11 New Dutch experiences in North Brabant

By: Rianne Culture lover | Read time: 5 minutes

Tulips, windmills and ... New Dutch! Internationally, the Netherlands is highly successful when it comes to innovation. We are continuously innovating with technology, design, sustainability and creativity. And nowhere is that more visible than in North Brabant, the Design District of the Netherlands. Here the industrial past encounters the creativity and innovation of today. North Brabant’s inner cities and idiosyncratic museums facilitate becoming acquainted with new icons and the creators of the future. This is where you should go for the best of New Dutch in North Brabant.

In 2024 the Dutch Design Week will take place from 18 October to 27 October

When you say New Dutch, you say Eindhoven. The design capital of the Netherlands excels in innovation, with an annual climax during the Dutch Design Week. The largest design event of Northern Europe focuses on the design of the future and the future of design. Creators and designers from around the entire world find their way to Eindhoven for this, with exhibitions, shows, lectures and other festivities at more than 100 locations in the city.

Tilburg’s roots lie in the textile industry, which gives the city its raw edge and experimental spirit. In the TextielMuseum, housed in an old textile factory, you journey through the Tilburg of the hard-working textile labourers of that time. The industrial past meets New Dutch in the museum in the TextielLab, where you can see designers at work as they experiment and innovate with textile.

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In North Brabant, art lovers should not miss the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven. It is one of the leading museums of modern art in Europe. Exhibitions evoke questions in the area of art and society in an experimental manner. The collection of more than 3,000 artworks includes new talent as well as great masters such as Mondriaan and Picasso.

Vincent van Gogh, artist and resident of North Brabant, is one of the greatest icons of the Netherlands. To this day, his masterpieces continue to inspire the new generation of artists and creative minds. If you are curious about how he, like no other, played with light and colour, both young and old can themselves experiment with the amazing world of light and colour at Vincent’s Light Lab in the Van Gogh Village Museum in Nuenen.

Would you like to go on a journey through the world of design?

This is possible in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, in the historic city centre, a stone’s throw away from the magnificent St. John’s Cathedral. In the Design Museum Den Bosch you stroll through rooms filled with culture, technology, lifestyle, philosophy, avant-garde and modernism. Afterwards, visit the museum shop, which has one of the most unique design collections in North Brabant.

The building captures everyone’s attention from afar, but have you ever seen the inside of Eindhoven’s ‘flying saucer’? Enter the futuristic experience of futurists, dreamers and artists during a visit to Next Nature Museum in the Evoluon. Its innovative and interactive exhibitions allow you to explore how we viewed the future in the past and what our expectations of the future are today. A paradise on earth or a nightmare in which the world ends? Discover for yourself how artists were inspired by our futuristic view and, using objects, film and design, shed new light on the future.

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Not what is art, but what can art be? That is the question on which MU Hybrid Art House focuses and explores with a group of young enthusiastic creators. Their experimental drive is given a free hand in the former Philips factory at Strijp-S in Eindhoven. All year round, there are major exhibitions to visit about the hybrid visual culture of today and in the future with a mix of art, design, pop culture and new media.

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Eindhoven breathes design and innovation. You experience this not only in museums but also at the table or from your bed. For example, at Kazerne, a former military barracks, you eat, drink, work and sleep in the midst of design. The restaurant is also an exhibition space and in the boutique hotel you sleep among design that is for sale. While you enjoy an extraordinary dinner or a night out, become acquainted with New Dutch as is possible only in Eindhoven.

North Brabant is also the home base of Piet Hein Eek, one of the most successful Dutch designers ever. If you are curious about his work, you can visit his shop and showroom at the industrial Strijp-R in Eindhoven, which, needless to say, contains his characteristic scrap wood furniture as well as works by other talented creators. If you visit Strijp-R in the weekend, you can lunch at Grandcafé Piet Hein Eek (Friday to Sunday). Or stay the night and book a room in the Piet Hein Eek Hotel, located in Philips’ former ceramic workshop.

A museum with more than 12,000 shoes? In the Schoenenkwartier or Shoe Quarter, craftmanship, awareness and design come together in a unique manner. In Waalwijk, the leather and shoe capital of the Netherlands, you will see not only an immense collection of shoes but you will also go on an interactive journey through the entire production process, from tanning to end product. Be sure to check the programme in the museum’s Creation Lab. This is where you roll up your sleeves and discover the designer within you!

As the birthplace of the incandescent light bulb, Eindhoven is inextricably linked with light. Add to that talent for design and innovation and you have an unforgettable excursion. At Motion Imagination Experience, you are carried away by light shows, impressive projections and stirring music in various rooms. Have your camera at the ready because Motion Imagination Experience is one of the most Instagrammable excursions in North Brabant.