Maurice Mentjens Design

Designer of the imagination

A unicorn, striplights that erupt into rays of starlight, a Belgian chip shop, fluttering shoes and a Shakespeare quote. Symbols, associations and references. Interior designer Maurice Mentjens likes to tell stories most of all. His remarkable work can be seen from 25 August through 5 December at Yksi Expo in the Designhuis in Eindhoven.

Mentjens makes designs that read like essays. They have a philosophical bent, full of hidden meanings. The symbols and references he usually takes from mythology, history, literature or the graphic arts. Mentjens is continuously looking for confrontational contrasts within the commonplace. Religion and spirituality inspire him as well. He prefers to look for clues in the symbolic value of a building and the intended use and certainly in the history of the town or environment too. In his view a design will only become attached if there is respect for the ‘spirit of the place. The relationship with the client is another important part in this. Mutual empathy creates more than just a functional and technically correct design, the emotional involvement shows too.

Interiors made by Mentjens are therefore never swayed by the issues of the day. Despite their status of autonomous installations, they are never trendy, hip or experimental in a contrived way. It is no coincidence that his portfolio has a comparatively large amount of shop interiors. However spectacular they may look at first glance, in the end nothing distracts from what it is all about: the products that are being treated as gems. With light, colour, coves and mirrors the space is transformed into a stage. Counters and presentation systems rise above the designation cupboard, rack or console and amplify this staging. Within this three-dimensional frame the objects are often literally put on a pedestal. In that sense Maurice Mentjens is still loyal to his previous education as an autonomous designer, discipline gem & product design. Except he no longer designs the gem or product, but the box. Magnified to a scale that offers free dimensions to the poetry of space and time. At Yksi Expo images, film and book give an overview of Mentjens’ work.

This project came about with contributions from the City of Eindhoven, the Province of Noord-Brabant and Yksi Ontwerp.

A 208 page catalogue providing an overview of the work of Maurice Mentjens was made by B2B Graphic Design on the occasion of the exhibition Maurice Mentjens | Objects and Spaces.

The catalogue is generously supported by the Provincie Limburg and Brand Cultuurfonds.

The book was published in a limited edition of 1000 pieces. The book is still available and can be ordered by sending an email to press@mauricementjens.com. The price of a book is € 30,- excluding postage costs (which amounts to € 2,64 within the Netherlands).

Last winter, Centre Céramique in Maastricht dedicated an exhibition to the work of Maurice Mentjens: Maurice Mentjens | Objects and spaces. The exhibition showed Mentjens’ oeuvre and the current state of art of his work, completed by his sources of inspiration and heroes. Not only Mentjens’ own work but also some exceptional masterpieces of Ettore Sottsass, Ron Arad en Shiro Kuramata were showcased.

During the opening the first copy of an overview of Mentjens’ work was presented. The book is designed by B2B office for graphic design and generously supported by the Province of Limburg and the Brand Cultuurfonds.

See the project page for more details: objects and spaces

Maurice Mentjens’ design for the meeting and reception room at the DSM head office has won the Dutch Design Award 2007 in the category interior design.

The other nominees were: Kossmann & de Jong with their design for the visitors centre ‘Veluwezoom’ and Frank Tjepkema with the new reception area for ROC economics.

Maurice Mentjes has won the Dutch design award for the third time, this time with his design for the meeting and reception room at the DSM head office in Heerlen. Last year Maurice Mentjens won the award with his design of restaurant Witloof (Maastricht, Netherlands), and in 2005 for his design of bag shop Stash (Maastricht). He’s delighted to have won this prestigious award three years running.

View the project here.

The Great Indoors Award

Maurice Mentjens has been nominated for the Great Indoors award in the category ‘Interior design firm of the year’. Other nominees in this category are: Wonderwall (Tokyo), Concrete (Amsterdam) and Neri & Hu (Shanghai). This is an important international award in the field of interior design with awards in 5 categories. 275 entries were received this year. The winners will be revealed in November at the award ceremony which this year takes place in Maastricht.

Other names also nominated for awards include: Zaha Hadid, Thomas Heatherwick, Klein Dytham, Jürgen Mayer H., Richard Hutten en Clive Wilkinson.

Website updated

View the prizewinning design for the DSM head office and the design for the new Sirius shop in Prague online.

Stash has won the Design Award of the Federal Republic of Germany on the 9^th of February 2007 in Frankfurt.

Stash is a handbag shop in Maastricht and in 2005 it earned me the Dutch Design Award. The Design Award of the Federal Republic of Germany is the most important Design Award in Germany, it’s ‘The Prize of Prizes’.

All nominees have already won a national or international prize with their design, hence the official title, ‘The Prize of Prizes’. It is not possible to apply for this contest. Instead you are nominated by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology. This year 25 prize winners, from different disciplines of design, where selected from 940 nominees.

The competition for the Prizes of Prizes

The Design Award is the official recognition of excellence in design offered by the Federal Republic of Germany. It is the central thrust in the campaign of the Federal German Ministry of Economics and Technology to promote good design.

The Prize of Prizes

Companies cannot enter for the Design Award; instead, they are nominated by the Ministries and Senators for Trade & Industry of the German States or by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology. It is a precondition for this, however, that a product has already been awarded a national or international prize. No other Design Award sets its entrants such a strict criterion. Because of this the Design Award of the Federal Republic of Germany is called the “prize of prizes” by many opinion leaders in the world of design.

Other winning designers are a.o. :

UN Studio (Ben van Berkel) : Circle Furniture
Konstantin Grcic : Miura Barstool
BMW Designgroup : BMW Cruising Bike
Matteo Thun : Non-stick aluminium cookware
Phoenix Design : Loewe Individual 32 LCD TV
Adidas Design-Department : +F50 Tunit Football shoe

Restaurant Witloof received the Dutch Design Award 2006 in the category interior design.

Last year the handbag shop Stash won the Dutch design award. Of course it’s fantastic to win this prestigious prize two times in a row.

The other nominees were : Frank Tjepkema with his design for restaurant Fabbrica in Rotterdam and Jeanne Dekkers with her educational institution for Care and Welfare, OZW in Amsterdam.

The jury was unanimous: Maurice Mentjens Design’s entry was by far the best in this category. Familiar elements such as the chandelier, wooden furniture and ceramic tiles are counterposed, and in this way the very best is made of them. The restaurant forms a rich composition that accommodates both modernity and tradition. It is also at once both austere and decorative. The feel for drama is tangible everywhere. Not one, but an ensemble of three interiors that complement each other effortlessly. View the project here.

Website Nederlandse Designprijzen

The design award of the Federal Republic of Germany 2007

Also Stash was nominated for the second time, now for the prestigious German design award 2007. This is the highest German accreditation. It is ‘the prize of prizes’ because all 940 nominees have already won a national or international prize.

Website German Design Award

Bob magazine korea

In November the Korean magazine Bob will appear with an in depth article of 36 to 42 pages. Bob magazine is a very fine international magazine about design and architecture.

DSM board of directors room

I have been commissioned to design the board of directors room for DSM. Three designers where invited by Catharien Romijn to make a pitch for the space. Eventually my design was chosen. The other designers where: Ted Noten and Jurgen Bey. Eventually Jurgen didn’t compete.

The interior design for Stash has won the Dutch Design Award 2005 in the category Retail Design.

This year there were more than 700 submissions and 164 entries chosen for the Design Selection, 51 nominations and 17 prizes awarded by 63 expert jury members. Website Dutch Design Awards

The nominations were: Storeage with a retail design for a T-Mobile shop - Marcel Wanders with the Bisazza stand for the Salone del Mobile Milan 2005 - Maurice Mentjens with Stash

The Jury Report :

The design distinguishes itself by breaking the mould of the traditional design for a bag shop. The layout clearly creates added value for the clients and their customers. The way in which the innovative display method with the magnets plays a central role is original and is the kind of idea that we would like to have thought of ourselves.

see the project project here