Jeroen Junte is an Amsterdam-based journalist and writer with strong expertise in design, architecture and technology. Working as a freelance author for many renowned publications, including Elle Decoration and Frame, Jeroen has also published a number of books. The journalist has also been invited to lecture in Rietveld Academy, the Sandberg Institute and the Design Academy Eindhoven.
Being a globally recognized expert in the design industry, Jeroen Junte speaks at the international events, like See Conference and What Design Can Do. He also organizes side events and talks during the Dutch Design Week and organizes exhibitions around the country.
It’s fascinating to observe how the design industry is evolving over time, bringing about fresh ideas and unknown challenges. Jeroen notes that such revaluation leads to a completely new mentality in Dutch design and architecture.
"A lot of the young designers have a very interesting mix of pragmatism and idealism. They really have an urge to do good with design. Just being expensive and beautiful is not enough. It should have an extra layer of functionality and conceptualism."
Jeroen Junte believes that the crisis of 2008 has played a role in this shift as well. Being the reality of working space for many modern designers, the crisis became a powerful boost forcing them to innovate, re-think the use of materials and come up with new production methods.
"Young designers are not thinking that there is a crisis going on. They are like: "This is a reality, we have to deal with it." The development of new ways of production and materiality experimentations and explorations are becoming more and more important."
The evolution of design also shapes its boundaries. While in the past century it was mostly about the products, now we can observe how the concept expands, including more and more areas of life. Jeroen sees this as a huge step forward since there is so much more that designers can do in cooperation with other specialists.
"Now you see that design can be about food, it can be about smell, about packaging… It can be about so many different aspects. So the profession of a designer has also changed. It's becoming broader."
It’s especially fascinating to observe what comes out of creative partnerships between designers and other experts. Nowadays, such interdisciplinary design projects take place in a wide range of areas - from psychology to biotechnology. Thanks to that, we’ve received the solutions to many complex problems that a single industry was not able to deal with.
"There is a much bigger field to explore for designers. For every problem, there is a solution. And if not, you have to start searching. The beauty is: once you have a solution, there is a new problem. So there is always something to design!"
Pod Sessions is a series of interviews with prominent creators and thinkers of our time. They share their thoughts on workplace design, the essence of art and the creative process. The interviews take place in our Pod PET Felt Privacy Chair.