photo: Henriëtte Guest

DAVID HAMERS
david.hamers@designacademy.nl

Dr. David Hamers PhD is a spatial researcher.
He was trained as a cultural theorist and economist.

In 2003, he obtained his doctorate at Maastricht University’s department of Philosophy, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences with a research into representations of the American suburb. Since then, Hamers has been working as a researcher in the field of urbanisation. He is a senior researcher for Urban Areas at PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (Planbureau voor de Leefomgeving) in The Hague.

His publications mainly deal with the development, design, and use of space within and around the city. In addition to his work as a researcher, Hamers works with spatial designers and artists. Since 2009 he has been a reader (lector) for Places and Traces at Design Academy Eindhoven.

JOS KLARENBEEK
jos@josklarenbeek.nl

Jos Klarenbeek (1988) is a designer and researcher. He received his degree in mathematics at the University of Amsterdam in 2010, and in 2015 he graduated from the Design Academy Eindhoven, department Man & Public Space, with his project Cowtarium. Since his graduation he has developed his own practice and has been working as a designer for Hella Jongerius / Jongeriuslab at a variety of projects and exhibitions.

Driven by his fascination for complex and abstract systems, he works on the border between design and scientific research and tries to expand the field of data visualisation and materialisation.

In the Readership Places and Traces Klarenbeek is currently a research associate in the project Re-Source. In this project he focusses on flows of residual materials in the city of Rotterdam.

photo: Tineke de Lange

ESTER VAN DE WIEL
ester.vandewiel@designacademy.nl
www.nuhier.org
detuinfabriek.mmmmx.net/browse/tuinfabriek

Ester van de Wiel (Rotterdam, NL) works as a designer, curator and researcher of the public space. She investigates, designs and tests the public realm in cooperation with both professionals and amateurs who are involved with or affected by public space (architects, landscapers, farmers, collectors, artists and ecologists). The scales of such projects range from small to large; their scope ranges from research all the way to realization. Examples of projects executed by Van de Wiel (Studio Ester van de Wiel) are NU HIER and the Tuinfabriek.

For Van de Wiel’s nomination for the Rotterdam Design Prize 2011, Sophie Krier wrote the following to characterize Van de Wiel’s studio practice: “(...) she has reenvisioned the designer’s role as that of a project initiator and curator. (...) Van de Wiel’s method is characterised by the use of local knowledge and existing structures and operation on and with the scale of the landscape. Her works are cultural agendas, map legends and designs rolled into one. (...) In this way, she produces a collective, self-propelling form of knowledge that makes a valuable contribution to the way people read and design their living environment (...).”

In the Readership Places and Traces Van de Wiel is a design researcher in the project
Re-Source.

NAOMI BUENO DE MESQUITA
naomi.buenodemesquita@student.kuleuven.be

Naomi Bueno de Mesquita (1979) is an artist and designer with a BA (cum laude) in Architectural Design obtained at Gerrit Rietveld Academy, Amsterdam and a Master in Design and Public Space obtained at Elisava/ Pompeu Fabra University, Barcelona.

After completing her Master she worked as teacher at the Art School Estudio Nomada in Barcelona. Her subject was Interventions in Public Space. Naomi lived in different countries for large periods of her life (Jerusalem, Amsterdam, Rome and Barcelona).

She currently forms part of the European research project TRADERS, in which she explores the use of digital mapping as tool/ method to engage citizens in the construction of public places and in the debate about public space and public issues.

PAOLO PATELLI
paolo.patelli@designacademy.nl
paolopatelli.com

Paolo Patelli is a designer and a researcher. He received his PhD degree in Architectural and Urban Design from Politecnico di Milano in 2015. His research focused on possible models of aesthetic and political engagement with the built environment, with its ecosystem of information, in a city that has re-established the invisible, breaking the link between what we see and how it works. Through his professional practice and collaborative works, he engages critically and by design with space, things and society.

He is Associate Reader 'Places and Traces’ at the Design Academy Eindhoven and a 2017/18 participant in the Studio Program of the Van Eyck in Maastricht. He also collaborates with The New School’s Parsons Paris and the Programme d’Expérimentation en Arts et Politique (SPEAP) at Sciences Po.

MAURIZIO MONTALTI
info@corpuscoli.com

Msc Maurizio Montalti has worked with mycelium materials for the last 7 years, first during his Master graduation project at Design Academy Eindhoven and later within his design practice Officina Corpuscoli. His transdisciplinary research activities are characterized by autonomous design research in close collaboration with scientific partners.

In the project Mycelium-based materials for product design Montalti makes use of both theoretical and hands-on research methods, aiming for the constitution of an exemplary collection of consumer products and applications based on grown materials. More in general, Montalti addresses designers’ responsibilities in the development of a sustainable society, and reflects on the pivotal role of designers as catalysts of change.

BENNIE MEEK
bennie.meek@designacademy.nl
www.studiomeek.com
gewildgroei.nl

Bennie Meek (1983), designer and researcher, graduated in 2010 from the Design Academy Eindhoven in the departments Man & Public Space and Man & Wellbeing and received in 2012 his master's degree at the department Social Design with the project A New Application for Urban Green. Since his graduation Meek has worked within various design collectives and is cofounder of Gewildgroei.

He is able to combine critical analysis with intuitive design methods and sees the organization of unusual collaborations as part of the design. His projects have a relation with the public space. Meek is a Research Associate in the Readership Places and Traces for Innovatieprogramma Mobiele Stad.