Interview met Timo de Rijk

Norm=Form
On standardisation and design

Interview with Timo de Rijk

Why is the subject design and standardisation important?
'Standardisation is a big theme for designers through-out the twentieth century. There are regulatory requirements and limiting conditions to standard products, to be able to achieve mass production. Designers like Gerrit Rietveld used this known fact to unfold their creativity into technical, commercial products.
Within the industrial and technical demands, it is interesting for contemporary idealistic designers to design products that are high tech, safe, good and approachable for everybody.'

Why should we visit the exhibition Norm = Form?
'Norm does not only stand for the standard but also the social norm. A nice symbolic example is the Barbie doll. The ideal body of the woman served as a norm, but ideals change.
The expo investigates how designers adapt to the changing social and cultural standards. Individualism is sacred nowadays, while at the same time we function in a group. This reflects products that belong to a certain group. This is notable with cars or motorcycles. The Harley Davidson is a symbol of a counterculture, born to be wild. But the babyboomers that now ride a Harley are clean Saturday bikers from the suburbs. How does this change work, what way are classics established and why? That is interesting to show.'