Light cascades down porcelain ridges, distortions ebb and flow, intense hues emerge within translucent forms. These are the defining traits of Studio Tijmen Smeulders designs, revealed through the incidental nature of daily life.   Since its founding in 2014, the Rotterdam-based studio has designed furniture, tableware, lighting, storage units and rugs. Each product is the culmination of a meticulous approach to design, based on enquiries into its various elements. A desire to challenge common perceptions drives these investigations, which play a key role in developing new perspectives on everyday products.  

Manufactured in an assortment of materials, the products share a common voice, finding a balance between familiarity and individuality without the need for decoration nor extravagance. They serve essential functions with clarity — benches for sitting, cups for drinking — while their sensorial nature ensures they maintain a valuable presence, even when not in use.  

Dialogue is fundamental to the studio’s ongoing collaborations with brands, craftspeople and factories around the world. Working directly with manufacturers allows it to explore the potential for constructive intervention and opportunities to push the boundaries of both design and production.  

Examining common products right down to their essence, Studio Tijmen Smeulders pursues designs that challenge the conventions of daily life.  Words: Ben Davis 

Background:
Tijmen Smeulders graduated cum laude from the Department of Man and Well-being at Design Academy Eindhoven in December 2013. In addition to founding his studio, he works as a freelance designer for Aldo Bakker Studio and has worked with Formafantasma, Scholten & Baijings and Studio Wieki Somers. The studio is active across the fields of product design, exhibition design and creative direction.

Selected exhibitions:
Chamber NYC
Design Miami/Basel
Design Parade – Villa Noailles
Dutch Invertuals
Etage Projects
Frame
Galerie Vivid
Het Nieuwe Instituut
Interior Lifestyle Tokyo 
Milan Design Week
Museum Angewandte Kunst
Musée Des Arts Décoratifs
Object Rotterdam
Princessehof – National Ceramic Museum
Rossana Orlandi
SeeDS
Tefaf New York – Carpenters Workshop Gallery
Tools Galerie
Van Abbe Museum
Wallpaper* Handmade

Teaching/lectures:
Design Academy Eindhoven
Dutch Embassy Paris 
Dutch Invertuals Academy
In Residence #10
MIARD/Piet Zwart Institute

Project:
Client:
Year:
Galerie VIVID
2019

Modular Column
Wallpaper* Magazine
Parts

© Studio Tijmen Smeulders