Design Hub Limburg
Design in Limburg is top of the bill. Think of furniture that ends up in international interior magazines, young fashion designers on the cover of Knack Weekend, award-winning eco-design, and architecture praised abroad. Yet ask around in the field and you hear the same story. There is no point of contact, no community, a mismatch between talent and industry, and no structural place to show work. One figure from our focus group with young designers says it all: an estimated 80% of freshly graduated designers leave the province.
So when the city of Genk and Z33 asked whether a new design platform for Limburg could exist, freelance colleague Heleen Van Loon and I teamed up. We have known each other since 2011, when I gave young fashion designers a platform at Z33 with DSGNRMRKT and Heleen coordinated Design Platform Limburg there. Our tender was called It Takes Two, because our skills complement each other. Heleen brings vision, policy support and subsidy expertise. I bring the organisation, communication and events.
Listening first
We started with a field analysis. We wanted to look at the new dynamics in the design landscape rather than map what already existed. We spoke with organisations on every level: Flanders DC and VAKlab, regional platforms such as MAD Brussels, Antwerp Powered by Creatives and Designregio Kortrijk, Limburg partners such as POM, C-mine Crib, Voka, LUCA and UHasselt, and individual designers and a focus group of young makers. Their input shaped everything that followed.
The plan
The result was a plan for Design Hub Limburg as a connecting platform that brings together pioneers, entrepreneurs, governments, organisations and knowledge institutions in design. It rests on three pillars:
Reinforcement and strengthening existing initiatives and a Limburg Design Council (Limburgs Designoverleg) that speaks with one voice towards Flanders.
Community building and curated ways to meet.
Exposure and storytelling about the people and collaborations behind Limburg design, online and through showcases.
Now it’s up to the policymakers. To be continued!