5x Recent alumni of Design Academy Eindhoven

Design Academy Eindhoven is a leading international design school for creative and critical minds. Well-known students from the past are Piet Hein Eek, Kiki & Joost and Maarten Baas. But what did more recent alumni do after they graduated? Meet five designers who graduated from DAE in the past ten years.

Irene Stracuzzi

Graphic design, data visualization, and independent research.

Graduated cum laude from the master's program in 2017.
With The Legal Status of Ice, Irene's graduation project visualized the battle for the Arctic and all that is at stake in a giant 3D model that explores overlapping boundary claims with a projection.

She now works as a graphic designer with a fascination for cartography. Irene specializes in art direction, branding & identity and information design, and works on self-initiated projects. She also teaches at the master's program of Design Academy Eindhoven.

Simone Post

Textile and product designer

Graduated cum laude from the bachelor's program in 2015.
With her graduation project, Too Beautiful to Scrap, she gave a second life to the residual waste of textile maker Vlisco. She used self-developed folding and cutting techniques with which she made colorful rugs that are still for sale.

She now works with companies such as Adidas, Hermès and Kvadrat, and on self-initiated projects for galleries and museums. Simone designed the largest mural in the Netherlands for Vlisco headquarters in 2021, an artwork of some 2500m2.

Irakli Sabekia

Designer and artistic researcher

Graduated cum laude from the bachelor's program in 2019.
His graduation project, Voicing Borders, dealt with the situation in his native Georgia after the Russian invasion. The barbed wire used to mark occupied territory Irakli used precisely as a means of expressing objection to the occupation. He designed a radio transmitter and connected it to a barbed-wire fence, transforming it into an antenna. The radio sent messages in Morse code with the names of the vanished villages and their geographical coordinates.

He now works at the intersection of design, art and philosophy. In an artistic and interactive way he approaches complex subjects and makes them discussable. In 2021, Irakli's work was on display at the Van Abbemuseum as part of GEO-Design: Budget Airlines exhibition.

Bouke Bruins

Hands-on social designer

Graduated cum laude from the bachelor's program in 2017.
His graduation project Boyscout Designer is a bottom-up method, thinking and movement to make public space a better place. Vacant lots, graffiti-covered concrete, anonymous squares or sidewalks: each one is a canvas for his provocative guerrilla interventions.

He now works as Boyscout Designer with the Eindhoven collective De Reuringdienst and is based at the creative co-working place Kade Clubhuis. Work by Bouke is currently on display at the exhibition Glashard. Post-graffiti in De Glasfabriek Schiedam at the Stedelijk Museum Schiedam.

Friso Wiersma

Designer and maker

Graduated cum laude from the bachelor's program in 2017.
For his graduation project, By Hand, Friso designed a series of furniture that anyone can create. Thanks to pre-cut joins, stools, sofas and nightstands, could be easily put together without a nail or screw.

He now works as an in-house designer at IKEA in Sweden.

Would you like to learn more about studying at Design Academy Eindhoven? On January 19, you can get to know the bachelor program on an open day. There are also several Meet the Masters gatherings each year. The next one is on January 28.