The series of flax project by Christien Meindertsma aims to uncover the material’s rich history and showcase both its utilitarian capabilities and the work of craftspeople who specialize in working with it (Flax Project: Christien Meindertsma’s Newest Work, 2019). Meindertsma’s passion lies in uncovering the processing of raw materials and the lengthy journey these materials take a route to finished products (Flax Project: Christien Meindertsma’s Newest Work, 2019).
Christien Meindertsma is a female designer and born in Dutch. Meindertsma’s idea often focus to different products and research the use of raw material.From early on in her career, Christien Meindertsma has made an international name for herself with her inquisitive and explorative approach to the world and the products that surround us (Meindertsma, 2019). During the creation of her work, the result of her project may be a record of the process itself, or it may be an investigation and a reference to commercial products. After detailed investigation and documentation, locally produced themes and undeveloped resources feature in her work. Meindertsma seeks to uncover processes that have become distant industrialization and encourage a deeper understanding of the materials and products around us. Meindertsma has spent several years researching the possibilities of flax, even investing in crop from a flax farm to better understand the plant’s cultivation and processing (Christien Meindertsma designs fully biodegradable chair using flax, 2019).
“What I like about flax is that it’s a precious material that was traditionally used for high-quality fabric, but also the fact that the plant grows really well in our climate,” said the Dutch designer. “There’s a good reason to work with the plant, because it needs very little to grow.” (Christien Meindertsma designs fully biodegradable chair using flax, 2019).
The flax chair is designed in 2015, won the Dutch Design Award and Future Award in 2016 and manufactured in 2017. The main material is flax fibre (Linum usitatissimum) and polylactic acid ed. During the process of flax chair, her purchased an entire harvest of a Dutch flax farmer with the ambition of exploring show flax products might stay more locally produced, this is a typical of Meindertsma’s approach. From 2009 to 2015, she devoted her time to document the cultivation and harvesting of flax in the Netherlands. She teamed up with Label/Breed and natural fiber specialist Enkev to develop a new Breed of bioplastics that combines flax and PLA. It’s a groundbreaking material that combines natural flax fibers with powerful bioplastics and is hot-pressed in molds. The chair is made of a piece of composite material, which is rarely wasted. The flax chair is biodegradable and rugged, its volume and texture are hemp, and the resulting product is cheap, environmentally friendly and sustainable.
Kant differentiates between different kinds of beauty. Pure beauty, which is considered non-useful. Another kind of beauty is that which has a purpose (Good Taste vs. Good Design: A Tug of War in the Light of Bling, 2012).The beauty of the flax chair is the second kind of beauty, the beauty of purpose. The purpose of the flax chair is to be environmentally friendly, produce almost no waste of materials, and have a good texture. This makes the flax chairs very tasteful. However, Meindertsma believes that as a designer, it is easy to make beautiful things, but these beautiful things may be useless or unproductive, so these things should not be the purpose of the designer’s design objects. Designers should design things that solve problems. Therefore, Meindertsma believes that pure beauty is considered useless without good taste.
I know this project is great for the innovation of materials and design concept, but my question is, do you think the flax chair has a good taste? What would an audience choose if it had a flax chair and a bling chair? Do viewers value the intrinsic value of an object more than the physical beauty of an object? Is it bad taste to like a useless work of art？
In my opinion, the flax chair represents that the materials used to make things can be pure natural and not waste the earth’s resources. It’s a great piece of art that helps to people realize that there are a lot of materials that need to be innovated to create things that don’t waste the earth’s resources. Good design has the capacity to solve problems that sometimes we didn’t even know we had.When designers look at an object, they should not only consider it is aesthetic appearance, but they should also challenge it to make it more functional, to meet the needs of the user, or to achieve its purpose more gracefully. However, it is debatable the audience’s choice of such a chair is good taste, and choice of useless design is bad taste.
References:
Housele, L. (2016). Interview: Christien Meindertsma | 2016/ Arita. [online] 2016/ Arita. Available at: https://cri-arita.com/2016/interviews/interview-christien-meindertsma.html [Accessed 9 Apr. 2019].
Urback, M. (2019). Flax Project: Christien Meindertsma’s Newest Work | handful of salt. [online] Handfulofsalt.com. Available at: http://www.handfulofsalt.com/flax-project-christien-meindertsmas-newest-work/ [Accessed 9 Apr. 2019].
Meindertsma, C. (2019). Christien Meindertsma. [online] Designskolen Kolding. Available at: https://www.designskolenkolding.dk/en/calendar/christien-meindertsma [Accessed 10 Apr. 2019].
Tucker, E. (2019). Christien Meindertsma designs fully biodegradable chair using flax. [online] Dezeen. Available at: https://www.dezeen.com/2016/11/14/christien-meindertsma-flax-chair-furniture-design-biodegradable-dutch-design-week-2016-awards/ [Accessed 10 Apr. 2019].
Roodnat, S. (2019). christienmeindertsma. [online] Christienmeindertsma.com. Available at: https://christienmeindertsma.com/Flax-Chair [Accessed 10 Apr. 2019].
Christoforidou, D., Olander, E., Warell, A. and Holm, L. (2012). Good Taste vs. Good Design: A Tug of War in the Light of Bling. The Design Journal, 15(2), pp.185-202.
Design Research 
First of all according this article I learned a lot, from this article I know that this female designer Christien Meindertsma has many unique ideas about design. She hopes that people can keep a curiosity about the world to explore the infinite possibilities of materials and play their role to help better design.
The article also tells us that the material of this chair is very unique.It’s a groundbreaking material that combines natural flax fibers with powerful bioplastics and is hot-pressed in molds. According to Kant differentiates between different kinds of beauty, we can know it is a purposeful beauty. I agree with the author that we should design works with pure natural and pollution-free things. Actually, everyone has different judgments on good design. People yearn for good design and see beauty as something elevated and divine. People are not accepted simply creating something pretty, cute, or fun, people want those art works can be creative, imaginative, skillful and designers having a certain depth in their thoughts and intentions.
In my opinion, good design is something that comes from ability and is based on professional skills.Good design can be illustrated by a person’s ability and professional skills allowed in his or her work. Christien Meindertsma applied a new material to the actual design. You mentioned the flax chair is biodegradable and rugged in the article, the use of this material can help us to protect the environment, and the shape of this chair is also very beautiful, so I think it is a good design.
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