We would like to congratulate spatial designer Frans Bevers, who has won the BNO Piet Zwart Prize 2019! Bevers will receive the prize from chairman Timo de Rijk, during the presentation of the Dutch Design Awards on Wednesday 12 June 2019.
Frans Bevers is a tutor in the MA Information Design and MA Contextual Design department at the Design Academy Eindhoven, for which he was awarded the Jan Lucassen Prize for best teacher in 2017.
In addition to teaching, Bevers had his own practice until 2012, OPERA Amsterdam and is currently an independent designer and consultant. According to the jury of the Piet Zwart Prize, Bevers has made major contributions to the development of exhibition design, a field that had hardly developed when he began. In the Netherlands in particular, museum density is enormous, with millions of visitors every year – a number that is still on the rise. The appeal of museums to the public can be linked directly to the presentation of objects and the way their stories are told. The vision and input of designers such as Frans Bevers has therefore proven to be innovative, surprising and crucial.
The jury concluded that through new methods and means, Frans Bevers stimulated clients – in his case mostly museums – to create powerful and compelling exhibitions. His pioneering approach has been multidisciplinary, interactive, and co-creative. Among his clients are high-profile institutions such as the MoMA in New York, the Victoria & Albert and the British Museum in London, the National Museum of Ethnology in Leiden, and the Museum of World Culture in Gothenburg.
The Piet Zwart Prize
The BNO Piet Zwart Prize is an honourable award for a designer who is of great significance to their field, with all design disciplines being eligible. The prize consists of a physical award that is announced during the Dutch Design Awards. At a special event later this year, there will be more in-depth attention to Frans Bevers and his work.
The BNO Piet Zwart Prize aims to firstly honour and distinguish an excellent designer for the significance of their work, and for their role in the development and prestige of the profession. Secondly, it aims to encourage new generations of designers to become acquainted with the special achievements of their predecessors, and finally to give attention to the meaning of good design, the design profession, and the BNO.
Between 1983 and 2017 the prize has thus far been awarded to Friso Kramer, Jan van Toorn, Wim Crouwel, Eva Besnyö, Nel Verschuuren, Jan Bons, Bruno Ninaber van Eyben, Gert Dumbar, Willem Diepraam, Marijke van der Wijst, Gerard Unger, Ulf Moritz , Paul Mijksenaar, and design studio LUST.
The jury of the BNO Piet Zwart Prize 2019 consists of Timo de Rijk (jury chairman), Pieke Bergmans, Joost Grootens, Gert Franke, Ed van Hinte and Koert van Mensvoort. Madeleine van Lennep, director of BNO, is the secretary.