From Waste to Wonder
How does the new generation of designers give shape to an ever-shifting world?
Join us for a special summer edition of EHV Innovation Café, where three Kazerne Design Award nominees and the Back to the Flax collective present compelling visions for a more inclusive and sustainable future.
The Kazerne Design Award nominees, all recently graduated at Design Academy Eindhoven, offer surprising, urgent and hopeful perspectives through their work. From open-source building materials made from cow manure to speculative installations on trust, neurodiversity, and technology, each project invites reflection and dialogue. Three of them will share their in-depth vison:
Kiki Astner (Tonne für Tonne) – A ‘Yellow Pages’ for Austrian forest conservation challenging carbon offsetting systems.
Céleste Muir (Precious Little Rocks) – Jewelry from mined ceramic glaze waste, transforming hazardous leftovers into contemporary gems.
Réiltín O’Hagan, co-founder of Bog Bodies Press, presents Mnemotope magazine, a radically open publishing platform that champions the collective.
You might also want to discover what has happened since Dutch Design Week 2024: how the Back to the Flax collective is reintroducing flax as a circular material – from seed to product, rooted in biodiversity and cultural heritage.
Expect an inspiring evening with bold ideas, critical questions, and imaginative alternatives to the status quo.
Grab your ticket and come see the future in the making!
Tomorrow starts with today’s designers. Be part of the conversation.
Join us for drinks, talks, and new connections!
Moderated by Charlotte Grün
Special Guests
Kiki Astner: Democratizing forest conservation through collaboration
Designer Kiki Astner explores how we engage with nature, drawing on storytelling and research to examine our relationship with resources and tradition. Collaborating with craftspeople, scientists, and conservationists, she uses design to translate complex knowledge into accessible narratives. The main driver of her work is to encourage reflection on the hidden stories behind materials and processes that shape our daily lives.
Céleste Muir: Transforming waste into precious art
Céleste Muir is a French designer with a penchant for ceramics and jewelry. During her studies at the Design Academy Eindhoven, she explored mining methods as a way to uncover high-value qualities of materials. Convinced of the beauty existing materials, she creates new species of stone that are the fruit of encounters.
Réiltín O’Hagan: Amplifying voices through collective storytelling
Lilou Angelrath and Réiltín O’Hagan started Bog Bodies Press in their final year at the Design Academy Eindhoven. Through their practice, they seek to gather people around unbounded storytelling both on and off the page. They have published the work of over 265 people, most of them for the first time, and hosted over 1000 attendees at live storytelling events across three countries in their first 18 months. In 2024 the designers gained the René Smeets Award and an honorable mention at the International Design Awards, in 2025 they got nominated for a European Design Award.
Back to the Flax: Revitalizing Flax through Collaborative Innovation
Flax, once a staple in European daily life, has gradually faded out of sight. However, there is untapped potential as a sustainable and circular material waiting to be explored. In the multiple-year project Back to the Flax, the Kazerne Young Collective keeps going back to the roots and reintroduce flax through research and material experiments into modern contexts. From seeds to crop in nature-inclusive applications. In spring and summer 2025, at Kazerne they will present their process and insights for the third time.
Our city is growing fast and the world is facing huge challenges. This is the moment to connect the superpowers of our regional ecosystems. What can we envision to ensure an attractive and enduring habitat for future generations? Which experiments and prototypes are needed to stay a step ahead? What can we learn from other cities?
Join the EHV Innovation Special Event
Do you want be a part of the Future of Eindhoven? Mark the event in your calendar and secure your ticket here. Walk in is also possible but the seats for the debat are limited. Don’t miss out on this opportunity!
26 June 2025
17:30 Walk-in and networking, we’ll offer a free drink and a bite
18:00 Introduction to the Special Guests followed by a moderated debate
19:00 Networking
20:00 Meet-up dinner with the speakers
English spoken, of course