The National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) has announced Netherlands-based designer and innovator Christien Meindertsma as the recipient of the 2024 MECCA x NGV Women in Design Commission, a major series inviting globally renowned female designers to create groundbreaking new work for the NGV Collection.
Meindertsma is the third recipient of the annual, five-year commission series, which has been made possible by a significant contribution from MECCA?s social change movement, M-POWER. The first and only commission series of its kind in Australia, the annual commission creates a platform to present topical, world-premiere works of international significance to highlight the contributions and practices of female designers to the world.
Renowned for her game-changing approach to material innovation ? with a philosophy that there is no such thing as waste, Meindertsma hopes to highlight the opportunity to embrace a new material era. By investigating the production and application of everyday materials, such as flax, porcelain and wool, she draws attention to ways in which materials can be rethought, or for waste to be treated as a valuable design resource. For the 2024 MECCA x NGV Women in Design Commission, Meindertsma will focus her attention on wool as a material deeply enmeshed in human culture that may offer the potential for design and industrial applications never before imagined. With the global market for wool dominated by fine yarn varieties such as Merino, vast qu...