In 2017, the TextielMuseum commissioned Studio Job to develop a new series of design products for its label ‘by TextielMuseum’. These ‘design classics’ are a reflection on the design duo’s history and the endless possibilities offered by the TextielMuseum. The series features new icons with recognisable, colourful and daring designs.
The series is a celebration of 15 years of collaboration between Studio Job and the TextielMuseum. One of their first designs for the museum was the Insects tea towel (2003). It became an instant hit and has made its way into hundreds of thousands of homes over the last decade. This tea towel is also included in the new series, although now in different colour schemes. In addition to Insects, two new designs have been introduced to the product line: Perished and Folklore. Perished is an intriguing pattern of dancing animal carcasses. The cartoon-like, graphic skeletons of turtles, birds and crocodiles refer to superstitious fears, the contrast between life and death and the excessive, sometimes violent moments that are part of our society. The products, six throws and nine tea towels, were presented during Dutch Design Week in Eindhoven in 2017.
The studio reduces form and colour to strong contours in its graphic drawings, a style that is ideally suited to textile designs.
In 2000, Job Smeets and Nynke Tynagel (both graduates of the Design Academy Eindhoven) founded Studio Job, currently one of the Netherlands’ most in-demand design studios. Studio Job produces one-off furniture and interior objects for private clients, companies and museums, and has its own exhibition space in Antwerp. The duo’s style is highly expressive. They often tell a story of good and evil with graphics, symbols, pictures and drawings. They have designed for Swarovski, Barneys, Land Rover, Alessi, Moooi and Pepsi. They were also behind the now famous ‘Insects’ pattern, which appears on tea towels and plaids for the label ‘by TextielMuseum’.
