Congratulations to DAE's 2025 BA Graduates!

In early July, Design Academy Eindhoven held its summer graduation ceremony, marking the end of an era for the graduating students and for Creative Director Joseph Grima. As sunlight filtered through the blinds in the darkened first floor space where 87 graduates stood, the atmosphere was celebratory, reflective, and warm in more ways than one.

Raf De Keninck, Director of Education, took to the stage to offer his congratulations to the graduating class. Before bidding farewell, he reflected on the energy that had filled the academy in the lead-up to the ceremony: excitement in the workshops, joy in the corridors, and a familiar mix of stress and creativity around every corner.

His final remarks were directed toward Grima, with whom he shared the stage for the last time. He spoke with affection about their collaboration, likening it, cryptically, to a series of jokes about a Belgian and an Italian, leaving the punchlines to the imagination. De Keninck thanked Grima for all he had brought to the academy and expressed how much he would be missed.

Grima stepped up to the microphone and reminded the students that they were now officially designers. “To be a designer,” he said, “is to be trying to change the world creatively.” Reflecting on his past five years at DAE, he credited the students as inspiration, inspired by their passion, creativity, and conviction. He expressed hope that their trajectories would cross again outside the walls of the academy and that they would find places where they felt truly relevant.

He ended by thanking the tutors and families who had supported the students along the way.

The final speaker, Janneke Schreuder, addressed the new graduates, noting how different things had been four years ago when they first arrived. Many of them began their studies in a time of deep uncertainty and now stood in front of her certain of their place in the world. She praised the projects exhibited across the floors of the academy and celebrated the students' growth over the years.

With the heat rising, Schreuder kept things brief and moved swiftly to announce the Cum Laude graduates and the nominees for the René Smeets and Melkweg Awards.

22 students were nominated Cum Laude and 6 received it. These students were:

Alice Baker
Anna Zoe Hamm
Hui Baquero Vall
Noam Hasak-Lowy
Philippe Gaud
Tijn Geerts

The students nominated for the Melkweg Award were:

Kirsty Soutar ‘Treasures of Mine’
Moos Geene ‘Bank robbery’
Noam Hasak-Lowy “HOW CAN YOU SEE IT LIKE THAT?!”
River Andrews ‘A World forms in Whispers’
Layla Junqueira Guertzenstein ‘Glass Memory’
Anna Zoe Hamm ‘Tenderlymilitant’.

And finally the students nominated for the René Smeets Award were:

Karin Pinto ‘Bruno’
Laurin Böhm ‘Flossern (in fluent)’
Philippe Gaud ‘LABO 1.0’
Tijn Geerts ‘P =? NP’
Margaux Vaïana Guillot ‘Social Animal’
Elie Seksig ‘Viens Glander!’.

As the formalities ended, the students were ushered to various corners of the building to sign their diplomas with their graduating tutors. The day concluded with drinks provided by ZBar and music by Elevator Radio, as the students celebrated on the walkways and courtyard.