Delft Design Stories

From The Start: The Early Design Bird Gets The Remanufacturing Worm

The circular economy. Sustainability. Refurbishment. Remanufacturing. Recycling. We hear these buzzwords used all the time when talking about how humanity needs to lessen its impact on the planet. For her PhD research, Nina Boorsma looked into how to get companies to make more sustainable products and found that the process needs to start early.

What makes a circular designer?

It makes sense that designing for a circular economy requires something different than the traditional linear approach. Because it’s not just about creating sustainable products, it’s about an entire system aimed at reducing resource use and waste. For her PhD research, Deborah Sumter wanted to find out what competencies designers need to develop to be successful at circular design.

How to paint convincing stuff

If you see a bunch of grapes, how does your brain understand that those are real grapes and not ones made of plastic? And if you see those grapes in a painting - say a 17th-century piece of Dutch Golden Age art - how does your brain understand that those are also grapes? That’s what Francesca Di Cicco wanted to know for her PhD thesis.

The unique train toilet challenge

The toilet touches all our lives, but we don’t want to touch the toilet. In other words, we try to keep a distance from toilets, particularly those in public. However, these toilets are what makes it possible for us to leave our homes and travel. More specifically, anyone travelling by train is used to having free access to train toilets, certainly on long journeys. But, as they are perceived as being dirty, they are greatly underused. A dilemma for railway companies and a challenge for sanitary designer and PhD graduate Marian Loth.

Persuasive technology for health and wellbeing at work

Elsbeth de Korte isn’t your typical Ph.D. student. When she defends her thesis later this month, on how technology can improve health and well-being in the workplace, she will have already been working at the Dutch research institute TNO for more than twenty years.

LandShapes: made to feel real

You might think that smart devices – something that can connect to the internet or another device – would be more sustainable. After all, if the lights and the thermostat only turn on when a person is present, they should use less energy. ‘But’ says Emilia Ingemarsdotter, ‘every technology has a hype phase’. For her PhD research, she wanted to look beyond the hype and critically examine the role internet-enabled devices play in the circular economy.

A robot with a soft touch

Try and picture a robotic hand and an image of metal fingers with rigid joints might come to mind. Imagine instead one made of soft materials that can dextrously grip an apple, automatically adjust to its shape, and pluck it from a tree. Rob Scharff, through his PhD research, explores how the emerging field of soft robotics has the potential to revolutionise the future of robotic manipulation.

"Humans don't develop like machines."

When Stefan Persaud took over the second-year bachelor’s course Product Dynamics at Industrial Design, he brought along his motto: "If you can't reach them, you can't teach them." Persaud believes in student-centred teaching, where lecturers focus on how students best learn and engage students in active learning.

Delft Design Stories

Read the stories of researchers and students at the Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering, and discover the scientific questions on which they work and the solutions they present.

Out of the Blue #15: Freedive with Yongqing Jackie Fei

Due to COVID-19, design students, lecturers and researchers are stuck at home. How are they coping? For part one of a special three-part Freedive series, we talk with Yongqing Fei, or Jackie as we know her. She has a lot of experiences with quarantines and tells about redesigning an oven from home and her story on moving from isolation in China to isolation in Delft.
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In the IDE Podcast Series ‘Out of the Blue’, Teacher of Practice Ianus Keller and PhD candidate Frithjof Wegener talk with our designers, researchers, students and teachers about their stories. Thankfully, we’re allowed to listen in.

Out of the Blue #14: (Not) Safe for Designers?

Material science is often a black box for designers. But in Delft Design, knowledge on material properties is essential. Erik Tempelman has literally written the book on it: “(Not) Safe for Designers”. He talks with Ianus Keller about the surprising journeys of material properties, how the Pixar character Anton Ego inspires him and explores the meaning of the Dutch word ‘stevig’.
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In the IDE Podcast Series ‘Out of the Blue’, Teacher of Practice Ianus Keller and PhD candidate Frithjof Wegener talk with our designers, researchers, students and teachers about their stories. Thankfully, we’re allowed to listen in.

Out of the Blue #13: Big Fat Nonsense

From fat shaming to self-acceptance. Join Ianus in a conversation designed for taboo topics as weight and mental health. He talks with IDE alumna Sam van Eijk about her graduation project Big Fat Nonsense.
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In the IDE Podcast Series ‘Out of the Blue’, Teacher of Practice Ianus Keller and PhD candidate Frithjof Wegener talk with our designers, researchers, students and teachers about their stories. Thankfully, we’re allowed to listen in.

A box full of jerry can water filters for refugee camps

In early May, Olivier de Gruijter packed a large box of Jerry Can Water Filters. Each one is handcrafted in his workshop. Finally they are going out into the real world, something he has been looking forward to for a long time. Refugees in Gaza and Iraq are going to use the prototypes for the first time. After studying Industrial Design Engineering, De Gruijter came up with a smart, compact water filter that you can screw onto any standard jerry can. A unique and sustainable filter system that rinses itself clean.

Out of the Blue #19: Is it good enough?

How do you know if an idea is good? Is it a hunch, a gut feeling? Or can you learn to systematically recognise good ideas and move them further to make them work? In this episode, we talk with Jeroen van Erp, Professor of Concept Design at TU Delft and founder of influential Dutch design agency Fabrique. About ad agencies, how to learn design, and plastic soup. You’re not allowed to leave the podcast without at least 10 new ideas!
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In the IDE Podcast Series ‘Out of the Blue’, Teacher of Practice Ianus Keller or PhD candidate Frithjof Wegener talks with our designers, researchers, students and teachers about their stories. Thankfully, we’re allowed to listen in.

Lights of the Lake

Four designers from Delft University of Technology travelled to Lake Victoria, Tanzania and partnered with Sagar Energy Solutions to design a solar-powered fishing lamp for the night fishing industry. This effort aims to put an end to the reliance on dangerous and expensive kerosene lanterns.

Out of the Blue #20: Let it go, let it go

We are back with season 3 of the Delft Design podcast Out of the Blue! This season we’re going to tackle healthcare, mobility and sustainability in three episodes each. And perhaps give you some more treats along the way. Producer Marc joins Ianus as a co-host and they talk with Flora Poppelaars: sustainability consultant, circular economy expert and Delft Design PhD graduate. About stages of circularity, why smartphones are the perfect case study and heavy metal covers of infectious Disney songs.
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In the IDE Podcast Series ‘Out of the Blue’, Teacher of Practice Ianus Keller or PhD candidate Frithjof Wegener talks with our designers, researchers, students and teachers about their stories. Thankfully, we’re allowed to listen in.