Hella Jongerius (1963) graduated from the Design Academy Eindhoven, after which she began her own company, Jongeriuslab. Here she could produce and develop her own work and made designs for Maharam (New York), Royal Tichelaar, Vitra and IKEA, among others. In 2002 we gave Jongerius one of our first ever art commissions. She made a beautiful series of outsized glass oil lamps, the Blizzard Bulbs. Her work is included in the collections of the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum (New York), MoMA (New York), the Design Museum (London), Galerie KREO (Paris) and Moss gallery (New York). In 2011 she was given her own retrospective exhibition ‘misfit’ in the Boijmans van Beuningen Museum in Rotterdam. De term ‘misfit’ is the essence of Jongerius. She says she does not strive for perfection, it is imperfection that is interesting. Hella Jongerius now lives and works in Berlin.
Photos by Roel van Tour and Els Zweerink