About

About me

Hi! I am Will van Twuijver, a designer, researcher and farmer working on sustainable design processes. My work is informed by an overarching goal to design and develop systems that integrate environmental restoration and human wellbeing. In practice, my work is focused on the intersection of agroecology, climate adaptation and grassroots-initiatives.

Focusing on this intersection allows me to explore alternative forms of organising based on solidarity principles, return to a human-scale and increase awareness of the natural processes that form the basis of all life. I have several years of involvement in grassroots initiatives that explore such alternatives, including projects that involve Community Supported Agriculture, waste food processing collectives and home-brewing.

In 2012 I graduated with a bachelor’s in interior architecture at Willem de Kooning Academy in Rotterdam, followed by a master’s in Collaborative & Industrial Design at the Aalto University, Finland in 2019. To further deepen my understanding of sustainability and design, I completed multiple courses on related topics. Such as a minor study on Sustainability, a certified permaculture design course, a two-year course in biodynamic agriculture and cheese making. Currently, I work as a part-time dairy farmer and cheese maker, design researcher and am active as board member of Toekomstboeren.

Contact

Giant Corn Brew 2 3

  • General information
  • Year
    2015
  • Team
    Roel Roscam Abbing, Micha Prinsen, Henning Rosenbrock, Will van Twuijver
  • Partners
    Department of Search, University of Utrecht
  • Status
    Completed

In November 2015, ‘Brouwvereniging Rotterdam’ was asked to participate in demonstration as part of the ‘Department of Search’ at the University of Utrecht that aims to test the self reliance of the University’s campus. On site was a corn field that has the potential to grow the largest plants in the world. We harvested the cobs of this plant and hosted a demonstration on campus showing how to make beer from this corn.

harvesting corn at the giant corn field of the ‘Department of Search’

Design

In order to host a proper demonstration, we designed a portable brewery made from metal shelves, that we installed in front of the campus’ Science Centre. This installation was designed in such a way that the brewing process was easy to explain to people passing by.

1 the corn brewery
2 processing corn happens on the top level
3 mashing on the second level

Each level on the installation represents a different stage of the brewing process: on the top level the corn is processed, one level below the corn in mashed in order to convert the starches in the corn into sugar, on the next level the sugary liquid is boiled and finally on the bottom level the ‘wort’ is poured into the fermentation jars.

Ingredients

○ 8 kg of Jala corn
○ 2 kg sugar (add during boil)
○ 35 g Northern Brewer (8,5%) bitter hops, 60 min
○ 20 g Northern Brewer (8,5%) aroma hops, 20 min
○ 11,5 g Danstar Belle Saison

100% corn beer

Special thanks to

In preparation of this demonstration, we reached out to several parties, such as the botanist on campus, who provided information on corn starch and gave us fresh herbs from the botanical garden. As well as the German firm ‘Erbsloh’, that produces these enzymes, they sponsored the necessary enzymes that are needed in not germinated grains, as well as giving us information on how to use them.