About
Artivist - using design to shape new perspectives
Describing herself as an ‘artivist’ – a portmanteau of ‘artist’ and ‘activist’ – Nienke Hoogvliet (1989, The Hague) uses design to inspire harmony between humans, society and the natural environment.
Growing up on the Dutch coast gave her a love of the ocean from an early age but it was plastic waste on the beach that instilled her deep sense of responsibility. This has informed a holistic approach which considers every stage of a project’s lifecycle as well as its environmental and social impact. She founded Studio Nienke Hoogvliet in 2013.
Nienke trained in product design, but soon realised that her passion lay in using craft, culture and innovation to tell stories that drive change. Working collaboratively with scientists, industry experts and other creatives, she starts with a problem that captures her imagination, conducts extensive research, and then creates hand- crafted objects, installations and books that pose solutions.
Key projects include the SEA ME Collection in which she developed lightfast natural dyes from seaweed and used them to dye seaweed yarn. She handcrafted a chair seat from the dyed yarn and made tabletop paint and bio-plastic bowls from the by-products, making the
whole process zero-waste. Nienke has since co-founded Zeefier to scale these dyes for the textile industry.
For VALUE//VALUES, Nienke developed two carpets – one in Armenia and one in the Netherlands – and documented the process from sheep to final product with full transparency. The intention was to broaden the definition of value from just the
financial to encompass personal values.
Studio Nienke Hoogvliet objects are held in permanent collections from the Victoria & Albert Museum in London to the Centraal Museum in Utrecht and have featured documentaries such as A World to Shape and It’s Dutch Design. Nienke has guest lectured at Central Saint Martins (UK), Polimoda (Italy), NCKU (Taiwain) and Tumo Studios (Armenia) and spoken at conferences from London’s Dezeen Day to Hong
Kong’s Business of Design Week.
Nienke is open to commissions from cultural institutions, government bodies and private companies to tell stories about materials that just might change the world.
