Excursion: Studio Tjeerd Veenhoven

20.03.2024, Groningen (NL)

The visit to Studio Tjeerd Veenhoven in Groningen was the first appointment on the Plant Project’s excursion. Tjeerd, his employee Anja Zachau and an intern warmly welcomed the group to his workshop, where they had lunch together. The workplace itself is divided into three large halls in which projects and (sometimes curious) machines are stored. Tjeerd gave us a tour of the premises. Meanwhile, the employees
experimented with natural dyes and the coloring of palm leaves. Back in 2011, the studio carried out a project with palm leaves from the Areca betel nut, which were soaked in glycerine to give them a leather-like materiality. In this project, the global infrastructure was also taken into account, thus creating local jobs in India. Tjeerd Veenhoven’s work mainly focuses on design research and on new renewable raw materials or potential uses. He also reflected openly and self-critically on the numerous projects he presented to the group. One project, which was created for HuisVeendam, deals with biolaminate panels based on potato starch (95% starch, 5% biopolymer). Tulip Pigments, on the other hand, deals with natural dyes from tulip petals, which are produced in large quantities by the tulip bulb industry in the Netherlands. Another three-year project, supported by the H&M Foundation, aimed to produce CO2-negative yarn from algae. This was successful and AlgaeFabrics won the Global Change Award 2015. Tjeerd is now critical of the project, as the effort and costs involved in extracting the material are extremely high. He wants to create realistic solutions with his research. One project that he considers successful, but which was not realized, was a concrete substitute made from mussels and binders for the Dutch railway. He is currently working on a project that deals with splachnum, that is growing in the moor and is repressed by agriculture. It has a high absorbency. Tjeerd works closely and on an equal footing with farmers on this topic and creates incentives for the cultivation of wet soils and thus CO2 savings by interweaving product development, industry and ecology. By carrying out several projects at the same time, Tjeerd is also able to work on self-financed ‘heart projects’ in between. For example, a 2D printer with which he would like to print banners with mycelium in the future.

thanks to:Tjeerd Veenhoven
project:

The Plant Project
– Resilience Part II
year:2024
text by:Carla Wirths