Awards 22

Klara De Smedt is the manager of De Winkelhaak. After obtaining a master’s degree in product development, she worked as a designer and then at Design Flanders for two years before moving to De Winkelhaak. In 2008, Klara De Smedt came up with the co-working concept Bar d’office. Since 2014, she has been one of the driving forces behind ANTWERP. POWERED BY CREATIVES.

Chris Baelus is a professor of product development at the University of Antwerp. He graduated in 1981 as an industrial designer from the NHIBS/Henry van de Velde Institute. After working as an independent designer for several years, he opted for education and research in product development. Since then, he has been affiliated with the Faculty of Design Sciences.

Ronald Bastiaens is an Industrial Product Design Training Coordinator at Howest and a professor of industrial product design, prototyping, sustainable design, design methods, materials and manufacturing. He is also the team leader of the Howest Industrial Design Center and a researcher in the projects Protolab, Protolight, Design for Impact, Innowiz, myMachine and Pro-Fit.

As the coordinator of ikinnoveer, Eveline Borgermans of VLAIO tries to bring the Flemish SME manager one step closer to a future-proof innovative company by putting together and providing innovation training courses and webinars. As a product designer, “design” with the associated methods continues to form a common thread in her life and work.

Max Borka was mainly active as a lecturer, journalist, radio producer and art critic when he became the director of the Interior Foundation in 1999 and co-founded DAMn° magazine. In 2011, he launched Mapping the Design World, an international social design platform. He also taught at KASK Ghent, La Cambre Brussels and Fachhochschule Potsdam and became the director of Berlin Design Week. He returned to Belgium in 2017.

Wim Buts is a product designer and researcher and was head of the Product Design programme at LUCA School of Arts Genk until September 2021. He recently started a PhD study, “Design 4.0: a research into strategies for designers in the 4th industrial revolution”, in which he examines which new roles designers can take on and wants to discuss the abstract conceptual framework with the various stakeholders via tangible future scenarios.

Francis Carpentier is the Curatorial Project Coordinator for the architecture and design programme of Bozar. As the exhibition coordinator, he was responsible for, among others, Ado Chale (2017) and Richard Venlet (2019). Francis trained in the Conservation of Monuments and Sites and serves on the boards of directors of the Horta Museum, Docomomo and Europa Nostra Belgium.

Jynse Cremers is the academic director of the Digital Design & Development Bachelor’s programme. She has been teaching Digital Design for over 12 years and passionately guides the next generation of digital makers through our complex and extremely connected world. She is convinced that digital innovations have great added value for our society.

Siegrid Demyttenaere is a founding partner, publisher and creative director of DAMN° magazine, and she heads an international visual communication agency, Waterproof. Siegrid Demyttenaere also carries out a number of private assignments as an art director and curator for companies and institutions, works as a design researcher and consultant and teaches at LUCA Ghent.

Elien Haentjens studied art science and journalism. As a journalist, she mainly writes about art, lifestyle and design, and she has curated and organised exhibitions and residences for designers since 2012, particularly in Brazil. She founded Joias and curates the Belgian section of Adorno, through which she wishes to promote Belgian design and stimulate valuable multicultural encounters.

Bie Luyssaert started as the Head of Public Relations & Communication at the Design Museum Ghent in 2020. At Design Flanders since 1999, she discovered her love for design in all its aspects. Promoting and supporting Flemish designers for more than 20 years has provided a thorough insight into the Flemish design landscape.

Brigitte Mouligneau studied law and worked for the Leuven Faculty of Law and the Flemish Government. Her interest in sustainable transitions and network management grew from her focus on the more complex long-term challenges. For example, she was able to work at Vlaanderen Circulair in 2016, where she has been focusing on the transition to a circular economy in Flanders as the Transition Manager since 2018.

Dieter Van Den Storm specialises in content creation and communication in the field of the creative industry. After fifteen years as a project coordinator at the Biennale Interieur, he joined MAD Brussels in 2021, the centre for fashion and design, where he takes on the creative leadership as the Creative & Communication Director.

Nansi Van Geetsom is the coordinator of space and service design (Thomas More) and a senior lecturer and researcher in services design and service environments. She studied interior architecture and teaching and education sciences and, as the international coordinator of ID&A, founded the GIDE network. Design thinking in education and design for social challenges are important topics for her as well.

Heleen Van Loon works as a project manager at Z33 in Hasselt. Among other things, she coordinates FORMAT, a path for promising designers and architects. In addition, she helps product design students at LUCA School of Arts Genk formulate their identity as designers.

Annelies Thoelen is curator at Z33. With a master’s degree in Art History and a PhD she started at Design Flanders in 2013. She is responsible for projects on Flemish design policy and is an international design advisor for the Creative Industries Fund in Rotterdam. She is a member of the editorial board of the ‘Tijdschrift voor Interieurgeschiedenis en Design’ and teaches design history and contemporary design at LUCA School of Arts in Genk.

Johan Valcke was appointed director of Design Flanders in 1992. In that function he founded the Henry van de Velde Awards. He also founded the Design Flanders Gallery, the Triennials for Design and established the design magazine Kwintessens. He was elected to the Board of WCC-Europe and the Board of BEDA. Today, he remains active in the sounding board group for Design Museum Gent, the general assembly of HISK Gent and the purchasing committee of DIVA Antwerp. In 2018 he opened his gallery VALCKE Art Gallery.

Tom Domen has master’s degrees in industrial design and sustainable development. With his MA sustainable technology he received the award for innovative technology from the Chamber of Engineers. He worked as a marketing and communication specialist at Panasonic and afterwards for Philips in packaging innovation. Tom has been working for Ecover/Method for 16 years, where he is responsible for the long term innovation strategy for the different product categories. He is also a member of the board of Kringwinkel.

Sara De Bondt is an independent graphic designer, publisher and teacher. She is a member of Alliance Graphique Internationale. She co-founded Occasional Papers. She curated the exhibition Off the Grid for Design Museum Gent and in 2022 her book Off the Grid: Histories of Belgian graphic design was published. Sara has taught at several art schools in London and lectures at schools and international design conferences. She is a lecturer at KASK School of Arts Ghent where she is completing her doctorate.

Marcel Smets studied technical business management at the Technische Universiteit Eindhoven. After his studies, he worked for 10 years in various positions for Philips Lighting. After that, he was CEO of Drisag Office Furniture for 30 years and later became co-owner of the company. In this function he worked together with various renowned designers from Belgium and abroad.