Studio Thinking Hands - Kiki van Eijk, Joost van Bleiswijk
We like to be surprised and allow for things to pop up. Still, profound research and structured experimentation are essential. As teachers, we follow the students’ steps closely and encourage logical experimentation and solid conclusions. Starting around the 3A cluster, we focus more on the real-world context of design: What fields exist and where do students see themselves? Exploration is essential for becoming confident in making professional decisions.
Each semester begins with an overall theme, which teachers respond to with separate assignments that make up the curriculum of a semester, while students are free to discover their own topics in response. For example, one theme was "I repair," which could mean literally repairing a broken object or be a philosophical inquiry into fixing the world. Another was "The New Me," exploring identity and environment.
Training intuition is important in our studio—to use it as a compass, as a tool alongside reflection. We emphasise not just making but reflecting on what you make, becoming aware of your experiments, and understanding their quality. That’s why a collective workspace is important for the students, where they're not isolated with their own projects, but can easily share with their fellows.
Our students work as if they worked in a real-world design studio. Teachers walk around, have collective talks, one-on-one and peer-to-peer discussions. This helps normalise the struggles of creative processes and prepares students for collaborative professional environments. Ideally, we would have a bigger space for the studio. In fact, it’s important to be able to lay out work and take a step back. Sometimes, having some distance helps with reflection.
In assessing work, we follow four criteria: analysis (structured research), creativity (unexpected ideas and solutions), execution (technical and compositional quality), and presentation (care in showcasing the work, and whether the work speaks for itself). These criteria are used consistently across the teaching team, including external guest teachers, to ensure objective assessment.
Our team of educators follows three profiles: the maker—a hands-on designer who has knowledge of creation in a very practical sense, with a focus on material, technique or other physical elements, the questioner—a deep thinker probing the 'why', and the dreamer-thinker—bridging thought and creation to translate the making and thinking. Every semester, we reshuffle the team slightly and invite guest tutors and teachers, who are not all designers—e.g. a curator from Boijmans van Beuningen Museum was recently a tutor and conducted writing sessions. Even if our outcomes are always physical, we maintain a broad, creative input from individuals who are engaged in the creative field, which represents the variety of facets that are relevant in design today.
Despite many challenges, we've noticed a positive shift in recent years. Students are highly motivated and have a positive attitude towards their work, especially compared to the pandemic period. In recent exams, we saw great projects, some even graduating cum laude. At the same time, it’s always a challenge to handle redos. Sometimes, students still struggle in the second or third year and it's hard to remain objective when there are strong personal relationships. We generally like our students to feel safe and happy. Still, it's essential to maintain standards. It’s a balancing act—supporting students while staying true to quality expectations.