For over 30 years, Hella Jongerius has been combining traditional craft techniques with contemporary processes, looking to the past to seek out innovative ideas. With her design studio, Jongeriuslab, she has worked at every scale imaginable, from designing Vitra’s tiny yet iconic Coat Dots to the cabin interiors of the airline KLM. She is also an influential color theorist and the author of I Don’t Have a Favourite Colour: Creating the Vitra Colour & Material Library. For Jongerius, who lives in Berlin, design is rooted in the sort of personal inquiry that is also relevant to urgent societal questions, tackling the economy, culture, manufacturing and the human condition. Her most recent exhibition, Woven Cosmos at Berlin’s Gropius Bau, asked questions about design in an age in which we must rapidly rethink our production and material consumption. This story is from Kinfolk Issue Forty-Two Buy Now Related Stories Design Issue 49 At Work With: Muller Van Severen How a home renovation birthed one of Europe’s most distinguished design duos. Design Fashion Issue 47 Jean Touitou The A.P.C. founder on the demands of hype and craft. Design Fashion Issue 46 Last Night What did designer Franck Gauthé do with his evening? Design Fashion Issue 45 Lisa Yamai Snow Peak's president wants you to get out more. Design Issue 45 Mac Collins Four questions for an emerging designer. Design Issue 45 Last Night What did jewelry designer Sophie Bille Brahe do with her evening?
Design Issue 49 At Work With: Muller Van Severen How a home renovation birthed one of Europe’s most distinguished design duos.