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This is your Project Page. It's a great opportunity to help visitors understand the context and background of your latest work. Double click on the text box to start editing your content and make sure to add all the relevant details you want to share.
This is your Project Page. It's a great opportunity to help visitors understand the context and background of your latest work. Double click on the text box to start editing your content and make sure to add all the relevant details you want to share.
Studio Simone van Es
Connecting People, Ideas, and Materials
Studio Simone van Es serves as a catalyst for creative collaboration, uniting diverse disciplines, perspectives, and materials. Rooted in material curiosity and regenerative thinking, the studio initiates and co-creates projects that inspire change, often beginning with the soil beneath our feet.
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House of Dreams (2023)
In 2023, Studio Simone van Es collaborated with ConverseArchitects and Futon Factorij on House of Dreams for Dutch Design Week. This immersive installation reimagined the bedroom of the future, exploring how artificial intelligence might influence our most intimate space: our dreams.
The structure—designed by ConverseArchitects—was built using reclaimed Velux window frames from Dutch construction sites. Futon Factorij contributed custom bedding crafted from locally sourced, natural materials such as buckwheat hulls, raw wool, and organic cotton. The result was a layered sensory experience inviting reflection on sustainability, material use, and the evolving meaning of home.
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Silphy & SAM Panels
Studio Simone van Es developed a sheet material from Silphium Perforliatum (Silphy), a biobased material made from natural fibers. It was further developed in collaboration with SAM Panels. Water resistant, strong, non-toxic and fully compostable, the material represents a new step in circular material innovation. The development emphasized scalability, local sourcing and visual refinement—positioning Silphy as a responsible and beautiful alternative to conventional sheet materials.
What makes Silphy truly unique is the fiber crop it originates from: a deep-rooted, late-flowering plant that offers far more than just raw material. Its cultivation actively supports soil regeneration, enhances biodiversity and provides an abundant food source for pollinators like bees and butterflies. Without requiring intensive inputs or chemicals, the plant contributes to healthier ecosystems and promotes resilience in local agricultural landscapes. In essence, Silphy is a fibre crop that begins by giving back to nature—before ever becoming design.
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Dutch Design Week 2024 – Collaboration with Piet Hein Eek
At Dutch Design Week 2024, the Silphy project was introduced to the public through a collaboration with renowned Dutch designer Piet Hein Eek. He designed a minimalist stackable stool that demonstrated Silphy’s strength and versatility. The stool celebrated simplicity, sustainability and thoughtful production—highlighting the potential of new materials in everyday design.
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New Dawn – Premiere at Milano Design Week 2025
New Dawn is the latest interdisciplinary work by Studio Simone van Es, created in collaboration with architect Aga Blonska and 3D Makers Zone. This poetic installation explores cycles of rebirth, repair, and resilience, using 3D-printed biobased forms that fuse organic textures with digital precision.
Premiering during Milano Design Week 2025, New Dawn is part of the ROOTS Exhibition at Masterly, under the theme 'The Last Supper, From a Different Perspective'. Positioned around a communal table, the work evokes themes of transformation, nourishment and hope in times of ecological urgency. It invites visitors to reimagine not only what we design—but why and for whom.
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Studio Simone van Es continues to build bridges—between designers and makers, past and future, nature and innovation—crafting collaborations that deepen our connection to the world around us.
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