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.

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Macgyver Project 3

  • General information
  • Year
    2012
  • Project
    Bachelor Thesis
  • University
    Willem de Kooning Academie, Rotterdam
  • Status
    Completed

The Macgyver Furniture is part of my graduation project from the Willem de Kooning Academy in 2012. Which is a research on ‘liquid’ design: design that adapts to new contexts, and resulted in a set of furniture only using prefabricated elements, that can be re-assembled after the use is no longer desired, allowing them to return to their original function.

This concept was based on two observation: at first, the extraction of resources from the earth is environmentally costly, therefor once resources are extracted and processed to semi-products they should remain within their constitutions for as long as possible, for re-molding or recycling materials is another energy costly undertaking. The second observation is that the cultural lifespan of products is often shorter than the material lifespan. In other words: products are out of fashion before they are worn out. Resulting in many products being thrown out while still being perfectly usable.

As a result, the Macgyver Furniture are made from the assemblage of pre-fab elements I found at hardware store in the area of Rotterdam, the Netherlands. These elements are connected only using connectors that can be unscrewed, such as bolts and nuts. In addition, I created several instruction manuals that allow anyone to recreate and improve these products.

Side table

Instruction

Chair

Instruction

Cupboard

Instruction