There are two new faces at the Design Center. They have been here for two weeks now. In total they will be here for six weeks. But why will they be here? And why is this blog in English?
Because we are to students from the Netherlands. Veronique Hillebrand and Antje Boschma (both 19 years old). We are here for an internship at the Design Centre. In the Netherlands we are studying ‘Design’. It is an education with many different specializations. We can focus us on the following specializations: displaying, scenography, graphic design, interior and styling, product and design. On this education we develop our creative side but also our business insight.
Our education is four years, now we are in our third year and we liked to do an internship abroad. So we asked the internationalization of our school for an internship abroad. They found a place for us in Sweden, they said there was a brewer called: Jan Zakrisson who needs some new products (that we could design) and also a new design for his pub and greenhouse. When we heard this we were very excited, because this fits perfectly with our education. So it all started with the KGB brewery (located in Klövsjö). We get in contact with Jan and Jan also introduced us to Karolina from the Design Centre. Because maybe this would be a nice place to work on the assignments and also learn something from the local design and culture. Now we were even more enthusiastic. And before we knew it, we were on the plane to Sweden.
We have been here for two weeks now and we fell in love with this country. For us it is the first time in Sweden, so we hope to learn a lot in Sweden and about Sweden. We tried to learn the language, but we found out that this isn’t so easy. But we know by so far what a ‘Fika’ is and we have learned that this is the key word over here. We have our own language (dialect) and this has many similarities with the Swedish language. So I am sure we want to learn your language. We are both living in the north of the Netherlands here you have a region called: Friesland. We also have our own flag and everyone is very proud of this and we want to maintain this. We have discovered that there are many similarities with our region and Jämtland.
We love to see that the Design Centre is doing so much for their local artists and designers. I think we can learn from this in the Netherlands, because on this moment they are busy with cuts and they cut on the culture and art. In the Netherlands we see that the culture is decreasing, there is no money for it. Also the big companies with low pricing are taking over the design market in the Netherlands. I think the government here is protecting the small handcraft companies. In the Netherlands you have no chance to exist when you are a little company. But we hope that they will pay more attention to art and culture. And I think this is going to happen. Because in 2018 (Leeuwarden) become the Cultural capital of Europe. Leeuwarden is the capital of Friesland. So we hope that this is positive for the culture and art. And we can use the Design Centre as a wonderful example, for holding instant art and culture.
We saw a lot of Östersund so far. We are here to design and to improve our English but we also love to know more about the culture. We will be here for four weeks so you can find us here and we are always in for a little talk. We love to know something more about the culture and all the handcrafting and design. We love to see that. So when you get tips for us you can send us an email or come to the Design Centre for a little talk.
Email: antjeboschma@nordwincollege.nl
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