Under Pressure: Linear Habits, Circular Futures
Taiwan meets the Netherlands: what makes circular change happen?
A used diaper. Agricultural residues. Sediment left after a disaster. Materials that seem to have reached the end of their story may still have a future. But recognising that possibility is only the beginning. How do we change the habits, stories and systems that keep valuable resources moving towards disposal?
For this special Dutch Design Week edition, the EHV Innovation Café brings together three practitioners from Taiwan and researcher and artist Elise Talgorn. They approach circularity through material recovery, design, cross-sector collaboration and the narratives that shape our relationship with the living world.
Featuring
Oliver Lin – Vice President Sales Department Taiwan Design Research Institute
Building the collaborations that turn circular design into shared practice.
Yen-An Chen – Designer Atelier YenAn / Curator Exhibition Island Under Pressure
Revealing overlooked value in materials, culture and industrial contexts.
Jennifer Shen – Vice President Sales Department Yi Chun Green Technology
Connecting used-diaper recycling with design, industry and new material applications.
Elise Talgorn – Associate Lector Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences
Exploring how stories reshape our relationships with people, nature and technology.
Moderated by Simone de Waart
Taking its cue from Island Under Pressure, the Taiwan Design Research Institute exhibition during DDW, the conversation explores what Taiwan and the Netherlands can learn from each other. Which approaches can travel across borders? Which depend on local conditions? And how can we help each other move faster towards a more nature-inclusive future?
Bring your questions and your own experience. After four short introductions, Simone de Waart connects the perspectives and opens the conversation to the audience. At the EHV Innovation Café, the discussion is not the afterthought. It is the main act.
We are Inclusive by Default and Give to Grow.
Monday 19 October 2026 | Kazerne Downtown Eindhoven
Walk in 17:30 | Start 18:00 | English spoken | Free entrance | Open to all
Speakers
Oliver Lin
Vice President, Taiwan Design Research Institute
Oliver Lin is Vice President of the Taiwan Design Research Institute (TDRI), with more than 30 years of experience advancing Taiwanese design and its international presence. His work spans city design development, national design policy and the growth of Taiwan’s design ecosystem. At TDRI, he leads national design policy development, supports innovation and capacity building for enterprises, and promotes Design in Taiwan internationally. He is regularly invited to serve as a juror, speaker and advisor for design and government initiatives. For this conversation, he brings a perspective on the cross-sector relationships needed to translate circular design into practical action.
Connecting people, organisations and design practices so that circular initiatives can grow into an ecosystem.”
Yen-An Chen
Curator; Founder and Creative Director, Atelier YenAn
Yen-An Chen is the founder and creative director of Atelier YenAn and a board member of the Taiwan Industrial Designers Association. With a background in product and social design, he studied and worked in the UK and the Netherlands. His practice spans product design, branding, curation, filmmaking and cultural research. He uncovers overlooked value in everyday life, local culture and industrial contexts, translating it into objects, exhibitions and narratives. As curator of Island Under Pressure, Taiwan’s pavilion at Dutch Design Week 2026, he explores how designers, researchers, manufacturers and communities respond to environmental and industrial pressures through circular design.
Revealing overlooked value through design, cultural research and storytelling.
Jennifer Shen
Vice President of Sales Department, Yi Chun Green Technology
Jennifer Shen brings multidisciplinary experience across design, art, branding and market strategy, and is a graduate of ArtCenter College of Design. At Yi Chun Green Technology, she focuses on circular resources, green materials and sustainable design, advancing solutions for used-diaper recycling. Her work connects collection and material recovery with the development of recycled-material applications. Guided by the vision One Diaper, One Circular Future, she explores how discarded materials can re-enter production supply chains. For this conversation, she brings the practical challenge of connecting recycling technology, design decisions and industrial demand so that a material’s next life can become a reality.
Connecting material recovery with design, industrial applications and new markets.
Elise Talgorn
Associate Lector in Social Impact Storytelling, Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences
Elise Talgorn is a multidisciplinary researcher and artist exploring how stories can spark compassionate connections between people, nature and technology. She holds a PhD in renewable energy physics and worked in sustainable innovation at Philips, broadening her expertise to planet-centred design, systems thinking and narratology. At the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, she researches how participatory story-based experiences can support social and environmental transformation. As an artist, she creates paintings and comics that give voice to the more-than-human and challenge dominant narratives. Her work connects the cultural stories we live by with the possibilities we see for changing systems. Her paintings and comics explore these questions through artistic practice.
Using stories and artistic research to open new perspectives on people, nature and technology.
Moderator
Simone de Waart
Founder and Creative director Material Sense | moderator
With a background in materials design and research, and as a lecturer at TU/e Industrial Design, Simone de Waart is passionate about bringing people and perspectives together to explore new possibilities for a circular future. Through Material Sense, she connects designers, researchers, artists, industry and education to inspire material innovation for circular societies. She has worked in Taiwan leading circular design masterclasses at NCKU Tainan and co-curating an exhibition exploring Dutch and Taiwanese perspectives on inclusive design.
This EHV Innovation Café, she will guide the conversation, inviting the speakers to share their experiences, exchange ideas and reflect on how cultural perspectives and collaboration can inspire circular design directions.
Circularity changes the journey of materials, but it also asks us to reconsider the rules shaping that journey. What counts as waste? Who determines its value? And what makes a recovered resource worth using again? Technical possibilities meet habits, commercial expectations and cultural assumptions at every step.
Environmental and industrial pressures make these questions urgent. Yet recovering more material does not by itself settle how we should produce and consume. A circular approach needs to consider where energy and resources come from, what new applications demand, and how their consequences affect ecosystems. How can design help us judge progress beyond the volume of material kept in circulation?
The stories we tell about progress also matter. Narratives of endless growth and individual achievement can make interdependence hard to recognise. Stories grounded in resilience and collaboration may open other possibilities: sharing responsibility, valuing maintenance and making room for perspectives beyond the human. How can those shifts influence practical decisions in organisations and supply chains?
Exchange between Taiwan and the Netherlands offers an opportunity to test these questions against different conditions. Technologies, design methods and ways of collaborating may travel; infrastructure, regulation and cultural acceptance require local understanding. What can we adapt from each other, and which relationships would help us turn that learning into everyday practice?
Our city is full of hidden Tech & Design gems that fuel transformation. Now is the time to unite their superpowers. What visions do they hold for creating an attractive, sustainable world for us and future generations? What groundbreaking experiments and prototypes are they developing to boost our society forward? How can we learn from each other and contribute to this shared mission? Join us for an inspiring event where ideas and connections come to life!
Join the EHV Innovation Café Tech & Design Meetup
Do you want be a part of the Future of Eindhoven? Mark the event in your calendar and secure your free ticket here. Walk in is also possible but the seats for the debat are limited. Don’t miss out on this opportunity!
Monday 19 October 2026
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