t stop there; I believe there are endless applications for origami that just haven’t been explored yet.
Today, we live in a paradoxical area where in the field of technology, developments are moving faster than ever before, but that comes at a price. Inevitably, there’s a flow of major issues that arise as a result, which raises the question of whether or not we can keep up the pace with solutions to counter the stream of changes. Now’s the time to take action, because if not now, then when?
I’m very humbled and grateful to have had the opportunity to not only attend Dutch Design Week but to have been able to hold my own exhibit and share a project that I’m passionate about with the world.
It was a very eye-opening experience to bring my project to the Netherlands, where cycling is a big part of Dutch culture and people’s everyday routine. By talking to people each day, I began to learn how much culture plays a role in whether or not users would adopt such a concept of wearing a foldable helmet. I left with an abundance of newfound ideas and questions on how my concept could evolve.
As a very green designer having just graduated from university in May 2019, this experience was invaluable. I have never been more inspired, seeing all the innovative and unique ideas that were shared by all of the other designers in the festival.
Thank you, DDW19!
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