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.

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