Kiki van Eijk is known for her highly imaginative designs: from whimsical clocks to wall hangings for Google and poetic window displays for the French luxury brand Hermès. The Eindhoven-based designer has been making a distinctive contribution to Dutch Design for 20 years. To celebrate this, the TextielMuseum presented highlights of her work in the exhibition 'Imaginings | Dutch Design by Kiki van Eijk'. Specially for the exhibition, Van Eijk designed ‘Botanica’, a collection of tea towels inspired by vegetables grown in her own garden.
The exhibition showcased a wide range of Van Eijk’s designs, from colourful wall hangings and luxurious textile objects to furniture, clocks and lamps. As a designer, Van Eijk has a lively curiosity, a characteristic that infuses her work. She experiments with different materials and production methods, be it glass, ceramics, bronze or textiles. This versatility results in wonderful and idiosyncratic designs that make you look differently at everyday objects.
Homegrown tomatoes, courgettes and radishes steal the show in the 'Botanic' tea towel collection by Kiki van Eijk. The rich colour palette from the designer's own garden is captured in textile form by combining five colours of thin yarn. The pattern along the edge is a subtle reference to 20th-century textiles from the TextielMuseum collection.
Kiki van Eijk graduated cum laude in 2000 from the renowned Design Academy Eindhoven. Her designs have since been featured in museums, galleries and fairs worldwide, from Milan and Paris to Tokyo and New York. Besides her own collections, Van Eijk has designed for Studio Edelkoort, Moooi, Saint-Louis and other prominent clients. Most recently, she developed an art installation for the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival in the United States.
